In the cutthroat world of college football, coaches rarely show vulnerability. Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham showed emotions in his last press conference at Utah last season. Now, in a recent, heartfelt admission, Whittingham pulled back the curtain on the single biggest influence on his career—his late father, Fred.

“My father, first and foremost. He was a coach in the National Football League for 15 years. He coached at the college level for about 15 or 20 years,” said Whittingham during his Friday appearance on See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack.

Kyle Whittingham’s father, Fred, had a long NFL career as a linebacker and guard from 1963 to 1971, making stops with several teams, including the Rams, Eagles, and Cowboys, which exposed a young Kyle to the professional football environment.

“So I grew up in a football family. He played in the NFL for nine years. And so I can remember going into the practice in Dallas and watching Roger Staubach and Calvin Hill and all these great backs and players, and so it seems like it was just yesterday,” added the Michigan head coach. “But then my father got into coaching right after he played, and I had the opportunity to play for him at BYU. I was a defensive [player], which was a really cool experience.”

While playing for his father at BYU, Kyle’s career took a decisive turn. Originally a running back, his father moved him to middle linebacker, a switch that unlocked his potential and led to him earning WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1981.

From 1973 to 1977, his father served as BYU’s LB coach and was promoted to DC just as Kyle joined the team. “And then we had the opportunity to coach together at the University of Utah. I was his defensive line coach for a year before he went back to the NFL. Four or five years later, he came from the NFL back to the college level, and so I was the coordinator, and he was the linebacker coach,” recalled Kyle Whittingham.

Fred Whittingham’s coaching path intertwined deeply with his son’s at Utah. He first joined as defensive coordinator in 1992, and two years later, hired Kyle as his D-line coach. In a unique role reversal, after a brief NFL stint, Fred returned to Utah to serve as the linebackers coach under his son, who had since been promoted to defensive coordinator.

“So that was a little different dynamic, but that opportunity to play for him and coach with him was something I cherished,” added Kyle.

After being fired by McBride, Fred retired from coaching in 2001, though he famously encouraged Kyle to remain with the program. His son did that. On October 27, 2003, Kyle Whittingham’s father died at the age of 64. Complications from back surgery, specifically a pulmonary embolism, caused his death. Now, recalling all those old days spent with his father naturally made the Michigan head coach emotional.

But amid this emotional admission, the Wolverines’ head coach recalls the person he first called after getting the Michigan job.

A big revelation from Kyle Whittingham

After getting the Michigan job, Kyle Whittingham’s first call was to the person he once replaced as head coach at Utah.

“First call, my wife was right in the house, and so I talked to her face to face, obviously, and the rest of my family. But the first phone call, I think it might have been Urban Meyer,” said the Michigan head coach. “A good close friend of mine, who ironically is on the complete opposite side of this rivalry.”

“And maybe I called my agent, or he called me prior, but anyway, I think Urban was probably, if not my first, at least my second call,” added Whittingham.

Whittingham considers Meyer a primary mentor, and the two share a ‘tight bond’ forged over a friendship of more than 25 years. In 2003, their professional relationship began at Utah, where both were candidates for the Utah head coaching job after McBride was fired.

However, Meyer won the position, and Whittingham served as Meyer’s DC. Together, they led the Utes to two Mountain West championships. Then, when Meyer left for Florida in 2005, he recommended Whittingham as his successor.

Now at the helm of one of college football’s most storied programs, Whittingham faces the challenge of translating his long-term success at Utah to the high-stakes environment of the Big Ten.