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Coaches Progress Report: Evaluating Kyle Whittingham, Lane Kiffin & other New Head Coaches

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Coaches Progress Report: Evaluating Kyle Whittingham, Lane Kiffin & other New Head Coaches

The Joel Klan Show delivers a detailed progress report on first-year head coaches across major college programs, evaluating their performance against realistic expectations. Kyle Whittingham at Michigan is below expectations due to a misfit between his side-to-side offensive scheme and players who prefer downhill runs, compounded by poor protection and predetermined quarterback decisions. Despite initial optimism, the offense lacks consistency and has not met the goal of contending for a Big Ten title. In contrast, Bob Chesney at UCLA exceeds expectations by revitalizing competitiveness, recruiting, and fan engagement, moving the program from irrelevance to national recognition. Lane Kiffin at LSU meets expectations with a strong defensive pass rush and early wins, though playoff success is still distant. Matt Campbell at Penn State is below expectations, as recent losses and a weak performance against top teams suggest a program in decline. Will Stein at Kentucky exceeds expectations through key SEC road wins, establishing a credible mid-tier presence. Eric Morris at Oklahoma State surpasses expectations with a dominant, high-yielding offense and a return to Big 12 title contention. The analysis also notes that Morgan Scali at Utah is meeting expectations, maintaining the program’s top-tier status, while John Summerall at Florida is meeting expectations despite a disappointing loss to Ole Miss. Overall, the report highlights that success in first-year coaching depends on program context—some teams like UCLA and Oklahoma State see dramatic improvement, while others like Michigan and Penn State face significant challenges. The show emphasizes that stability, player fit, and execution are critical factors in long-term success.

