It feels like nine out of 10 Michigan football fans don't want Kyle Whittingham back for next season.
After a 5-4 start, who could blame them? It's not just the record. The record wouldn't be that big of an issue if the team was playing decent fooball, but they were coming up short against a difficult schedule.
That's not what's happening, though. Michigan is losing to inferior teams. It has happened three times already this season. Minnesota and Iowa are solid programs. They have their share of NFL talent, but they shouldn't beat Michigan.
Jim Harbaugh never lost to Minnesota and he only lost to Iowa once. Hell, Whittingham's team needed a miracle to beat Michigan State and a game-winning drive to beat Rutgers, a team Harbaugh once beat by 70.
That was a different team. Michigan is still Michigan, though. This was a talented roster that won nine games a season ago. Now, it has fallen apart under Kyle Whittingham, to the point that it's hard to feel optimstic about anything, even recruiting.
Michigan flipped a commitment in the 2027 class
Things have started to go south on the recruiting trail, too. Asa Burch, a Michigan legacy who was trending to the Wolverines, committed to Notre Dame. A Michigan commitment, Sidney Rouleau, flipped his commitment to Syracuse last week.
In response to that, since Rouleau was a three-star offensive lineman, Michigan football offered three-star in-state offensive tackle Braden Chaffin. Ranked No. 1,619 overall, according to the 247 Sports composite rankings, Michigan offered the Sterlight Heights prospect, who is ranked 27th overall in the state of Michigan in the 2027 recruiting class.
At 6-foot-6, 290 pounds, he's got the size needed to play tackle. Northwestern, UCLA and Minnesota are the other Big Ten programs to offer along with Louisville and Stanford.
The commitment of Chaffin fills a need. Michigan might try to take another developmental prospect to give them a better chance of landing a starting-caliber player, or someone who can develop into one.
Chaffin feels like a program commitment. He's an in-state kid. Michigan didn't offer before. When it did he flipped. You wonder if he will still be part of the recruiting class if Whittingham is fired in a few weeks, something most are hoping for at this point.
Whittingham is operating as if he will be around next season. But what else is he supposed to do? You show up to work until someone tells you not to.
Hopefully, that conversation with Whittingham happens sooner rather than later, because as long as he's the head coach, it's hard to be excited about anything having to do with Michigan football.
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