Kyle Whittingham is not done coaching yet.
Two weeks after stepping down as Utah’s coach, Whittingham has agreed to a five-year deal to become the head coach at Michigan, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Whittingham’s deal will make the former Utah coach an average of $8.2 million per year, per Thamel, who says the contract is 75% guaranteed.
Michigan has been looking for a new coach since the school fired Sherrone Moore for having ”an inappropriate relationship with a staff member" on Dec. 10. Shortly after Moore was fired, he was arrested on charges of third-degree home invasion, breaking and entering and stalking after allegedly entering a Michigan female staffer’s home.
The top targets of Michigan’s search, reportedly Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, both stayed put at their respective schools. With the job coming open fairly late in the college football hiring cycle, Whittingham started to emerge as one of Michigan’s best remaining options.
Whittingham was careful to use the words “step down” as he announced that he was moving on from being Utah’s head coach, a position he held for 21 years. In the immediate aftermath of Whittingham stepping down, reports surfaced that the longtime Utah coach could pursue other coaching opportunities.
Whittingham made no secret that he was considering other jobs in last Thursday’s media availability.
“I’m a free agent. I’m in the transfer portal,” Whittingham said. “So yeah, it’s a different feel, but like I said, I’m at peace and I did not want to be that guy that overstayed his welcome and people just saying, ‘Hey, when’s this guy going to leave?’
“That was not my intention ever and I hope I didn’t do that. I’m sure with some people I did do that, but to me the timing is right.”
Following retirement, Whittingham’s contract called for him to move into a “Special Assistant to the Athletics Director” role at Utah for two years following retirement at a salary of $3.45 million per year.
Whittingham, however, still has the desire to coach.
Asked on Dec. 18 what the process of deciding whether to pursue other opportunities or move into his special assistant role at Utah looked like, Whittingham replied, “If my phone rings, I answer it, I like who’s calling? Then we’ll see. Yeah, that’s pretty much the process.”
After 21 years wearing red, when we next see Whittingham, he will be wearing Michigan’s blue.
For Whittingham, who clearly still has a desire to coach, it’s an opportunity to extend his career and chase the one thing that has eluded him during his storied career — a College Football Playoff appearance.
Michigan is not short on resources for its football roster and won a national championship in 2023.
After the stints of Michigan’s last two coaches ended in controversy — Jim Harbaugh with a cheating scandal and Moore with an “inappropriate relationship with a staff member” — Whittingham is a very safe choice.
The 66-year-old ran a pretty clean program at Utah and was never personally involved in any scandals.
Aside from providing a program reset and keeping the program clean from any further controversy, Whittingham is a proven winner.
Whittingham holds a 177-88 record as Utah’s head coach and has won three conference titles, including two Pac-12 championships and an undefeated season in the Mountain West Conference in 2008, which included a Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama.
Whittingham transformed Utah from a Mountain West school to a consistent winner in a power conference.
In his 21 seasons at Utah, Whittingham posted winning records in 18 years, including eight seasons with 10 or more wins.
Calls from other schools, including Tennessee, came while Whittingham was coaching in Salt Lake City, but he remained loyal to Utah throughout this 21-year tenure there.
With Utah turning the page to the Morgan Scalley era, however, Whittingham will now take his first job outside of Utah since 1994.