Coaching Carousel (Football)

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#526      
TentakilRex
BashCtIllini said:
I don't see why a 66 year old mormon, who has been at Utah for 30 years would leave?
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1. He did work for Urban
2. The Utes Twitter community is very Michigan-like especially in entitlement. If the Utes even resembles their Twitter community.... that fanbase has issues. Clue: they are not thankful for the Big XII giving them a lifeboat and still them as a truckstop conference.
 
#531      
BatteredWifeSchwartz
I can’t see Whittingham working. Dude is successful because the long term system that he was able to create. Maybe it’s different in NIL to quickly create your group, but 4 years won’t be enough time and/or Michigan is not a program to be patient.

He had plenty of bad years at Utah and was given a LONG leash, but I also don’t remember him really ever having an elite year. All he knows is the west coast as well. We’ve already seen west coast based coaches struggle when recruiting for any other school in any other part of the country.

He’ll probably get 6-8 wins every year, and that’s okay for the admin as they reset the program but I can’t see the fans being thrilled.
 
#532      
OskieWowWow
BatteredWifeSchwartz said:
I can’t see Whittingham working. Dude is successful because the long term system that he was able to create. Maybe it’s different in NIL to quickly create your group, but 4 years won’t be enough time and/or Michigan is not a program to be patient.

He had plenty of bad years at Utah and was given a LONG leash, but I also don’t remember him really ever having an elite year. All he knows is the west coast as well. We’ve already seen west coast based coaches struggle when recruiting for any other school in any other part of the country.

He’ll probably get 6-8 wins every year, and that’s okay for the admin as they reset the program but I can’t see the fans being thrilled.
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Everyone knows he's just a stopgap. Forget about winning games, they just want a guy who won't cause them any more embarrassment
 
#537      
hooraybeer
BatteredWifeSchwartz said:
I can’t see Whittingham working. Dude is successful because the long term system that he was able to create. Maybe it’s different in NIL to quickly create your group, but 4 years won’t be enough time and/or Michigan is not a program to be patient.

He had plenty of bad years at Utah and was given a LONG leash, but I also don’t remember him really ever having an elite year. All he knows is the west coast as well. We’ve already seen west coast based coaches struggle when recruiting for any other school in any other part of the country.

He’ll probably get 6-8 wins every year, and that’s okay for the admin as they reset the program but I can’t see the fans being thrilled.
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en.wikipedia.org

2008 Utah Utes football team - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

always crazy to me how programs like michigan and penn state can make every wrong turn and still show up on time
 
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#539      
bluemountain
BatteredWifeSchwartz said:
I can’t see Whittingham working. Dude is successful because the long term system that he was able to create. Maybe it’s different in NIL to quickly create your group, but 4 years won’t be enough time and/or Michigan is not a program to be patient.

He had plenty of bad years at Utah and was given a LONG leash, but I also don’t remember him really ever having an elite year. All he knows is the west coast as well. We’ve already seen west coast based coaches struggle when recruiting for any other school in any other part of the country.

He’ll probably get 6-8 wins every year, and that’s okay for the admin as they reset the program but I can’t see the fans being thrilled.
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Are you serious? Whit is one of the best coaches in the business - tough, no nonsense, good player development. This is a great hire by UM
 
#540      
Illinicpa14
BatteredWifeSchwartz said:
I can’t see Whittingham working. Dude is successful because the long term system that he was able to create. Maybe it’s different in NIL to quickly create your group, but 4 years won’t be enough time and/or Michigan is not a program to be patient.

He had plenty of bad years at Utah and was given a LONG leash, but I also don’t remember him really ever having an elite year. All he knows is the west coast as well. We’ve already seen west coast based coaches struggle when recruiting for any other school in any other part of the country.

He’ll probably get 6-8 wins every year, and that’s okay for the admin as they reset the program but I can’t see the fans being thrilled.
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Not saying he will or won’t be a good coach…but saying he hasn’t had an elite season when he went 13-0 in 2008 winning at Michigan and Alabama…what more do you want from the guy lol
 
#541      
BashCtIllini
ptgrd23 said:
66 years old - proven winner.

Not as sexy as Cignetti, Freeman, Lanning or Elko

Michigan is not a rebuild situation.

Not all young stars are sure thing - see Lincoln Riley who has done nothing at USC since his first year
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Lincoln Riley has done what Lincoln Riley does, create great QBs. He's an elite QB coach, and because QBs are so important they have led to a lot of wins, but do his skills extend beyond that?
 
#542      
Oracle21
Whittingham is a good coach and you don’t need to be great to win at a place that has Michigan’s resources. He reminds me a lot of Harbaugh. Good hire and I expect Michigan to be in the playoff regularly.

Utah isn’t an easy place to be successful at. Give this guy the resources that Michigan has and he will kill it.

Very low risk hire with immediate upside over the clown they just had
 
#543      
Illini in Italy
Oracle21 said:
Whittingham is a good coach and you don’t need to be great to win at a place that has Michigan’s resources. He reminds me a lot of Harbaugh. Good hire and I expect Michigan to be in the playoff regularly.

