Utah athletic director Mark Harlan probably did not expect his letter of displeasure to be made public when he wrote to Kyle Whittingham back in January. The 56-year-old was not happy with how the former college football coach in Salt Lake City assembled his new staff at Michigan.
He claims it was a violation of their separation agreement.
Right or wrong, the Utes chose not to pursue any further legal action regarding a breach of contract because they thought it would be a bad look for the university to go after a college football coach who did not want to leave in the first place. They were right. The leaked correspondance between the two parties does not reflect well on Utah. It’s super lame.
Kyle Whittingham did not want to leave!
Whittingham first joined the coaching staff at the University of Utah in 1994. He worked his way up to defensive coordinator and, after one full decade with the program, was named as the head coach.
The former BYU linebacker actually turned down the head coaching job at his alma mater to take the same job at its biggest rival. Whittingham became synonymous with the Utes over the last two decades. He had only three losing seasons in 23 years with 177 total wins and went undefeated in 2008. Utah won two Pac-12 championships and made three New Year’s Six Bowl appearances. He went 10-2 in 2025.
Harlan still decided it was time for a change.
Whittingham wanted to stay on as the head football coach at Utah. Utah effectively forced him out.
Morgan Scalley, who was named the “coach in waiting” just 18 months prior, was promoted to full-time head coach. Most people expected Whittingham to retire but that was never the plan.
And then the whole thing with Sherrone Moore went down at Michigan, which left the Wolverines in need of a head coach. They decided to go with a proven winner. His name is Kyle Whittingham!
The 66-year-old brought offensive coordinator Jason Beck and offensive line coach Jim Harding with him from Salt Lake City to Ann Arbor along with several defensive assistants. That apparently did not go over well at Utah.
Utah is upset with how its former college football coach assembled his new staff at Michigan.
In a contract amendment obtained by The Athletic, Whittingham and Utah agreed to a “transition bonus” buyout. $13.5 million was to paid in three installments from 2026 through 2028. It included very specific wording about the expectations of his departure.
“Coach Whittingham agrees that he will work with the university and its athletics department to facilitate a smooth and successful transition of the football program to the incoming head coach of the football program and its coaching staff.”
Mark Harlan does not think his former head coach lived up to his agreement. He claims Whittingham violated the language of their separation agreement by hiring Beck, Harding and others.
“As you know, the university was disappointed by your actions last month,” Harlan wrote in a letter to Whittingham. “The university felt that your involvement with recruiting our football coaches and staff to Michigan was contrary to the terms of your employment agreement which requires you to assist with a smooth and successful transition of the football program to the new coach and his coaching staff.”
Harlan ultimately chose not to escalate the matter beyond a written reprimand. He decided that a “fight over this issue would not be in the long-term interests of the university.” He was right.
Even if the contract required Whittingham to help with a smooth transition, it is indeed a tough look for Utah to be upset with the coach they forced out because he hired his most important staffers at a new school. What did the Utes expect?
To squeeze out the longest-tenured coach in school history is one thing. To then expect him not to put himself in the best position to succeed at his next job because it might impact his former employer is laughable. That’s just business.