MI Football Hires Utah's Kyle Whittingham To Be Next Coach: Report

ANN ARBOR, MI — Michigan Wolverines football hired Utah Utes' Kyle Whittingham to be the team's next coach Friday, according to ESPN.

The two agreed to a five-year deal, according to the report.

Whittingham, 66, spent the last 32 years at Utah, including the past 21 as head coach. He is 177-88 as head coach, making him the most successful coach in Utah football history.

He has also won three national Coach of the Year awards, most recently in 2019.

Whittingham was the second-longest tenured head coach in the nation, behind only Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, before he announced earlier this month that he was planning to step down from the Utes and jokingly said he was entering the "transfer portal."

The news comes nearly three weeks after Michigan fired Sherrone Moore for engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member, which the university said "constitutes a clear violation of University policy." Moore had just completed his second season as head coach.

The university named Biff Poggi as interim head coach. Michigan plays Texas next Wednesday in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Utah also plays Wednesday in the Las Vegas Bowl against Nebraska.