Hour 3: Michigan Head Coach Kyle Whittingham, plus Jets’ & Giants’ 2026 Outlooks

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0:30Rich Eisen:so good so good so good spring styles are at nordstrom rack stores now and they're up to 60 off stock up and save on rag and bone made well vince all saints and more of your favorites how did i not know rack has adidas why do we rack for the hottest deal just so many good brands join the nordy club to unlock exclusive discounts shop new arrivals first and more plus buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free great brands great prices that's why you rack This is The Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere.

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1:30Rich Eisen:Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Rich Eisen Show. Oh, look at Steve Curry. Uh-oh, Steve, don't get thrown out. Eagle, what? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. You look at the top picks, except for the Jets, are on to a new coach. Earlier on the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Cowher, Fox Sports NFL analyst Mark Schlurin. Coming up, Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Always love having Bill Cowher on the program, as we did in hour number one. I go way back with him, like a car seat to Thursday night football on the NFL Network when it was a CBS product for a couple of years.

2:15Rich Eisen:And he was the first coach to ever stop by the NFL Network set after a Super Bowl win because Bill Belichick went right past us the first two years. Bob Kraft stopped by with the trophy. So I've known Bill for a very long time. Schlereth I've known for 20 plus years as well. Our next guest I've never met, but he has no idea. He's my best friend forever. My new BFF, head coach of Michigan football. Ladies and gentlemen, Kyle Whittingham is here on the program. How you doing, coach? I'm doing good. Rich, how are you doing? Are you aware that we're best friends forever? Are you aware of that? I am now.

2:48Rich Eisen:Very good. I am not. And friendship accepted. How about that? Fantastic. I have committed to you in the friendship portal. That's what I've committed. I'm all in. I'm all in. And I come free. I come free, too. I work cheap as a friend. That's very refreshing.

3:07Rich Eisen:Okay. You finally got your breath and your legs under you? Coach, what do you think? Yeah, it's been a whirlwind. Drinking from a fire hose, obviously, the first few weeks. But things are starting to get settled in. We've got all our new early enrollees in here. We'll get going in the weight room next week. And as soon as that happens, then everything is business as usual. All right. If you don't mind, I want to hit a little bit of the way back machine here to way back in mid-December. You know, and I'm sure you've heard this from a bunch of Michigan folk like myself that are basically throwing themselves at you.

3:42Rich Eisen:Thankful that you are in our world. My my hair was on fire, whatever my remaining hair was on fire based on everything that was going on. And then I read on my phone an alert that you were leaving Utah, retiring. And I'm like, wait a minute, what in the world is this? Because I immediately thought there could be some sort of rescue plan for our program through you. Were you still thinking of coaching on that day that I'm reading this on my phone? I was. I felt like I had some gas in the tank. And that's why I didn't use the word retire. You know, it was a step down situation at Utah. I just felt the time was right.

4:20You know, we're coming off a really good year. and I'd been there a long time and felt that maybe it was time for the program to have a new voice, a new leader. We had named our defensive coordinator, Morgan Scali, the coach-in-waiting, probably about a year and a half prior to that. So I thought, hey, you know, let's end on a positive and not be that guy that wears out as welcome.

4:40Rich Eisen:Okay, and so in that regard, were you reaching out to Michigan at that point? You know what? I don't know what the first contact was. It was through my agent. And so it was shortly thereafter when I stepped down that he said, hey, do you have interest in Michigan? And I said, who wouldn't? I mean, it's the top five job in the country. And really, you can count on one hand the number of schools that I would have been interested in because I was not completely bent and determined that, hey, I got to keep coaching. But for the right situation, I was more than willing to listen. And this is absolutely the right situation here.

5:15Rich Eisen:Why do you think? Why is it a right situation for you? It's Michigan. Like I said, a top five job, excellent athletes, phenomenal tradition, resources. You got it all here. I mean, I was strolling through the building there just back in October, brought my youngest son to the game against Wisconsin. And I mean, the facilities there are nothing like they used to be. It's beautiful. There's a lot going on there. And I'm wondering what you thought of also when I saw you and your wife walked through the big house after you came out, you went through Chrysler watching the hoops team, you won across the street and went in the football stadium.

