On Kyle Whittingham…

Feels very Batman to me… not the hero we deserve but the one we need…

If it does happen, I think it's kicking the can down the street a bit and would completely depend on his coordinator hires. If he just brings his guys in from Utah, I'm going to be very letdown. If he commits to being a CEO/figurehead type to get out us out of the perceived muck and fires the money cannon at a talented staff, I could see it really working out. This fan base is going to freak out tomorrow though when they wake up.

SmellsLikeRoses97 said:

Feels very Batman to me… not the hero we deserve but the one we need…

Timing of it feels odd to me. You could’ve had him the day of the job opening instead of letting this thing go for two weeks. We’ll see what happens.

Kashama said:

If it does happen, I think it's kicking the can down the street a bit and would completely depend on his coordinator hires. If he just brings his guys in from Utah, I'm going to be very letdown. If he commits to being a CEO/figurehead type to get out us out of the perceived muck and fires the money cannon at a talented staff, I could see it really working out. This fan base is going to freak out tomorrow though when they wake up.

Yeah, he’s 66 and a defensive guy so, agreed, IF he’s the guy, he’ll have to build a strong staff. The coordinators are going to make or break this thing. My major concern is how much gas does he have left in the tank? Which is also why I’m a bit confused about why he’d be the guy you pick. Utah also plays on December 31. I dunno, we’ll see I suppose.

Josh Henschke said:

Timing of it feels odd to me. You could’ve had him the day of the job opening instead of letting this thing go for two weeks. We’ll see what happens.

Agreed… I have zero envy for those covering this with all the smokescreen and leverage plays going on… remaining delusional that KDB is the guy with high intrigue towards what monken could do with Bryce

Josh Henschke said:

Timing of it feels odd to me. You could’ve had him the day of the job opening instead of letting this thing go for two weeks. We’ll see what happens.

If there are legs to it, it's either Biff was right and we're about to have a mass exodus on the roster or DeBoer got spooked by all the media chaos currently and gave them a 'not now, maybe someday'. I can't think of any other circumstances off hand that would lead them to make this hire the day after Xmas.

Kashama said:

If there are legs to it, it's either Biff was right and we're about to have a mass exodus on the roster or DeBoer got spooked by all the media chaos currently and gave them a 'not now, maybe someday'. I can't think of any other circumstances off hand that would lead them to make this hire the day after Xmas.

Maybe, Whittingham didn't want to take the Michigan job the day after he "retired" from Utah. I'd rank this as a better hire than Monken, considering Whittingham has actually been a successful HC.

Kashama said:

If there are legs to it, it's either Biff was right and we're about to have a mass exodus on the roster or DeBoer got spooked by all the media chaos currently and gave them a 'not now, maybe someday'. I can't think of any other circumstances off hand that would lead them to make this hire the day after Xmas.

Right. All this time without much fanfare and Xmas is the time for things to start leaking? We’ll see what the morning brings

Lummy78 said:

Maybe, Whittingham didn't want to take the Michigan job the day after he "retired" from Utah. I'd rank this as a better hire than Monken, considering Whittingham has actually been a successful HC.

How many 66 year olds are successful at new CFB head coaching gigs? This is a massive risk. Defense guy who doesn’t recruit strong. I guess that search firm was worth the money. There’s a poster here that will have a lot to answer in the morning.

Lummy78 said:

Maybe, Whittingham didn't want to take the Michigan job the day after he "retired" from Utah. I'd rank this as a better hire than Monken, considering Whittingham has actually been a successful HC.

If he’s the coach we’re heading back to rich rod era. We will lose half the roster and with no QB to fall back on just like 2008.

thanos harbaugh said:

If he’s the coach we’re heading back to rich rod era. We will lose half the roster and with no QB to fall back on just like 2008.

I suspect Underwood and Marsh will enter the portal. So what’s the point in a Wittingham hire?

bzicherm said:

How many 66 year olds are successful at new CFB head coaching gigs? This is a massive risk. Defense guy who doesn’t recruit strong. I guess that search firm was worth the money. There’s a poster here that will have a lot to answer in the morning.

