The Utah coach moves on after exiting the program.
Report: Michigan expected to hire Kyle Whittingham as next head coach originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Michigan is expected to hire former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham as its next head football coach to replace Sherrone Moore, according to ESPN. The move ends Whittingham’s 21-season run atop the Utah Utes program and ushers in a new era for the Michigan Wolverines following Moore’s firing for cause earlier this month.
Whittingham stepped away from Utah after a 10-2 season in 2025, saying publicly that the “timing is right” and joking that he had entered the transfer portal. At the time of his departure, he was the second-longest tenured head coach in the FBS, trailing only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.
Whittingham took over Utah in 2005 after Urban Meyer left for Florida, guiding the Utes to a Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh before earning the permanent job. He went on to build one of college football’s most stable programs with a 177-88 record with three conference championships, eight 10-win seasons and an 11-6 bowl mark. Utah thrived across multiple conference transitions, winning the Mountain West in 2008 and the Pac-12 in 2021 and 2022 before posting another double-digit win total in the Big 12.
Whittingham’s hiring comes with immediate questions about roster retention and timing. Michigan moved quickly with the transfer portal set to open Jan. 2, a key deadline after Moore’s abrupt exit and ongoing investigations that strained the program’s offseason.
It remains unclear whether Whittingham will coach Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl against Nebraska on New Year’s Eve, which kicks off shortly after Michigan’s Citrus Bowl game. Utes defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley has been the coach-in-waiting for year and moved on with the full-time label in Salt Lake City.
An official announcement from Michigan is expected soon, could be as early as Monday.
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