5:55Rich Eisen:What was striking you when you walked in there? Well, just like I said, tradition, you know, the place reeks of tradition. It's, you know, one of the most traditional programs, if not the most in the country. The big house, we've all, we've played there three times actually during my time at Utah, but to see it in that setting, with nobody there. It's an awesome sight. The Chrysler Arena was incredible. The basketball team, man, what more can you say about them? Number one in the country. And I get to go to the hockey game this weekend. I'm the puck dropper. I'm the honorary puck. Oh, you are.

6:26Yeah, for the number one hockey team in the country. So we're playing Notre Dame Friday and Saturday night, so I'm fired up about that.

6:32Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, it's not too far from your office. Yost Ice Arena is just across the parking lot right there, and that's one of the greatest barns, by the way, anywhere If anybody wants to ever see a hockey game in an old school barn, that's one of them. Kyle Whittingham of Michigan football here on the Rich Eisen Show. And last night, again, I'm just so happy sometimes when I'm looking at my phone, which I'm not supposed to do with my children being around, but I saw Bryce Underwood posting he's staying. What was your conversation with the kid, Coach? Well, you know, he's the first guy I met with.

7:04I went down to the bowl site when they were down in the Citrus Bowl and sat down with Bryce. what a great kid what a young man I guess and what a great attitude he was saying all the right things and I just had a good feeling at that time that you know he was more than likely going to return with us and made it official last night and that gives us a great start on on retention and and you know trying to make as many of the players here in the program as we can stick with us.

7:33Rich Eisen:And again, I'm going to ask you a development question here, even though he's you know, he's just committed to stay and you've only seen him with your own two eyes, I imagine once. And that was that bowl game against Texas. What how can you coach him up? How can you get him to the point where, again, I watched him against Ohio State. It didn't seem like to be honest with you, he was seeing the field very well. It was a big time environment, as we all know. He's used to that. He's used to the bright lights since he was a prep star. How can you coach him up? What do you see there that you can work on?

8:07Rich Eisen:Well, that's our job. The raw talent is the ceiling is so high. Jason Beck, our offensive coordinator, is an absolute master at developing the quarterback. He played quarterback. The quarterbacks that he has trained and worked with have all had success. Devin Dampierre last year was a tremendous player for us. He ended up eighth or ninth in the country in QBR. are. So he's in good hands here at Michigan. I can promise you that. And Jason will make sure we smooth out, you know, some of the mechanics and some of the things that he does need to work on. So what is that? Honestly, I really would love to get in the nitty gritty footwork.

8:41Rich Eisen:I mean, what are you seeing? What have you seen on film? A little bit of footwork, a little bit of spine angle, the processing, you know, going through the progression. Now, one thing about Jason's scheme, it's very user-friendly. You don't have to immerse yourself in it for a couple of years before you get it. I mean, there's not much of a learning curve, but yet it's effective. We were, what, fifth in the nation last year in total 0, fourth in scoring 0, second in rushing 0. So he knows exactly what he wants to do and how to get there. And in this day and age of the portal, where you have so many new guys, you better have a very user-friendly system on both sides of the ball.

9:15You can't be complicated anymore. You got to plug in 40, 50 new guys, and they better be able to help and contribute right away. And if you got too much thinking going on, that's not a good situation.

9:24Rich Eisen:Defensively, what are we looking at for Michigan? Four down front, a 4-2 nickel setup, which is what 90 % of the people base out of these days. It's geared towards 11 personnel. If we go to 12 personnel, then we go ahead and jump into a 4-3 and we substitute with the offense. But it bases out of that 4-2-5 scheme. Okay. And what sort of style can we expect here? Again, I know what University of Utah has done, But Big Ten country, is it any different? Or really, it's just we're still talking about a football field that's 100 yards long and things of that nature? The latter. Exactly that. A lot of pressure, a lot of man coverage, mixing some zone pressures, a little bit of split safety look.

10:11And there you have it. And Jay Hill, our coordinator, I recruited him at Utah. Was an outstanding player there. Finished playing, wanted to become a GA. We hired him on as a GA, finished his GA stint, and we had a full-time spot, hired him for that, and he just kept working his way up through the ranks his last three years. He was down in Provo at BYU and did a phenomenal job with their defense. And he's from my tree and played in our scheme. And the scheme has been tweaked a little bit along the way, but the real essence of it has stayed intact.

