Once considered one of college football’s safest bets, the Michigan head coaching job has gone from prize to problem. That instability is beginning to reshape Michigan’s coaching search, and may be quietly pushing the program away from the most established name still tied to the job. Interim head coach Biff Poggi hasn’t tried to sugarcoat the situation.

“It has been five years as a malfunctioning organization where there’s something every year,” said Poggi. “And I know what the athletic director has made very clear. He doesn’t want any more of that. And so if I am named the coach, which, again, I don’t know if I am, but there will be a massive self-examination of what happens in this building, and you can expect a lot of changes.”

According to the odds, Kyle Whittingham has emerged as the new favorite to land the Michigan job, holding a 26% chance, while interim head coach Biff Poggi sits at 13%. Here’s where Whittingham’s solid resume comes into play. But Michigan’s coaching search isn’t simply about play-calling or records. It’s about who is willing to step into a program still untangling itself from NCAA scrutiny, legal trouble, and reputational damage.

That context matters when evaluating why momentum may be shifting away from a proven 66-year-old veteran like Kyle Whittingham, even as betting odds continue to favor him.

While Whittingham’s record is beyond question, Michigan’s current reality may favor familiarity over pedigree. Poggi’s deep ties to the program, and his willingness to confront its issues head-on, are increasingly part of the conversation as athletic director Warde Manuel works toward a decision expected before the Citrus Bowl.

“I want to fix this program. Everything that happens in this building has to be reevaluated, quite frankly, because it is not up to standard,” said Poggi.

With that mindset, it’s clear the interim coach is ready to give everything to steer the program back toward its glory days. While the program has endured multiple suspensions, departures, significant financial penalties, and recruiting restrictions, Biff Poggi understands those challenges at their core. Poggi first joined Michigan in 2016 as an analyst and has spent roughly four to five years with the program across three separate stints.

That history gives him an inside view of what went wrong and, just as important, a clear sense of how to fix it. And his track record with the Wolverines backs that up as well.

After a brutal 2-4 pandemic season that included three double-digit losses, Jim Harbaugh made a familiar call. He brought Biff Poggi back to Ann Arbor. While Poggi arrived as associate head coach, he steadied the locker room, and he reconnected the staff and the players. But what followed was a full turnaround: three straight B1G titles and a run that peaked with Michigan’s 2023 CFP championship.

Beyond that, Biff Poggi guided the Wolverines to a 2–0 record earlier this season while serving as acting head coach during Sherrone Moore’s suspension. That stretch only strengthened the case that Poggi could be a natural fit for Michigan’s top job. Now, with more than 25 years of coaching experience, Poggi may well be ready to take on the role, even knowing the “cursed” reputation surrounding it.

That narrative has grown so loud that Paul Finebaum offered a bold take, claiming that no one really wants the Michigan job.

Why is the Michigan head coaching job labeled ‘cursed’?

Michigan’s head coaching job search has hit turbulence. Plan A vanished when Kenny Dillingham signed an extension at ASU, while Plan B faded as Kalen DeBoer pushed Alabama into the CFP quarterfinals. Now, even as other targets surface, including Whittingham and Washington’s Jedd Fisch, the Michigan job suddenly doesn’t look powerful, as Paul Finebaum stepped in and pointed out a harsh reality.

“Why would anyone want that job?” said Finebaum on The Matt Barrie Show podcast. “There’s no leadership. There’s no alignment. And the stench of the Harbaugh regime still permeates the air in Ann Arbor.”

In the ESPN analyst’s view, the chaos left behind—investigations, suspensions, recruiting violations, and NCAA threats—has turned a blue-blood opening into a warning sign. And he’s not wrong.

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Before leaving for the Chargers, Jim Harbaugh surely delivered a national title, but he also left baggage. While he faced allegations of sign-stealing and COVID-era recruiting violations, along with financial penalties and recruiting restrictions, his successor, Moore, was later fired and arrested, only adding to the program’s instability.

Still, Michigan has AD Warde Manuel and Biff Poggi, but Finebaum believes that isn’t enough.

“They needed a DeBoer or a Dillingham,” he said. “They’re not going to get either one.”

Until Michigan finds normal again, Finebaum’s words suggest the job is a cursed one.