Even though there are three games left in the 2026 Michigan football season, it's hard not to start thinking about 2027 and what can be done to make sure this disaster of a season isn't repeated.
By the ninth game of the Kyle Whittingham era, it's clear it should be a one-season experiment. It was clear after a few games that Whittingham didn't know what he had gotten himself into.
Whittingham was a great head coach at one point. He's not anymore. What's worse is that he seems disinterested.
It feels like everyone wants the Michigan football head coach fired. However, Warde Manuel, the current athletic director, is stepping down at the end of December. People have started to wonder if that timeline could be accelerated to get rid of Whittingham, something that clearly needs to happen.
NEW INTEL: Michigan's A.D. search is moving faster than expected — and we're hearing one name is a heavy favorite for the Chief Revenue Officer role (call it a crystal ball) 👀 Some have removed their names, one on the A.D. list, more: https://t.co/QVkbm1gqFU pic.twitter.com/LyTqaZpD8Y
— Chris Balas (@Balas_Wolverine) November 10, 2026
On Monday, Chris Balas of The Wolverine reported that the AD search is "moving faster than expected."
Michigan AD search tells you what you need to know about Kyle Whittingham
You will have to subscribe to the Wolverine to read the rest. The AD candidates don't interest me as much as the timing. I do care about who is hired. Michigan needs to get it right, but the new hire can't wait until the end of December.
That would saddle them with a lame-duck coach. It would be a waste of the entire 2027 season, not to mention a mass exodus. It might be as bad as we have ever seen at Michigan, given the things Kyle Whittingham has done as a coach and what he has said at the podium.
The head coach doesn't have many friends and allies. The players have to feel like he ruined their season and then threw them under the bus. Bryce Underwood definitely has to feel that way. I actually would want Bryce back in Ann Arbor, but that only happens if Whittingham is gone. Even then, a fresh start might be in order.
The question all along has been: who will fire Whittingham? It looks like we will have the answer to that sooner than expected. That probably tells you all you need to know about Whittingham's status.
Michigan is about to hire someone just so they can fire Whittingham and conduct the kind of coaching search that should have been done in 2025, if only Sherrone Moore's termination had come at a different time.
A new AD and a new head coach will give Michigan the football the alignment and the reset needed to compete in the new era of the College Football Playoff in which it should never miss.
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