Big 12 coach anonymous quotes shed light on Kyle Whittingham

Isaiah Hole, Wolverines WireSun, May 31, 2026 at 2:37 PM UTC

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Big 12 coach anonymous quotes shed light on Kyle Whittingham

One of the ways you can gauge how good a football coach might be is how their peers feel about them. And given that new Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham has spent the past 21 years as the Utah head coach, it's not the Big Ten coaches that should have salient opinions as much as those who faced him in the Big 12.

Yes, there are four programs in the Big Ten that are accustomed to facing Whittingham, the former Pac-12 contingent, but he's spent the past two seasons in the Big 12, which also had a large Pac-12 contingent, as well. Some have questions about the transition from the Pac-12 and Big 12 for the former Utah head coach, but given that his philosophy echoes much of what Jim Harbaugh was running in Ann Arbor, it should be relatively smooth for him to join the Big Ten. Even so, we won't know exactly until he takes the field in earnest on September 5.

However, Athlon Sports anonymously polled coaches across the Big 12, and one expressed excitement about having to face the Morgan Scalley-led Utes compared to Whittingham's -- because that's just how revered Whittingham was in his former league.

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“But yeah, it’s definitely a relief that (Whittingham) is out of the Big 12 because he’s a great football coach, and he’s an even better person.”

Another coach, more so, harkened to Whittingham's previous work (and the offensive coordinator he pulled from Utah) to evaluate what Utah might be this year. Considering Jason Beck followed Whittingham to Ann Arbor, his opinion may be either more relevant to the Wolverines or at least shed some light on how the system should benefit the offense.

“They cause a lot of mismatches because they’re plus-one in the run game with the quarterback and all the pullers and gap schemes that they did.”

If you can take the good, you also have to take the bad. Another coach shared some concerns about Utah this year because it struggled to stop the run last year.

“It’s gonna be really interesting to see what their new philosophy is on offense and defense because they did struggle to stop the run last season. I think they were the worst in the Big 12 against the run last year. That’s not them. They’ve always been great up front, so that’ll be interesting.”

That might not be as much of a concern since the defensive coordinator at Utah last year, Scalley, is now the team's head coach, and Whittingham poached Jay Hill from BYU. That coach wasn't incorrect that Utah struggled to stop the run a year ago -- it was 110th in the country. But Hill's defense was significantly better, coming in at No. 30 last year and 33rd the year before.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Big 12 coach 'relieved' Kyle Whittingham left Utah for Michigan

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Source: “AOL Sports”