Utah isn’t an easy place to be successful at. Give this guy the resources that Michigan has and he will kill it.

Very low risk hire with immediate upside over the clown they just had
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The only risk I see is a quote from my last boss at a Fortune 200 company. “At this point in your career, you don’t have enough runway in front of you to get promoted to VP.” I was 57 at the time. He’s 66, and I can tell you from first hand experience you don’t have the same energy and focus that you did when you were even 10 years younger. Personally I’d like to see him succeed, but not at the reins of the Evil Empire. I want to see them fail and fall to the nether regions of the B1G.
 
#544      
splitter
mhuml32 said:
Whittingham is an awesome coach. If UM was getting him 10 years ago, this would be a home run hire. He's been planning on retiring for a while now. We can discuss the merits of how motivated he was to retire, but he was at least a willing participant in that plan for a time. At worst, he's been giving less-and-less effort over time and Utah decided to give him an ultimatum to force the transition now, which created hurt feelings.

A few things if I'm Michigan:
(a) This search feels awfully rushed because it's in both Warde and Whittingham's best interests to quickly agree to this arraignment. Warde is not fully protected but it makes it messier to fire Warde after this contract is signed. Plus, if Warde is fired and UM wants a fresh start from Whittingham, he goes back to retirement plans (with more money)
(b) I'm nervous about Whittingham's commitment. Is he still hungry? Is this him lashing out for being jilted by Utah? What happens when all of those Utah problems are replaced by Michigan problems?
(c) I'm building a moat around Whittingham. He seems like a guy very comfortable with his privacy and being out of the spotlight. Michigan's job is the opposite of that.
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Was there an arrangement for an arraignment of Moore before Whittinham agreed to listen to Michigan, or is AI using autocorrect to attempt to clean up the mess?
sbillini said:
Yea this is very much a bill O’Brien type hire. I think Sherone Moore was the same vs any sort of long term solution, but that obviously didn’t play out as expected.
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#545      
OrangeBlue98
hooraybeer said:
en.wikipedia.org

2008 Utah Utes football team - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

always crazy to me how programs like michigan and penn state can make every wrong turn and still show up on time
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Programs like Michigan and Penn State just have more room for error compared to programs like Illinois.

Case in point-the decades of wandering in the wilderness started by the hiring of Lou Tepper.
 
#546      
7 Year Illini
bluemountain said:
Are you serious? Whit is one of the best coaches in the business - tough, no nonsense, good player development. This is a great hire by UM
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A great hire? I would say a reasonably ok hire given the circumstances.

BUT, he has averaged 3 losses a year for the past five years. Has had only 2 Top 10 Post AP finishes in his career, with 1 happening in 2008.

PLUS, Michigan thinks they should be able to get who they want. Which is always funny to watch. He clearly was NOT their first choice (or likely second, third, or fourth).

PLUS, they got turned down by a coach who wanted to stay at Arizona State.

PLUS, the college landscape isn't the way it was 10 years ago. There is no evidence that he can build/sustain a program in this new world.

FINALLY, he was going to retire at the end of last year (and said he didn't want to coach past 65), but his QB got hurt, they went 5-7, and he didn't want to go out on a bad year (even though that kind of screwed the coach-in-waiting). So, they have a good year, but the school wants to move towards the future with the coach they thought they would have in 2025, and Wittingham is pissed.

I think this hire might be a disaster.
 
#548      
IllinitripleJ
BatteredWifeSchwartz said:
I can’t see Whittingham working. Dude is successful because the long term system that he was able to create. Maybe it’s different in NIL to quickly create your group, but 4 years won’t be enough time and/or Michigan is not a program to be patient.

He had plenty of bad years at Utah and was given a LONG leash, but I also don’t remember him really ever having an elite year. All he knows is the west coast as well. We’ve already seen west coast based coaches struggle when recruiting for any other school in any other part of the country.

He’ll probably get 6-8 wins every year, and that’s okay for the admin as they reset the program but I can’t see the fans being thrilled.
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In 2008 Utah was 13-0, defeated 4rth ranked Alabama in the bowl game and finished second to 12-1 Florida. His teams after that were not as good. Seems like a safe hire but he's 66 years old and I doubt he will be able to beat Ohio State going forward. If he loses to Ohio State in 2026 & 2027, I am not sure he will be around for a third season. Especially if Ohio State wins by around 2 or more touchdowns.
 
#549      
IlliniHardwood
BashCtIllini said:
I like seeing guys go out on top on their own terms.

I don't know why these coaches, who are fabulously wealthy, want to spend their 70s kissing 18 years old's butts to try to get them to come play for them. Then put in the hours it takes to be a big time coach. Step aside and let the next generation take their turn. If you want to stay around the game, go into the booth, or work with a high school team. Go coach your grandkids.

Kudos Coach Whittingham.
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Oh man. At the time of your post, I could not have agreed with you more. Unfortunately (for Whittingham mostly), your sentiments/post aged both at light-speed and not well.
 
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