ORLANDO, Fla. — Now it’s officially official, Michigan football’s hire of Kyle Whittingham as the new head coach. He was officially named on Friday, but on Sunday morning, he had his introduction to the world as such, and was able to take questions from the media.
And with that, now he’s getting to work.
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Whittingham is hitting the ground running, looking to build out his staff and figure out how he’s going to do things after having spent two decades at his only head coaching stop to this point, at Utah. On Sunday, he shared what he’s looking to do right out of the gates, and no surprise, it starts with the players.
“Immediate priorities. OK. Roster retention,” Whittingham said. “Meeting with these young men in this day and age of college football, transfer portal’s opening up in about five days. That is absolutely job one is to make sure that you get a chance to get in front of these young men and tell them what I’m all about, find out what they’re all about. And that would go for the incoming recruits as well. We’ve got to get on the phone. They’re not here physically yet, but get on the phone with the class that we just saw — an outstanding class, by the way. Is ranked No. 12 in the country, and a lot of good young players in that class, and can’t wait to get — I think about half of them, maybe a little over half of them, will be here at the break and enroll with us for the winter conditioning and spring football.
“So that is job one without a doubt. It’s all about players. College football is all about players. And if you’ve got good players, you’ve got a chance. And so retention of the players in the program and retention of the players that we just signed, that’s the absolute priority.”
Thus far, Whittingham has only had one one-on-one conversation with an extant player, and as he jested, it’s no surprise that it was with starting quarterback and former five-star Bryce Underwood.
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Whittingham says that he spoke on to Underwood for 45 minutes on Sunday morning and with that, he did less speaking and laying out his vision as much as he wanted to hear about what Underwood had to say.
“I did a lot of listening. I wanted to get feedback from him. I wanted to get to know him,” Whittingham said. Just everything from growing up, family, what’s important to him. And it was a great conversation.
“He’s a special young man, carries himself the right way. You gotta have a quarterback. Quarterback’s got to have that it factor, and Bryce has the it factor along with a ton of talent. Big, strong kid, 6’4, 225-plus pounds. His ceiling is very high. And the offense we’re going to bring in here, I think, is going to suit him to a tee. And I think he’s going to really, really excel and have a great experience here.”
But beyond player retention, Whittingham also has to build a staff. And with some of that comes coaching retention.
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Though he has some ideas of some coaches he would like to add to the program (he was mum on names), WolverinesWire asked him how he balances new faces along with keeping some more familiar ones around in Ann Arbor.
And with that, he’s leaning on someone who maybe isn’t in the highest of graces in the state of Michigan, but given his relationship, he’s someone he trusts.
“Well, first of all, you got to bring in guys that you’re familiar with, and you trust, and you’ve worked with,” Whittingham said. “I think that’s always a starting point. I’ve had some good resources — Urban Meyer. I don’t know if that’s a four-letter word in this room or not, but Urban and me are very tight! I got some counsel from him, he’s been a few places and the key is to get guys in that you trust, get guys in that you’re familiar with that do things your way. They know what I expect, what my expectations are, but at the same time, I’m not precluding the chance that we will keep some coaches from the current staff.
“There’s some excellent coaches on the staff right now. And I’m going to tell you that most likely there will be a few faces that stay on and help bridge that. It’s much easier to be in the staff room and meeting and say, hey, I wonder how they do this year. If you’ve got a guy right there, that’s done there, you know, been there, done that, that’s a big help. So, I would anticipate, of the 10 full-time coaches, seven or eight new guys and two or three holdovers.”
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More direct to the point, Whittingham was asked about running backs coach Tony Alford. While he didn’t comment about whether or not the star coach will remain on staff, his tenor about retaining him did have a bit of a hopeful tone.
“Tony Alford, a tremendous football coach,” Whittingham said. “I was blessed to have at Utah, his brother Aaron Alford before he passed away. Worked for us for several years. So I know the Alford family. Great family. Like I said, I’ve got a ton of respect for him. And we’ll see how things work out in that direction.”
Whittingham says that of the 10 on-field position coaches, he expects seven to eight new faces and two to three current Michigan coaches to be retained.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Kyle Whittingham outlines priorities in 1st Michigan press conference
