Kyle Wittingham: An Honest Review

The wait is over. The move is made. Michigan has hired 66 year old Utah retiree Kyle Wittingham... and the crowd goes crazy. Some debated if the best blue blood programs would see their head coach leave their playoff bound teams to coach a team actively under investigation by their own school. Some debated if Michigan would promote a guy named biff who may or may not be a real person. The debates are over and Michigan has gone with Kyle Wittingham from the University of Utah... buckle up.

I would like to start out by saying I am bias towards Ohio State. With that being said, I do recognize the toxicity that this fan base brings, and I try to stray away from irrational takes. I think this is a good hire for Michigan. Coach Witt was ironically the successor to Urban Meyer when he took over as head coach for Utah in 2005. He served as the head coach for Utah from 2005-2025. In 25 years he had a win percentage of 67% and won the Pac 12 three times. He stepped down in 2025 after going 10-2 (0 ranked wins, 2 ranked losses). Not bad right?

Let's take a closer look at Coach Whitt. Last year, Utah had their worst season since 2013 going 5-7 and missing out on a bowl game. When he won back to back conference championships in 2021 and 2022, Utah had 4 losses both seasons including a historic Rose Bowl against Ohio State. Utah has lost their last 5 bowl games under Coach Whitt. And get this, Coach Whitt has a record against ranked opponents of 22-37 (37%)... damn.

I do think this is a good hire for Michigan given their circumstance of recent cheating and corruption. This is not the guy you would think they have based on the reaction of the fanbase. He did well in the first 10 years coaching an okay Pac 12 conference. The last 10 years have seen the same on and off okay success with an exponential decline. This is probably the reason he retired this season (yes, he did retire). Based on what I've seen, the College Football world is reacting as if Michigan has found the next Nick Saban.

The last I checked, Michigan fans were going for Kalen Deboer and Marcus Freeman. The word on the street for a while was they were "settling" for Kenny Dillingham. Now, we hear Michigan "got their guy" in a 66 year old who just retired from Utah after having a 65% win percentage in a mediocre conference and losing his last 5 bowl games.

I am aware there are tons of stuff we don't see behind the scenes that goes into hiring a head coach. But this is Michigan. This is the most winningest program in the history of College Football. This is supposed to be a top 5 program to coach at. And this is the best they could get? I don't think this is by any means a bad hire. Deep down, it's just not the hire you really want to actually kickstart the rebuild Michigan needs. As stated, Kyle Wittingham has very redeemable qualities and some stats to show for. At the end of the day, you'd expect a bigger splash from a top 5 program. Let's not act like this guy was on anyones list of priorities. I mean he just retired from Utah for God's sake.

PS: For those of you saying he never "retired", we're going off what was reported from trustworthy news sources were told from the university: