After two weeks of chaos since firing Sherrone Moore, Michigan might finally he its next head football coach pinned down. The Wolverines are bringing in former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham on a five-year deal to be their next head coach, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Whittingham emerged as a late candidate after most of Michigan's early reported targets doubled down with their current programs.
Whittingham is expected to bring former Utah offensive coordinator Jason Beck to Ann Arbor, CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz reported. Beck spent one season with Whittingham and the Utes and was previously the offensive coordinator at Syracuse and New Mexico.
Article Continues BelowThe agreement comes shortly after ESPN's Pete Thamel claimed that Whittingham had become the Wolverines' top priority. Michigan was previously interested in Arizona State's Kenny Dillingham, who recently inked a new deal with the Sun Devils, and Alabama's Kalen DeBoer, whose current job security increased with a win over Oklahoma in the College Football Playoffs.
Of the names Michigan had been supposedly interested in, none has more experience than Whittingham, who was the head coach at Utah from 2005 to 2025. He entered the 2025 season as the second-longest-tenured head coach in college football before stepping down at the end of the year.
Michigan is currently under the guidance of interim head coach Biff Poggi, who is set to coach the team for its Citrus Bowl matchup against Texas on New Year's Eve. Poggi threw his hat in the ring for the permanent job and had some support within the program and its fan base, but he cannot hold a candle to Whittingham's experience. A longtime high school coach, Poggi has only one college football head coaching tenure to his name, a failed two-year stint with Charlotte.