10:41Rich Eisen:Okay. And you are aware, again, I understand your background here. You are aware you're not allowed to like Urban Meyer anymore. you're not allowed you just it's not it's not cool it's just not i better i better cancel my date with him on the podcast in this week and i'm going to be on his podcast i'll have to break the news to him well it wouldn't be news to to him that i would say that to you that that is that is for sure i mean but that's i understand you go way back like a car seat but this is this is different now you know what i mean like uh is there anything else that can help you with the culture can how can i help you how can i help you well coming from the rivalry that i just came from saying go blue was was not real natural but now it's become second nature yeah you got to do that have you have you um have you learned the victors yet have you learned the fight song yes i've been studying it i can't verbatim say it word for word understood you know it's hail to the victors valiant yeah okay hail to the conquering heroes you got this played it around the clock uh when we played Michigan those three times when I was the, did you really to, to what, to get your team ready for the nonstop marching band music.

11:49Rich Eisen:Exactly. It must've worked because we're three and O against them.

11:55Rich Eisen:That's awesome. So are you going to play the, the, the Ohio state fight song now? Is that, is that the same thing? Are you going to do that or what? We may do that. We may do, you know, we always have a little something up our sleeve, but that, that probably will be in the equation at some point. Okay. And again, I know I'm stooping you down to my level. It's called little brother. That's Michigan state, right? You got that. You got to refer to them as little brother. And, or, or by the way, let me do you, let me do you this favor. If, because you're a high class guy, I shouldn't be having you stoop down to my level here.

12:26Rich Eisen:But referring to Ohio state as Ohio really pisses them off. That's just one way where if you refer to them as Ohio, not Ohio state, that really gets them upset. Gotcha. More so than the team down South. Well, I mean, we can still say their name. They're the ones who can't wear blue and X out the letter M. They're the children, basically. We're the adults in the room is what I'm saying, okay? And if you come at it from that point of view, you can still maintain your class and just say to people, what are you so upset about? I'm the classy guy here. You know what I mean? That's a way to go about it.

13:04Rich Eisen:I got you. That's one way to do it. Do you like deli food? Do you like deli food? Love deli food. Have you heard of Zingerman's in town? I have, and they were gracious enough to give me a$50 gift certificate when I first got on campus. I'm doubling that. I'm doubling that. I would love for you to have free deli food on me, Kyle. All right. I'll take it. If I may be so, I don't know if I've just, did I commit a violation? I hope I didn't commit. I don't want to get you in trouble. We're good with that. Yeah, okay. And do you like Philly cheesesteaks? I love a good Philly cheesesteak. Mr. Spots.

13:38Rich Eisen:i've taken chris there chris you've been to miss i have been it was fantastic okay there's another you got to go there they would love to have you um what else have you spun the cube yet have you done that have you spun the cube not familiar with it there's a cube that's right next to the michigan union you spin it and it starts the university at least that's the um that's the uh the theory you know all right okay so this is the way all right listen i cannot um tell you what sort of calming influence you've had. I literally was able to sleep better when you took the job. Have you sensed that from Michigan fans that you've come across?

14:18I've got a feel for that, yes. I've got a feel that it's time to put all the drama aside and get back to the business of just football and winning football games. And these players would be commended for the drama, for lack of a better word, that they've experienced last three or four years, you know, to go 9-3 this past season. And, you know, they've handled it very well, and they're to be commended.

14:41Rich Eisen:All right, and I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you again of your deep pass. You played for the Los Angeles Rams in 1987, correct? Yeah, scab ball. Scab ball, yeah. Well, you played for the Rams, and I don't know, it made the rounds that your teammate was Suge Knight. Is that true? That is true. Now, I don't know. I'm not an internet guy. I'm not a rapper. I don't know what exactly that means. But yeah, that's him right there. There you see him right there on the right. Yes. Different teammates. You and he have taken different career paths to 2026. We could just put it that way. But any... You like that, TJ?

15:22Rich Eisen:Any recollections of being a teammate of Shug's back in the day? Zero recollection. Okay. Very good. Well, I just had to throw that out there. but you had that you still have the neck roll from back in the day you know what it is it's in a duffel bag somewhere in my garage okay well we'll take that if you want to autograph that we'll take it for our for our uh our man cave out here or anything you know it's yours because you know we're bffs now i don't know if you're worried i accepted that yeah i'm good with that well i am a michigan man of my word uh i was told i would get you off the show at 15 minutes past the hour i've got eight seconds left i don't want to take up another second of your time because i might feel like I'm stunting the growth of the program.

