How UM Hiring Kyle Whittingham Impacts Michigan State
In this story:
Michigan State's archrival has appeared to have made a decision.
Several reports surfaced Friday morning that Michigan was focusing its coaching search on former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham. Next fall will be the second time in three years that Michigan State and UM will have first-year head coaches at the same time. Whittingham voluntarily stepped down from his post at Utah on Dec. 12, a few days after the Wolverines had fired Sherrone Moore for cause.
On this episode of the MSU Spartans Insider Podcast, let's talk about the impact Michigan's hire will have on MSU, what it means for the Spartans' never-ending rivalry with the Wolverines, and some opinions about whether this was the right move for UM.
A video of the entire episode can be found below, with plenty of other written analysis being a bit further down.
Watch the MSU Spartans Insider Podcast here:
Impact on Michigan State
Recruiting
The main direct impact that this will have on MSU is in the recruiting sphere. Whittingham has zero direct connections to the Midwest from his coaching career.
Utah actually had two players from Michigan on its roster this year. One is a transfer from a junior college, and the other is a freshman long snapper. A large portion of the Utes' roster is from either Utah, California, Texas, or Florida.
That's not to say that it cannot work for Michigan. Let's face it, the Wolverines are a bigger national brand in the eyes of recruits than Michigan State. They can go into California, Texas, and Florida and pull away blue-chip recruits from other top programs. MSU? Not as much.
What Whittingham's hiring does, though, is give the Spartans a great opportunity to gain more control of the recruiting in the state and the region. Pat Fitzgerald is not starting entirely new with plenty of coaches around here; he had built up a network for the Midwest at Northwestern. Whittingham is at square one or two.
Rivalry Understanding
Every Michigan coach needs to have a firm understanding of rivalries. The Wolverines' rivalry with Ohio State might be the most intense in the sport, but the rivalry with MSU has become more important and more bitter in recent years, whether Michigan fans admit it or not.
That's something people should not point to as a point of concern with Whittingham. He's coached another intense rivalry during his career: Utah-BYU, also known as the "Holy War." That rivalry doesn't match the importance of "The Game" between Michigan and OSU, but it's right up there with UM-MSU on the college football rivalry hierarchy, if not higher.
There are a *few* parallels in this hiring to Jonathan Smith's at Michigan State. Hiring a former Pac-12 coach who was known for doing more with less after firing the previous coach for cause. Sound familiar?
Well, one of the gripes with Smith is that he didn't seem to take the Michigan game seriously enough. He had experienced Oregon-Oregon State, but that rivalry is not nearly as hotly contested as BYU-Utah or Michigan-Michigan State. Whittingham will have to learn the history of UM's rivalries, but he knows what an intense rivalry atmosphere feels like.
Final Analysis
If any UM fans are still reading this, let's also face this: Whittingham is no "home-run" hire, but he was the best option available for the Wolverines at this point. Moore's firing put Michigan in a weird predicament, jumping into a coaching search when most candidates had already taken new jobs or had signed extensions with their current stops.
Whittingham is still a good coach who I think will be able to keep the Wolverines above water for a time. He's 66 years old, though, so how long he remains in Ann Arbor is a question mark. Personally, when I saw he was stepping away from Utah, I thought it was a retirement announcement.
Michigan, really, just needed an adult in the room, too. The cheating scandals and off-the-field issues have been going on forever. UM's 2023 national title was won under the shadow of a cheating scandal. Jim Harbaugh then quickly left, and then the school promoted a coach who was part of said scandal to become the new coach. It's no surprise that more problems emerged.
Utah has been a pretty low-drama program under Whittingham's leadership. For everybody's sanity, let's hope he brings that level of dramatics (or lack thereof) to Michigan.
Keep up with all our content when you follow the official Spartan Nation page on Facebook, Spartan Nation, WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be sure to share your thoughts on Michigan hiring Kyle Whittingham when you join our community group, Go Green Go White, WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE. Don't forget to give us a follow on X @MSUSpartansOnSI as well.
Never again miss one major story related to your beloved Spartans when you sign up for our 100% FREE newsletter that comes straight to your email with the latest news. SIGN UP HERE NOW
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
Follow jacobcotsonika