Though his responsibilities do not begin until next season, Kyle Whittingham has signed a five-year contract to be the next head coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He will shortly be in Orlando to greet his team ahead of their Citrus Bowl bout with the Texas Longhorns on New Year's Eve.
The No. 13 Texas Longhorns face a No. 18-ranked Michigan Wolverines program in the heat of turmoil following the messy firing of Sherrone Moore as head coach for an alleged sexual relationship with a staffer.
As the U-M athletic department and football program prepare for the Citrus Bowl in Orlando against the Longhorns on Dec. 31, Biff Poggi has been named the new coach in interim and the search for an external replacement was initiated.
Now, Michigan has locked down its new leader.
Former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, who stepped down from his position with the Utes weeks ago, has signed a five-year contract to be the next head coach of the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.
"Michigan is synonymous with tradition and excellence - both on the field and beyond - and our entire program is committed to upholding those values while striving for greatness together," Whittingham said in a statement released by the school.
ESPN reports Whittingham's contract to be worth an average of $8.2 million per year, with 75 percent of the deal as guaranteed money.
Utah is scheduled to play in the Las Vegas Bowl against Nebraska also on New Year's Eve, but Whittingham has announced that he will not be on the sidelines with the program he spent over two decades with.
Michigan believed it to be most important that Whittingham got to Orlando as soon as possible to meet his new team and root them on at the Citrus Bowl, which he prepares to do this week.
"Michigan Football is in GREAT hands under Kyle Whittingham !!!!" Michigan interim coach Biff Poggi wrote on social media. "Proven winner, true gentleman, tough nosed Michigan coach of days gone by."
Whittingham compiled a 177-88 record in 21 seasons at Utah, including a 13-0 campaign in 2008. The program's all-time wins leader was the second-longest tenured head coach in FBS (behind Iowa's Kirk Ferentz's 27 seasons) before his departure.
The 66-year-old coach confirmed that leaving Utah was not a sign of retirement, but rather a search for a new opportunity. As he joked shortly after the news broke, he was entering "the transfer portal."
Fans of the Maize and Blue know all too well about the portal in the two weeks since Moore's firing, but now the fluidity of modern collegiate sports - both for athletes and coaches - has been of benefit in a program searching for someone to drag it out of a crisis.