Since Kyle Whittingham inked his $8.2 million deal with Michigan, one forbidden name has echoed louder than the rest: Urban Meyer. The Wolverines’ greatest nemesis didn’t just hover in the background. And now, Meyer has finally pulled back the curtain on the advice he gave after Whittingham took over in Ann Arbor.

“Kyle, it’s a no-brainer. You can win a national title there,” Urban Meyer said on the December 29th episode of Wake Up Barstool. “It’s a hard job. I mean, he’s going to be under scrutiny; he’s never been under before, never been under before at Utah. This is a blue-blood program. You can get any player you want. Have elite academics. You just got the challenges in recruiting that Northern schools have.”

Jaw-dropping, right? Urban Meyer saying nice things about “that team up north” was nowhere on anyone’s 2025 bingo card. And honestly, why would it be? Meyer spent his entire Ohio State run fueled by pure rivalry fire. Michigan prep was nonstop. There was literally a dedicated 10-minute segment in every spring practice just for The Game. Meyer has even admitted he was basically “brainwashed” from a young age to hate Michigan, dating back to the Ten Year War era.

And yet, here we are. The same guy is now recommending someone to take over the Michigan job. That someone, of course, is Kyle Whittingham. Their connection goes way back. When Meyer was Utah’s head coach in 2003, Whittingham ran the Utes’ secondary under him. Two years later, Utah went undefeated and capped it off with a Fiesta Bowl win in 2004. When Meyer bolted for Florida, he handed the keys to Whittingham, and the rest is history.

Whittingham spent 21 years building Utah into a model program, finishing with a 177–88 record. So yeah, Meyer endorsing Michigan sounds bizarre. But in his mind, Whittingham makes sense. Michigan has lived under a cloud since 2023, becoming one of the most controversy-tagged programs in the sport. No amount of wins or academic prestige has been able to fully wipe that label away. Whittingham, though? Clean résumé.

He has been a scandal-free head coach for two decades. And that’s exactly what Michigan needs right now. At this point, winning games is secondary. For once, Meyer isn’t capitalising on his hatred. He is thinking of protecting the long rivalry under a trusted playcaller. And in his eyes, Whittingham might be Michigan’s best shot at finding its way back.

The most logical hire of this season

Michigan emerges as the clear “winner” of this year’s coaching carousel because it secured the most successful coach, with minimal expenses. In a cycle defined by massive buyouts and long searches, Michigan’s situation should have been a disaster. The program was rocked by a controversy that escalated into Sherrone Moore getting fired for cause. That is normally the exact scenario where schools panic, overpay, and settle. Instead, Michigan kept calm and landed Kyle Whittingham.

In Big 12 history, the 66-year-old is the best head coach. The financial contrast is stark. Penn State took 58 days to move on from James Franklin, negotiating his buyout down from roughly $49 million to $9 million. Lastly, they committed another eight years and $70.5 million to Matt Campbell. It cost the Nittany Lions close to $80 million just to hit the reset button. Florida mirrored that chaos. Billy Napier’s exit cost $21.7 million, and Jon Sumrall’s six‑year deal added $44.6 million. It pushed the total investment to $66.3 million.

Michigan, by comparison, wiped out Moore’s buyout entirely by firing him with cause. And then funneled its resources straight into Whittingham on a five‑year deal worth around $41 million, avoiding the nine‑figure churn that defined the rest of the carousel. On résumé alone, Michigan’s move grades out even better. Whittingham brings 177 career wins, dwarfing Campbell’s 107 and Sumrall’s 43, giving the Wolverines the most proven winner among the marquee hires at a lower overall price point.

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