Former Michigan All-American Jake Butt shares why he loves the Kyle Whittingham hire

As of this writing, it's not official, but Michigan has seemingly found its 22nd head coach -- barring a late meltdown. Utah's coach of 21 years, Kyle Whittingham, emerged Friday morning as the leading candidate and a deal is expected to happen sometime Friday afternoon.

Whittingham was a two-time Coach of the Year, and displays great character, and has shown he can do more with less.

With news coming out that the Wolverines are expected to hire Whittingham, former Michigan All-American tight end Jake Butt posted on his X account sharing why he loves the hire.

Why Jake Butt loves the hire

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham — Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

"What I love about the Wittingham hire:
- he’s a great coach. Period. That’s most important.
- the timing. It’s early enough where he can meet with the players, the recruits, their families, and keep the young talent together. This has always been extremely important
- the parallels of identity. Defense minded. Toughness. Discipline. Exceeding expectations. He shares the values Michigan cares about
- doing more with less. When Utah was in the P12, rarely did he have the top recruiting class/ talent. He had to win by being disciplined, tough, with scheme and preparation. Now he’ll be at michigan where the resources, the history, and the brand will help him land high level classes
- his age is a plus in my opinion. It signifies experience, wisdom, and knowledge that are important for where michigan is at beyond just football. Sure this isn’t a 20 year solution. But whenever it comes time to hire the next coach, say in 5 years or so, michigan will be in a much better place in terms of brand opinion on a national scale.

"Overall, this is an excellent hire. It’s a hire that just makes sense for where Michigan is at, who Michigan wants to be, it’s done in time to protect the roster, and Wittingham will get to explore the top level of his potential as a coach with resources that come with being the HC of Michigan that he has not had in his coaching career."

During his tenure, Whittingham racked up an incredible 177-88 record over 21 seasons. While his age, 66, might deter some, Whittingham could stick around for another 5-10 seasons if he chose to. The bottom line is that Whittingham provides stability to a program that was labeled as a 'malfunctioning organization'.

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