Kyle Whittingham was pushed out at Utah in favor of defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley, and the Utes are now 7-0 this season and sitting at the top of the Big 12. Michigan is 4-3 with a stellar defense but an abysmal offense, and defensive coordinator Jay Hill is being looked at as a possible head-coaching candidate.
Is anyone else feeling some deja vu?
There are already some rumblings that Whittingham could be a potential one-and-done coach at Michigan. With the Wolverines going through an athletic director change, someone new may want to really make a statement when taking over, and that could be a change in the head football coach.
Whittingham simply hasn't done what everyone hoped he would in Ann Arbor. Sure, there hasn't been a multitude of scandals going on within the program, but the football hasn't improved either, except on the defensive side, which felt impossible given how good this defense already was.
If Michigan wants to look for a new head coach, maybe the Wolverines shouldn't look much further than down the hall from Whittingham. Hill would be a great candidate, and he already said he would love to be a head coach at this level; it would simply come at the expense of Whittingham...again.
Kyle Whittingham could be replaced yet again by his defensive coordinator
Whittingham has been coaching for a long time, and as a head coach, Michigan is only his second job after spending 21 years with Utah. It felt like Whittingham was simply going to retire and ride off into the sunset, but the Utes had other ideas.
Utah knew it needed a new face as the head football coach, but Whittingham wasn't done yet. Scalley was set to take over when Whittingham hung it up, but he simply wouldn't go. Now at Michigan, Whittingham is proving he didn't have what it took to really coach a program of this standard at this level, and it also shows in the success Utah is having in its first season without Whittingham.
Hill could be the shot in the arm Michigan needs, especially seeing how well he has coached this defense. Michigan's defense is ranked No. 3 in total defense in the country, making it one of the toughest units to play against, and it makes sense given how much they have kept the Wolverines in games.
It really might be time for Whittingham to call it a career. He could very well be replaced in two straight seasons by a younger defensive coordinator, and if Hill gets the job in Ann Arbor and this team becomes a title contender, it is just more proof that it was time for Whittingham to call it.
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