Urban Meyer names No. 1 college football head coaching move

Urban Meyer has proclaimed one head coach hiring in the 2026 offseason as the best in the cycle.

Former Florida football coach Urban Meyer, left, enjoys the first half of an NCAA basketball game at Steven C. O'Connell Center Exactech arena in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, January 6, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun] | Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The college football head coaching carousel concluded one of its most chaotic cycles one month after the conclusion of the 2025 regular season.

No fewer than 18 different Power Four programs will have a new head coach in the 2026 college football season. Some fired coaches for poor performance, some fired coaches for cause, and others had their head coaches hired away by other Power Four programs.

The question for each school that hired a new coach is how quickly its program can succeed under said coach. Some programs take longer to build, while others make people feel better about themselves after their first season under a coach.

Retired three-time national champion head coach Urban Meyer made predictions for which programs will succeed the quickest under their new head coaches. He listed three different programs forecasted to see quick turnarounds on "The Triple Option Podcast."

Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi speaks during a media day as the Oregon Ducks arrive on Jan. 7, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia ahead of the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Meyer ranked California's hire of Tosh Lupoi as the third-best hire in the offseason, citing Lupoi's ability to recruit and the play of his defenses as rationale for a speedy rise for the Golden Bears as a national power. No. 2 was Florida bringing in Jon Sumrall from Tulane because of how quickly he expects the Gators' style of play to change.

The No. 1 hire in the 2026 coaching carousel, according to Meyer, was Michigan's hiring of Kyle Whittingham, the very last hiring of the cycle.

Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham speaks as he is being introduced on the floor during the first half between Michigan and USC at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"The impactful ones in this order are, No. 1 is Kyle Whittingham," Meyer said on the podcast. "And not just (Michigan earning) Ws, but just the way they're going to go about their business."

Meyer is very familiar with Michigan, having coached opposite the Wolverines in "The Game." He was Ohio State's head coach from 2012-2018, a stretch in which the Buckeyes only missed two Big Ten Championship games and never lost to the Wolverines. In addition to Michigan as a program, Meyer is also very familiar with its new head coach.

Following a two-year tenure at Bowling Green, Meyer took the head coaching vacancy at Utah in 2003. Kyle Whittingham was entering his tenth season on the Utes' staff when Meyer took over. Whittingham succeeded Meyer as head coach after Meyer's 22-2 record in two seasons catapulted him into the head coaching vacancy left at Florida by Ron Zook in the 2005 offseason.

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham looks on from the sidelines during the first half against the Baylor Bears | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Michigan was wrapping up its second season under Sherrone Moore when the Wolverines decided to fire him with cause on Dec. 10, 2025. The Wolverines were 17-9 in the two seasons with Moore at the helm.