Kyle Whittingham’s departure from Utah didn’t surprise many since the Utes already had a head coach-in-waiting. The same can’t be said about his decision to join Michigan. When faced with the decision to take on the challenge, the former Utah head coach turned to his friend and mentor, Urban Meyer, who doesn’t have anything good to say about the Wolverines. Even then, the former Ohio State head coach could see how the opportunity made sense.
“I’m a Buckeye, so my first thought was, ‘What?’” Meyer told On3‘s Chris Low. “He’s my friend. Kyle and I are really close, but it didn’t take long for me to put two and two together. Not only did I tell him that I think it was a great move, but it was exactly what that school in Ann Arbor needed. They fell into the perfect guy.”
Meyer served as the Utes’ head coach from 2003 to 2004, with Whittingham serving as his assistant. While the pair struck a remarkable friendship during their time together, Meyer went on to coach Ohio State from 2012 to 2018, a program with a storied rivalry against the Wolverines…