I find Whittingham's decision baffling. I saw he was making $6.9 M at Utah, and Michigan is giving him $8.2 M. What can you buy with $50 M that you can't buy with $40 M?
Whittingham would still be at Utah if the administration at Utah still wanted him. They named Morgan Scalley "head coach in waiting" in 2019 (unofficially), then in 2024 made it official. Everything I have read has indicated he understood this was his last year, but then when they won 10 games he didn't want to call it quits. Utah didn't want to keep going year to year with this (he almost stepped down last year) and lose Scalley to another program this offseason.
Utah forced Kyle to “retire”
Can you share any more of the details if you know anything else? UT had named Scalley the HC in waiting in 2024. He is a former UT player and is 20 years younger than Whittingham. Scalley (to me at least) is not a hot name on the HC scene. Why did UT seemingly push Whittingham out this year and not wait another couple years when Whittingham noted that he wanted to continue coaching? Were they that worried that Scalley was going to pursue opportunities elsewhere? I'm not saying UT is the best job in the country or anything, but I don't see Scalley getting anything close to equivalent anywhere else, and given it's his alma mater and he was on staff there for 20 years and has never coached or played anywhere else, it seems like this is really the only job that he wants too.
I’ll answer the last part first….no. Kyle is a stand up guy, great person.
Appreciate the insight. It just seems weird. Whittingham appeared to still be at the top of his game. He seemed to be a perfect fit (and had been for the past 2+ decades), 10-2 season this year, no rumors of him having lost the locker room or anything like that. UT administration might have let the new coach put pressure on them. I read an article that he was at least messaging the possibility that he would pursue the Stanford job, but still, this seems like a situation where Scaly is/was more desired by UT than any other equivalent program.
I wouldn’t equate it to Lou. Lou was fired after 5 below average under performing seasons and replaced with a top coach.
Just meant the "forced into retirement part"...not necessarily for the same EXACT reasons.
he walked away from UU way before thr Moore incident
I'm pretty sure his retirement has been in the works for a few years. With a lot of people, retirement sounds better in theory than in practice, so it doesn't surprise me a bit that he has found he isn't quite ready to give up coaching. The problem from Utah's standpoint is they had already gone pretty far down the path in terms of making Scalley the HC and all sides probably agreed it was best to stick with the original plan.
Including the wide variety of infractions committed by Michigan starting many years ago with no repercussions.
