Michigan football hires Kyle Whittingham: Tony Garcia analyzes it
Michigan football hires Kyle Whittingham: Tony Garcia analyzes it
ORLANDO, FL — When previewing the Citrus Bowl matchup against Texas earlier this week at Schembechler Hall, interim Michigan football coach Biff Poggi said the team was only expecting three opt-outs.
Days later, on a podcast hosted by Longhorn icons Mack Brown and Vince Young, his tune had changed. He implied that without a coaching hire soon, there was a chance of as many as 25 players passing on the postseason.
There’s a coach in place, but Poggi will still coach the boal game and, sure enough, for U-M’s first bowl practice, at West Orange High School, just about everyone was on hand. In addition to the three expected opt-outs – Derrick Moore, Jaishawn Barham and Gio El-Hadi – the Wolverines were missing only running back Justice Haynes and linebacker Ernest Hausmann.
Hausmann has been dealing with a “personal matter,” per a team spokesman, which also kept him out of U-M’s final two regular-season games. Haynes, meanwhile, broke his foot in late October and hasn’t played since, but he is expected to join his teammates before the Citrus Bowl on Wednesday (3 p.m., ABC).
U-M almost entirely avoided a common wave across the NCAA, of players passing on bowl games outside the College Football Playoff. But with the tumult within the coaching staff, how were the Wolverines able to hold things together?
“I feel like you could either go one of two ways: we either stay together or break apart,” linebacker Cole Sullivan said. “I’m dang sure, we don’t want to break apart. That was really the only choice we had. And the camaraderie we have in the locker room. We always tell each other we love each other. It’s not something we just say.”
The players who spoke Saturday ahead of practice also credited the remaining staffers, starting with Poggi, for keeping U-M’s focus on the bowl, despite their futures also being in flux.
New coach Kyle Whittingham will be shaping a new staff replete with individuals he already knows. As a result, as is the nature of the business, several current Michigan assistants this week will likely be headed elsewhere next month.
Still, most have stayed around and continued to pour their all into the team.
“[Once everything with former coach Sherrone Moore] happened, it’s like ‘Is everything going downhill from here?” running back Bryson Kuzdzal said. “I think it was smart that Biff came in right away – we never really went down at all. It was close, then Biff made sure we were going in the right direction, so I don’t think we fell off at all.”
Sullivan said it was a “challenge” to keep a focus on the bowl game amid the outside noise of social media, but the players knew they had to rally together. Sullivan said they were glad to have each other during a month he described as a “roller coaster of emotion.”
Also, he added, the desire to pick up a 10th win is still strong, for both the seniors and the coaches.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen with these coaches, so we want to end it the right way for them,” he said. “Hopefully they get to come back, but that’s something that’s out of my control. … I’ve been praying for them every day.
“I’m just happy, I think they’ve done a good job for us, I’m just extremely grateful for them.”
A few days off for the players during the holiday week appears to have restored the pep in the Wolverines’ step at practice. For quarterback Bryce Underwood, it was as simple as getting back into action.
“Playing football is our fun,” he said. “Playing our game, and any way possible we can be good, that’s what we’ll do.”
The crossing of the present and the future will continue this week. Whittingham is scheduled to be introduced on Sunday in Orlando, and the importance of him arriving this week cannot be overstated.
The two-week transfer portal window opens for U-M players on Thursday – five days after the announcement of a new coach, per NCAA rules, and a day ahead of the regular portal window. It’s an opportunity for players to hear from Whittingham first-hand about the future of the program.
Michigan kept its team together for a Citrus Bowl appearance. Can it do so again in the offseason?
“First, I just want to see what his vision for the program is,” Sullivan said. “I’ve heard that he’s a blue-collar, hard-nosed, tough coach, and I think that’s exactly what this program has been built on. So that’s exciting to hear. I’m also just excited to talk one-on-one with him, see what his vision is for me, for this defense, and go from there.”
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.