Where Joel Klatt Ranks Michigan Coach Kyle Whittingham in his Top 10 Coaches for 2026

There's little question that Michigan made one of the best moves of the offseason after it moved on from Sherrone Moore and hired 21-year veteran head coach Kyle Whittingham to take over the reins in Ann Arbor.

Whittingham has more than a proven track record and has always been a coach who has done more with less. Now that he's coaching Michigan, Whittingham has a chance to do a few things he has yet to accomplish — make the College Football Playoff and win it all.

With how well Whittingham has done during his tenure with Utah, FOX Sports' Joel Klatt recently ranked him No. 7 in his top-10 coaches heading into 2026.

Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham speaks as he is being introduced on the floor during. — Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“At number seven, I'm gonna go with Kyle Whittingham at Michigan. All right. Obviously, Kalani learned a lot from Kyle Whittingham, and I think some people are gonna argue with this one here, Kyle Whittingham at number seven.

“But Kyle is a hell of a football coach, and you have to understand where he brought Utah from all the way. Now, that was a very good program. Obviously, he got the job after Urban Meyer.

"It kind of elevated them to the point where they were on the national stage, but he's the one, Kyle, that took them from, you know, the Group of Five into the Pac-12, and then made the transition into the Big 12. Like, he did a lot of things at Utah, and made them a perennial top 15, 10 team in the country. And he did so, I would argue, without the best talent in the country.

"And again, as is the case with all these other guys, his teams play exceptionally hard. They're physical, they're sound, and they're well-coached. Okay, so Kyle Whittingham is gonna be there.
It's still kind of weird for me to think, like, Kyle Whittingham at Michigan, he's so Utah to me, but now obviously he's a Michigan man, and I can't wait to see what he does in Ann Arbor for Michigan."

Jake Guarnera loves what he's seen from Whittingham so far

Michigan is just in its winter conditioning mode, but spring ball is right around the corner, and recently, center Jake Guarnera was asked about his new ball coach. Guarnera shared what he likes about Whittingham so far.

"I like him," Guarnera said. "He's really establishing that culture of being accountable for each other. I like that. He's like, if you don't do what's best for the program, then how are you going to do great? I think he's really just preaching that to us, and making sure that the leaders on the team know that that's something that's big time, the accountability aspect. Which it should be on every winning team.

With Whittingham bringing over his staff, getting the players to buy in, and inheriting a talented team, Michigan should compete for a CFP spot this season.