16:01Rich Eisen:So thanks for the time. Appreciate you, Rich. Thank you for having me on. I thank you for taking the job. I welcome you and your family to the University of Michigan if I may have the temerity to be such to welcome you. And go blue, sir. There you go. Go blue. Kyle Whittingham, everybody, the head coach of the University of Michigan football, as he goes off and says goodbye and he looks healthy and happy and I'm thrilled about all that. Good. There he goes. As he should be. On time. on time. What do you think? How you feeling? Oh, I'm ecstatic. Here's what I feel now after learning the Suge Knight thing, Chris.

16:38Rich Eisen:I feel like someone's got to show, maybe Bryce, someone's got to show Coach the Suge's, Suge Source Award video. Right? And then he goes and recruits, and he can just use that same line, you know, come to Michigan. If you don't want to coach all up in the videos. All up in the videos. Dancing, you know, you don't want your coach all up on TikTok. making instagrams come to michigan i like it i'm sold cosan i'm in we should we're gonna we're gonna take this clip and send it you should we gonna and then he could do the other show things like maybe hold somebody by their no no that's the no no i was thinking more like top hat he could wear blue yeah you know right yes what i mean suge knight and kyle whittingham were on the same Rams team during the strike of 1987.

17:30Rich Eisen:Who would have thunk it? Not me. Different career paths in 2020. You like that one? There's a certain delicate way to put it. There is. Listen, I don't want anything going wrong or sideways with this man. Certainly not anything that comes from his appearance on this program. And I just wanted to get deep into the nitty gritty about what is his plan for Bryce Underwood. That's what I want. and then i want him to understand what he means to the front to all of us here in the university of michigan world and at the end of the day this urban meyer friendship it's just it's gotta go it's gotta go no he's gonna go on his podcast okay sounds good but that's the beautiful part about this thing too is that all the ohio state fans or the ohio fans all of them they know we got the right guy now can we win football games i don't know but in terms of all the holy heck that had broken loose when we were in new york city oh man i was a basket case that was crazy i laid it all out on the air you know i just that's my default whenever there's something that that's emotional i'll just show the emotion i mean that's my default that was a wild night yeah and then wild day and then the next day and then we're wondering what the hell's happening and who we're going for and thank goodness but he would he it made it seem like he was retiring and he was done and he's like no i was thinking of coaching on the spot and i'm glad what we uh but we landed on him and he landed on or with us and he knows good deli food 50 bucks i mean was that a sandwich like two cents a sandwich for him and his wife put a couple zeros on what are you talking about what are we doing 50 bucks but you're doubling it i am you know i'm sending that right now let's take a commercial break general to the si to the sports information director no it's schembeckler hall okay i don't know i know where his office is that's true again Again, if you walk out the back, there's Chrysler, and after that is the football stadium.

19:45Rich Eisen:And if you want to walk out the front door past Bo's statue, there's the Yost Dice Arena. I've got to take you to Michigan. I took him once. You're not allowed. I had a great time. I've been in a big house. You're not allowed. You're not allowed. I had a great time. You're not allowed. In the big house. That was 10 years ago this fall. What was? Us going to Michigan. Was it really? That's 10 years ago. That's right. When Jim had me speak to the team and I blacked out. September 16. Ten years. Woof. Damn. It's time for you to go. Yeah. I went back with Coop in. Big House is great. But you didn't speak to the team that time, did you?

20:20Rich Eisen:No. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. No, no, no. I just went as a civilian. You're no civilian. I was an honorary captain. You're a civilian. Jim invited us to hang with the team and watch 8 Mile. We did. We watched 8 Mile with the team before. We ate with the team. We did movie night. Right? That's pretty dope. It was awesome. And then you remember the game against Central Florida. It was raining. We got these cool Jumpman jackets. And Central Florida ripped off this run on their first possession of the game. And that's when it first hit me like, we can't lose with me being the honorary captain.

20:51Rich Eisen:That can't happen. Is it me? Then it was kind of over after that. Then it was. All right. Memory lane. I'm just ecstatic. Can I talk about Kyle Whittingham all day? Sure. It is the Rich Eisen show. All right. We'll take a break. Silver Fox. Hey, coming at you. Maize and blue, but this whole business of liking urban, you've got to work on that. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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