In a coaching carousel defined by nine-figure spending sprees, the smartest move wasn’t the most expensive one. Penn State grabbed Matt Campbell after a long search, and Florida landed Jon Sumrall weeks after parting ways with Billy Napier. Solid hires across the board, but Michigan landing Kyle Whittingham stands above the rest.

“This was not a long runway coaching search with no strings attached,” Josh Pate said on the December 29 episode of his show, talking about the best hires. “This was a coaching search that came out of nowhere because a scandal became a full-blown scandal, became a fired-for-cause situation out of nowhere, and then they had a coaching search dumped in their lap. I just keep raising fingers. You’ve got an internal investigation going on up there. You’ve got an interim president situation. So this was the least ideal time ever to be running a coaching search for Michigan.

And they had to do it anyway. And what did they do? They went and got the best head coach out of the Big 12, whose own program had jettisoned him because coaching waiting never works. And Kyle Whittingham is sitting there at 66 years old. And so Kyle Whittingham’s coming there, and it, at the very least, is going to steady the ship. It’s going to inject a much-needed shot of solid football culture into the building. Kyle Whittingham’s there to win the Big 10. He’s there to beat Ohio State. He’s there to compete in the playoff, and they can do that because I think the full force of Michigan’s investment will be behind him. So there’s very little risk here.”

It’s easy to see why Josh Pate framed Kyle Whittingham as the knight in shining armor. When you stack Michigan’s move against the rest of the carousel, the difference is obvious. Penn State spent 58 days searching after firing James Franklin. His buyout dropped from $49 million to $9 million after negotiations, then PSU turned around and handed Matt Campbell an eight-year, $70.5 million deal. All in, that’s nearly $80 million just to reset the program.

Florida wasn’t much different. Billy Napier’s exit cost $21.7 million, and hiring Jon Sumrall ran another $44.6 million over six years. It’s a total investment of $66.3 million. Michigan? They landed Whittingham without that kind of financial chaos. Michigan’s move looks even smarter once you dig into the details. Because Sherrone Moore was fired with cause, his buyout was completely wiped out.

That freed Michigan to focus all its resources on Kyle Whittingham, who came in on a five-year deal worth around $41 million. The résumé gap tells the story. Whittingham has 177 career wins, compared to Matt Campbell’s 107 and Jon Sumrall’s 43. So, the Wolverines secured the most accomplished coach of the bunch and paid less to do it. What else do you need in a situation like that?

‘The Game’ has a new face this time

Kyle Whittingham didn’t just take over a Big Ten powerhouse. The 66-year-old is now also the new face for archrival Ohio State, and the hatred comes along as you wear the Maize and Blue. But Whittingham actually took advice from former Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer before starting his job at Ann Arbor. Yes, that’s irony at its best.

The 66-year-old even agreed that Urban Meyer was the one who was helping him decide on his staff at Ann Arbor. Surely, the Michigan faithful weren’t ready for this, but nothing can be done now. So, now that it’s official, let’s take a look at Whittingham’s sole record against the Buckeyes. The lone clash between Whittingham and Ohio State came in the 2022 Rose Bowl, when his Utah lost 48-45 in a classic shootout in Pasadena. Utah surged to an early 14-0 lead and carried a 35-21 advantage into halftime.

However, a second-half Ohio State rally, capped by Noah Ruggles’ 19-yard field goal with nine seconds left, flipped the script. It handed Whittingham his only head-coaching loss to OSU. With that lone defeat coming against Day on one of the sport’s grandest stages. As he arrives at Michigan, that mark doubles as both a scar and a reference point.

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