Todd Monken will turn 60 in February and he's never been successful as a HC. I have no idea why this guy is a candidate.

bzicherm said:

I suspect Underwood and Marsh will enter the portal. So what’s the point in a Wittingham hire?

This kind of doom speculation is completely unhelpful. You have zero idea what either of them would think about that hire.

Lummy78 said:

Todd Monken will turn 60 in February and he's never been successful as a HC. I have no idea why this guy is a candidate.

He successfully turned around a crap program in southern miss and won 2 nattys and coached the most successful Lamar years. 60 is a big difference than 66. I doubt Wittingham makes it coaching to 70 as there’s little precedent. In 4 years Monken would still be younger than Wittingham at hiring age

thanos harbaugh said:

If he’s the coach we’re heading back to rich rod era. We will lose half the roster and with no QB to fall back on just like 2008.

You have no idea if any of that is true or not.

Kashama said:

This kind of doom speculation is completely unhelpful. You have zero idea what either of them would think about that hire.

I think it’s reasonable to suspect they want to play for a gifted offensive coach or a program with high profile and great recent offense. Plenty of programs can match or exceed the Underwood deal

bzicherm said:

He successfully turned around a crap program in southern miss and won 2 nattys and coached the most successful Lamar years. 60 is a big difference than 66. I doubt Wittingham makes it coaching to 70 as there’s little precedent. In 4 years Monken would still be younger than Wittingham at hiring age

Kyle Whittingham has won multiple conference championships, won national coach of the year awards, & sustained success at a place for 20 years. There is no comparison between Kyle Whittingham & Todd Monken. I agree his age is not ideal. Neither is Todd Monken's. Michigan has been dealing with a lot of "not ideals" lately.

bzicherm said:

I think it’s reasonable to suspect they want to play for a gifted offensive coach or a program with high profile and great recent offense. Plenty of programs can match or exceed the Underwood deal

Utah's offense was 10th in the nation last year in S&P, 39 spots above ours. 25 passing TD's to our total of 9.

Lummy78 said:

Kyle Whittingham has won multiple conference championships, won national coach of the year awards, & sustained success at a place for 20 years. There is no comparison between Kyle Whittingham & Todd Monken. I agree his age is not ideal. Neither is Todd Monken's. Michigan has been dealing with a lot of "not ideals" lately.

And he’s closer to 70 than 60. Odds are he is here 3-4 years. He has no history in the Midwest and my the time he’s situated, he will be preparing for retirement

Kashama said:

Utah's offense was 10th in the nation last year in S&P, 39 spots above ours. 25 passing TD's to our total of 9.

And is Wittingham, a defense coach, bringing his o-coordinator? I doubt any of the current Utah staff will be joining him. Maybe a TE coach or analyst

bzicherm said:

And he’s closer to 70 than 60. Odds are he is here 3-4 years. He has no history in the Midwest and my the time he’s situated, he will be preparing for retirement

So, what's Todd Monken's history in the midwest? A 6-10 season with the Cleveland Browns or coaching at Eastern Michigan 25 years ago?

bzicherm said:

And is Wittingham, a defense coach, bringing his o-coordinator? I doubt any of the current Utah staff will be joining him. Maybe a TE coach or analyst

How do you have any clue on who will be joining him from Utah or not? Todd Monken doesn't even have a staff to draw from because he's a 59 year old Offensive Coordinator. So, at worst, Whittingham is dead even with Monken's staff members joining him.

bzicherm said:

And is Wittingham, a defense coach, bringing his o-coordinator? I doubt any of the current Utah staff will be joining him. Maybe a TE coach or analyst

Again, just doom speculation on vibes. I have no idea, their OC just came over last year so I doubt he's married to their program. Whittingham hired him though so have to assume it could be done again with a bigger assistant pool. There are plenty of real issues with the hire, age of course, which would get heavily negatively recruited against without some young OC/DC on board and wondering if he can handle a pressure cooker type of job, but just emotionally flailing out about all the good players transferring and how bad the offense will be isn't based in reality.

Lummy78 said:

So, what's Todd Monken's history in the midwest? A 6-10 season with the Cleveland Browns or coaching at Eastern Michigan 25 years ago?

His time at eastern counts. Didn’t he actually spend a fair amount of time growing up in Michigan?