Losing is the single worst thing that any head coach can do in college football. The second worst thing is probably trying to deflect from those losing.
Kyle Whittingham is not making a lot of friends with the way he has tried to ingratiate himself into Michigan.
Less than a year into his tenure, Whittingham feels like a fish out of water with the way he has spoken about a lot of different aspects of the Michigan program.
His postgame comments on Saturday were just another mark against him as the Wolverines try to dig out of a 4-3 start.
Unless you ask Whittingham, then 4-3 isn’t that bad and they must be good because they were able to take a game down to the wire against the number six team in the country.
“If that’s a number six team in the country, then we’re a pretty good football team even though we’re sitting at 4-3,” Whittingham said.
Two years removed from a national championship, those are the comments of the head coach of the winningest program in the history of college football. They’re good even though they’ve won just one more game than they’ve lost.
Former Quarterback Checks In
Former Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner has made a name for himself in the media landscape. He is one of the top commentators on FOX, and calls games every week.
In addition, he hosts a weekly show with former Michigan tight end Jake Butt.
Gardner has been outspoken on some issues in the past. He was sounding the alarms on Bryce Underwood long before Underwood took a seat on the bench. He had plenty to say about Sherrone Moore’s tenure as a head coach, as well as last year’s coaching search that led to Whittingham being hired.
Gardner spoke on his show, and was not happy with the way that Whittingham presented himself in regards to the program.
“You seem surprised,” Gardner said to Butt.
“I’m not surprised. What have we seen from Coach Whittingham? The devaluing of the rivalry against Ohio State. That’s just a fact, it’s not that important. It’s important but is it? I don’t hate them. I saw some comments about the jug how it’s not htat big of a deal kind of. That’s not something you say. I don’t know if it’s just I’m a little older and I don’t care about winning the press conference. Or I’m a little older and I don’t care that what I say has an impact because I’m dealing with 18, 19, to 22 (year olds). Because now if you’re 18, 19, 22, you’re thinking ‘yeah we are pretty good’.
"Instead of looking and saying that is not good enough period. So I wasn’t surprised by those comments. I was just like that’s right in line with what we heard. Starters aren’t going to play in spring. All the stuff, I have not been on board with any of it. This is just the latest thing our head coach has said that just don’t sound like what we expect Michigan to sound like two years after a national championship.”
You can find the full episode of The Blue Print here.
Fish Out of Water
Gardner’s comments have exposed a bigger problem. All the detracting points about Whittingham getting the Michigan job have reared their ugly head in just 10 months time.
Whittingham admitted he does not hate Ohio State. He kind of scoffed at the notion that he should.
Realistically, is that a big deal? No. His fanbase and program, however, thinks that it is.
The same is true of Gardner’s comments devaluing winning the game against Minnesota. The Little Brown Jug game is a trophy game. Whittingham essentially admitted he didn’t know want to emphasize it.
“Every game’s a trophy game to me, so I don’t want to put any more emphasis on it,” Whittingham said on the “Inside Michigan Football” radio show. “We put as much emphasis on every game as we possibly can.”
Again, fair point, but everyone knows some games are more important than others at every program.
The Ohio State game matters more than the Rutgers game. It’s just true.
The biggest point that Gardner hits on, however, is his final point.
Whittingham’s message that his team is pretty good while sitting at 4-3 likely resonates with his team. Maybe 4-3 was good enough at Utah. Maybe scratching for bowl eligibility was good enough at Utah.
Utah is not Michigan. Expectations are a privilege, and the Wolverines’ program has earned it over time.
If Jim Harbaugh, Brady Hoke, Rich Rodriguez, Lloyd Carr, or any coach dating all the way back to Bo Schembechler was sitting at 4-3, the consensus on the outside would be that Michigan was not playing well enough.
Instead, Whittingham said his team was pretty good if they were able to compete with the number six team in the country.
The goal at Michigan is to be number one.
Devin Gardner, a former Michigan player, certainly understands that.
Unfortunately, it does not appear that the person in charge of Gardner’s alma mater, does.
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