Even after beating Ohio State and Alabama in 2024, former Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore wasn’t highly thought of among the coaches in the Big Ten. Both going into his first and second years with the program as the head coach, Moore was ranked by CBS Sports as the 15th-best coach in the conference — even after the strong finish in 2024.
How things have changed for the Wolverines in a hurry.
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After Sherrone Moore was fired in December this past year, Michigan football managed to hire Kyle Whittingham of Utah fame, and with his stellar 21 years of experience, he arrives in Ann Arbor as one of the most storied coaches in the conference. CBS Sports ranked Whittingham the fourth-best coach in the Big Ten this offseason, but USA TODAY Sports was a tiny bit more bearish, ranking him fifth overall.
5. Kyle Whittingham, Michigan
This will be one of the most interesting experiments of the 2026 season: Whittingham leaving Utah after decades with the program to take on the challenge of leading Michigan back to the top of the Big Ten. The Wolverines have chunks of ground to make up to catch Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon. But no Power Four program made a bigger coaching upgrade this offseason.
Whittingham has a ton of experience doing more with less, having generally not had classes laden with four-star prospects during his time in Salt Lake City. Now that he’s taking over a blue blood, one that has one of the most talented rosters not only in the Big Ten, but in all of college football, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising to see the 66-year-old head coach, who managed to win multiple Pac-12 championships even against teams like USC and Oregon, perhaps do better than many anticipate.
According to USA TODAY Sports, Whittingham is behind only Indiana’s Curt Cignetti at No. 1, Ryan Day of Ohio State at No. 2, Dan Lanning at Oregon at No. 3, and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz at No. 4.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Where Kyle Whittingham ranks in USA TODAY Big Ten coach rankings
