How Michigan Landing on Kyle Whittingham Hinged on the CFP and a Louisville Long Shot

Alabama beating Oklahoma in the playoff’s first round likely removed Kalen DeBoer from the search, while Jeff Brohm’s availability for a move also may have been a factor.

Former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham reportedly is in line to be the next coach at Michigan. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

College football is a sport of intense planning and preparation that is ruled by the random acts of young men in the heat of competition. Career paths can be altered by a great play or two. Or a succession of errors.

Kyle Whittingham’s emergence as the likely coach at Michigan could owe itself to the whiplash turn of events on the night of Dec. 19 in Norman. 

In a College Football Playoff first-round game between Alabama and Oklahoma, the Sooners had raced to a 17–0 lead. They still led 17–7 late in the second quarter when their All-SEC punter, Grayson Miller, simply dropped a routine punt snap. He picked the ball up and attempted to kick it, but the punt was blocked to set up a Crimson Tide field goal. Four plays after that, Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and receiver Keontez Lewis miscommunicated on a route and Mateer delivered a pick-six to Bama defensive back Zabien Brown.

In an eye blink, the game had gotten away from Oklahoma. Alabama went on to win, 34–24, advancing to play Indiana in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

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If the Tide had lost that game, would Kalen DeBoer be the next coach of the Wolverines instead of Whittingham? Did advancing in the playoffs delay DeBoer’s availability to the point where the Wolverines had to move on? The transfer portal opens Jan. 2, and being without a coach at that point could create roster chaos.

Additionally, would Jeff Brohm be headed to Alabama from Louisville if DeBoer were in line for Michigan? Would other dominoes have fallen along the way? Many questions, few definitive answers.

DeBoer’s name was linked to the Michigan opening as soon as Sherrone Moore was fired amid off-field scandal on Dec. 10. But it actually might have started earlier than that. 

The rumor mill was percolating regarding Moore before then, as an alleged inappropriate relationship with a staffer created angst within the Michigan program. The college football industry was bracing for fallout. 

The Wolverines lost to Ohio State on Nov. 30, eliminating them from Big Ten and CFP contention. On the same day, Alabama staggered past Auburn in the Iron Bowl to make the Southeastern Conference championship game. The Tide were 10–2, but DeBoer was still taking a lot of criticism for, basically, not being Nick Saban. 

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer likely was removed from consideration for the Michigan job after beating Oklahoma in the first round of the College Football Playoff. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Could he have been looking for an exit strategy at the same time Michigan was about to embark on a coaching search? The world may never know everything that was moving behind the scenes as the calendar flipped to December, but this did happen: On the afternoon of Dec. 2, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne flew into Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville. 

If Byrne thought he was losing his football coach, was he making a preemptive move to meet with Brohm and/or his Louisville-based agent, Shawn Freibert?

I got Byrne on the phone that day. He said he was in town to visit an Alabama donor. I’ve known Byrne a long time and I’ll take him at his word. But the timing of that visit is more interesting in retrospect, when placed within the context of rumors out of Michigan about Moore’s status and how it might impact DeBoer’s tenure at Alabama.

Brohm is highly regarded by Saban, who tried to hire him at least once as his offensive coordinator early in his tenure at Alabama. Brohm is also a Louisville native and alum, and has had a very successful three seasons as coach of the Cardinals, going 28–12. Penn State made a run at him during its search and Brohm declined, communicating his intent to stay at Louisville. But he’s been at an impasse with athletic director Josh Heird about a renegotiated contract—Brohm has asked for some things that Heird has not been willing to do. 

Brohm has seemingly been more willing to listen to outside interest than in the previous two years. His name surfaced within the last week in relation to Michigan, but he was not at the top of the list.

Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm declined when Penn State made a run at him for its open position this season. / Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Meanwhile, on Dec. 15, DeBoer was asked pointedly at a news conference whether he would be the coach at Alabama next year. He danced around the answer, and the question was asked a second time. At that point, he gave a definitive “yes.” Yet Michigan speculation continued—right up until the Crimson Tide’s comeback in Norman.

A few days earlier, Whittingham announced that he was stepping down at Utah. The coach-in-waiting situation there was reaching a critical mass, with defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley tabbed in the summer of 2024 as Whittingham’s successor. Sources tell Sports Illustrated that Utah was ready for that transition to take place, but that didn’t mean Whittingham was ready to retire.

Thus the announcement on Dec. 12 was worded as Whittingham “stepping down,” which is not the same as leaving the profession. That dovetailed with the sudden opening at Michigan. And whether it’s the result of DeBoer being unavailable or not, Whittingham is poised to become the coach of the Wolverines.

It could work out well for all involved parties.

Whittingham is many things that Moore is not. He is an experienced, grounded guy in his mid-60s with a no-nonsense approach to his job and life. Moore allegedly found time for plenty of nonsense.

On that and other levels, he’s a sensible hire to replace Moore at Michigan. A long-term hire? That remains to be seen. But for a program that has careened through a succession of embarrassments, Whittingham presents as a rock of stability. 

It’s rare to be a college football head coach for 21 seasons without significant scandals on your résumé. Whittingham is that guy. 

Kyle Whittingham has a .668 career winning percentage at Utah. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

He’s also a winner, with a career .668 winning percentage all in one place. Among his 177 victories at Utah was a spanking of Michigan to open the 2015 season, getting the Jim Harbaugh era off to an 0–1 start. He won in the Mountain West, he won in the Pac-12, and he’s 10–2 this season with a farewell bowl game to come on New Year’s Eve. They’ll erect a statue of him at some point outside Rice-Eccles Stadium.

For years, Whittingham’s name bubbled up in speculation for other jobs. He kept winning at a non-blueblood place, and he kept staying put. He was as much a Rocky Mountain institution as ponderosa pine trees and fresh powder on the ski slopes. But with Utah poised to move on and Whittingham wanting to keep coaching, here came a blueblood opportunity. 

At a time of crisis, flipping the keys to a guy who is not driving with a learner’s permit has to be appealing to Michigan. Much like Indiana hiring Curt Cignetti, nobody has to tell Whittingham how to run a football program.

Whittingham might simply be a stabilizing bridge hire for a couple of years. Or he could have five-plus seasons in him. In either role, he might be just what Michigan needs right now.

But it’s fascinating to think whether things might have worked out much differently if a punter hadn’t dropped a snap and a quarterback hadn’t served up a pick-six on the night of Dec. 19.

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