CBS Sports gave Michigan football the highest honor when it came to grading its hire of Kyle Whittingham. Comparative to other schools, it was tied the best hire in the country, and was given prominence in the place of the article.
Though The Athletic didn’t do the same, it came quite close.
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Stewart Mandel graded all 33 offseason head coaching hires, and the Wolverines snagging Whittingham was tied for the second-best hire, behind UCLA’s hire of James Madison coach Bob Chesney and tied with Florida bringing in Tulane’s Jon Sumrall.
Here is what was said about Whittingham and Michigan:
Michigan (A-): Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Michigan got exactly the coach it needed to stabilize a program mired in scandal. The future Hall of Famer brings two decades of head-coaching experience and two accomplished coordinators with him in offensive coordinator Jason Beck and defensive coordinator Jay Hill. The lone concern: At 66, he’s unlikely to be a long-term hire.
The concern about it being long term only suffices if you expect Whittingham to have a decade. He signed a five-year contract and has been discussed as being a young 66-year-old. It would stand to reason that, barring disaster, he could make the five-year period that his contract stipulates.
If Whittingham is worth his salt, his hire will do more than Mandel’s note of overshadowing ‘burgergate,’ ‘signgate,’ or the Sherrone Moore scandal. He was more so hired to maximize the talent on the roster — and considering he’s done more with less at Utah, it stands to reason that he can and likely will.
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This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football’s Kyle Whittingham hire earns top grades
