Hello Kyle Whittingham

At first I thought WTF!  Five minutes later I thought, pretty OK.  Then and now, when I review the whole dirty situation, I say Brilliant!

Then I heard Warde Manuel (still there) and I almost got sick.  I know these things take finesse, but I read (!) he is a goner.

 Living in Colorado I am perhaps closer, but still distant in philosophy, to Utah than most people.  The populations are still relatively small here.  Utah was the fastest-growing state for years.  It is Morman and very different.

BYU is the U and it is supported/owned by the church.  Everyone is Morman (or knows or wants to live with Mormans) and the University of Utah has a much harder time.  It is not a great school, but the "morality," aka, different lifestyle, catches on.  It is everywhere.

KSL.com and Deseret News are different too, and anyone can read the comments about Whittingham to Michigan.  These people know.  Almost everyone says "I hope he kills it."

And he just may do that.  Positive of course.

Who is the most powerful person on U-M's campus?  The head football coach.  Five years at $8 million a pop means they're serious.

Bye bye gangster players, coaches, and image.

It may take a short while to take out the garbage--the Poggi, Manuel, and others.  But the writing is alredy on the here are already rumors of new staff.  Here's an idea:  Why not put Manuel's desk two feet outside the head coaches door?

More after the jump. 

Michigan got exactly what they deserve.

Kyle Whittingham is an excellent, experienced coach with an unusually clean life and reputation.

(Game on.  First Barf Poggi and then Wardy.  Gross.)

Whittingham is not a great recruiter and Michigan needs great talent to beat, for instance, Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon.

Virtually his entire career is as coach at the same school in Utah.  He went to high school in Provo and went to and played at BYU.

He has no experience in Michigan or, well, you could call Ann Arbor Detroit.

He has no experience in the Big Ten.

Whittingham is capable now but he is 66 and not (very) long term.  Generally, 70-year old coaches do not fare well.  Nick Saban retired at 72; right now, Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll are not doing great.

Perhaps Coach Whittingham benefited from older LDS/post-missionary players.  Thirty-six percent Mormon at U of U seems low to me but that is figure on the web.  Possibly, the team there is around half LDS.

Mormonism could be new and even disruptive in and at Michigan.  Coaches and players for Utah in Michigan...  It is a different world, and often it includes proselytising.

As long as Wardy is in charge it is impossible to be optimistic about the arrogance and violation problems in the athletic department.  

New or recent Big Ten coaches take at least one or two years to affect change.  Note Lanning, Rhule, Bielema, Fisch.  It seems to require acclimation and position by position improvement (as Mark Dantonio used to say).

Michigan has already lost three highly-rated recruits in the current class. 

Most importantly, Michigan's roster needs a serious upgrade.  Moore, El-Hadi, and Barnham as possible draftees is way below average.  Who knows how many others will leave.  It is a big task and Kyle Whittingham will work on it.  I'm sorry, the short term prognosis does not look good.