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a lot of us on paper thought that this was going to be a marriage that really worked out. But it hasn't materialized. There is a fit issue right now. That roster is an Iowa State roster and at times they're not even playing to that level. Can UCLA be like the 24 version of Indiana? Who knows? Who knows? Hey, what's up? Welcome into the Joel Klan Show. I am Joel Klan. This show is sponsored by Hilton Hilton for the stay. We thank them for their support as always and we are here on another Wednesday edition of the program. I got some film study coming up. I'm going to take a deeper dive into the issues that are the Michigan offense. So that's coming straight up. Plus I've got a little progress report mid season. You could call it like a, you know, a mid season progress report for all the new coaches, new coaches, new places, these first year coaches at their locations. We're going to give a bit of a report on how they're doing. So I wanted to jump right into that. We had so many coaches take new jobs last year. The carousel was wild. Some big programs, obviously. Some guys jumping up and leveling up from lower levels into power for programs. Let's start with Michigan and Kyle Whittingham. So here's what I wanted to do is I'm going to set like what was the expectation for these coaches in year one? What was a fan basis expectation? We wanted to make it very realistic and then it's very simple. There's a three way report here. Are you meeting expectations? Are you exceeding expectations? Or are you falling below expectations? That's how we're going to rate these guys in year one here in their new location. Let's start with Kyle Whittingham. Let's start with the expectations and the goals really here since he was hired. If we're being honest, off field stability was the first goal. Okay, so like if you wanted to just like boil it down, you'd be like, okay, we've got some off field stability because of everything that was going on. It's easy to forget with how the season has gone for Michigan here to start the year. It's easy to forget what he inherited and obviously that was not a great situation. So let's start with there. Now, let's go on the field though. And I think if we're all being honest with ourselves and if he's being honest with himself, Kyle, and this is why he went to Michigan. He even talked about this program being a program that is one of national championship. You can do it there. Listen, they want to contend for a playoff spot. I think that's a realistic expectation for Michigan and Michigan fans. They want to return to the tier one of the big 10. They owned the big 10 for a few years there, tail end of Jim, Jim Harboss tenure. They want to get back to that where they're winning the big games and they're going out in their beaten Penn state, their beaten Ohio state. So this is what the expectation is for Kyle waiting him and that might be unfair in year one. But that's what the expectation is. And now what have we gotten? Well, all off season, we kind of wondered what this marriage was going to look like. And more specifically, the marriage between his new offensive coordinator or I should say old offensive coordinator Jason Beck coming to a new spot, that marriage between Beck and Bryce Underwood and what the offense was going to look like. He's also bringing in kind of an old colleague, if you will, and Jay Hill, who coached at Utah a number of years ago, then was the head coach at Utah State was the defense coordinator for BYU over the last couple of years. And he's familiar with him. I think we had less questions about the defensive side of the ball because you would just assume that like, okay, Michigan complete solid defense. They've got good players. And the assumption was on the offensive side that because of what Jason Beck was able to do at Utah last year, that he would come in and transform this offense into something more potent. Remember Utah's offensive numbers prior to last year were as Kyle put it anemic. They did not play very solid on the offensive side of the ball. Jason Beck came in with a transfer quarterback, Devon Damper. They both came from New Mexico and it totally changed. This system that he ran last year was a perfect fit for Utah. They had athletic offensive lineman up front, two first round offensive tackles, explosiveness at the quarterback position and they ran over most of their opponents. Not everyone BYU held him in check, Texas Tech held him in check, but most teams, they got the brunt of that Utah run game. They were a top five offense in college football, one of the best rushing teams in the entire nation. And you thought to yourself, wow, all right. So Michigan who historically runs the ball, great. And that's really what Jim Harbock built this program on in recent vintage. And now you're getting a coordinator that also wants to run the football and is very explosive run the football. I think a lot of us on paper thought that this was going to be a marriage that really worked out and that Bryce Underwood would take a next step. But it hasn't materialized so far. There is a fit issue right now, Michigan's players want to play downhill. This offense is a side to side offense and now Kyle Wittingham and Jason Becker at square one. They're going into a biweek and they're trying to figure out what is this offense going to look like? What do we need to do to succeed? And I want to talk about that right now because here's the deal. I do think it's fixable. I might be in the minority here, but I think it's fixable. And I want to take you to the film to kind of explain that because I think that it's in part philosophy, but it's also in part execution and both of those things can be fixed. Now, I want to start with this. Michigan is not a team that's going to be able to drop back and throw the ball on obvious passing downs. That's that's not underwood strength. It's not their offensive line strength. I'll show you a strength. I'll show you that in some of this film study. And so the crux of what this offense has to be, regardless of philosophy, is good on first down. So you've got to find the areas where you have had success on first down and then find the areas where you're not having success on first down. And I'll tell you this, they have to avoid negative plays like they need to avoid the plague. They have to avoid operational penalties like false starts or or misalignments as far as formation goes. All of those have got to be put by the wayside and they need to find success on first down. But they don't do that. They're not going to have much of a chance. Now Minnesota turns out was a bit of a bad matchup because Minnesota is an aggressive style of defense. They're going to flow upfield quite hard and they're going to make it difficult on the past protection. They're going to make it difficult on that side to side run game. And it's difficult to make decisions in the run game. Okay. So here's what I want to do. I'm going to show you a couple of concepts here. And let me start with this is that if you're going to run a read run game, your quarterback cannot predetermine where he wants to go with the football. It has to be read out post snap and those rules have to be followed. You can't be a guy that's like, you know what, on this one, I'm going to give it to the back or on this one, I'm going to keep it because the defense has to dictate where the ball goes. Rather than you dictating where the ball goes, they're going to tell you where to put the football. It's similar to a passing game. You can't predetermine where you're going to throw the ball. The defense tells you where to throw the football. Now it's on you to go and execute that. And there are times when it feels like watching the film that there is a predetermined hand or handoff or keep in the run game. And let me show you that right here. These are all first down. So again, you're trying to get this, this slow, you know, side to side style offense. And here's what we've got going on right now. You're going to have a running back right here in Marshall and he's going to be on more of a direct path over on the left side. Now under what if he keeps it is going to be running over here on kind of a, almost like a sweep or an outside zone, if you will, trying to get around the edge. So it's more horizontal right here. Now, the read is always kind of the middle linebacker right here because if the middle linebacker goes to this run side, then you obviously want to keep it. But if he stays still or he has any movement towards the quarterback towards the right side of the offense, then that ball has to go to the back plus you've always got to read as a quarterback, not just that second level defender, but any help out of the third level. So if you get any help on that side, you can't account for that player in the blocking scheme. So you've got to be able to hand that football off again. All of this has to happen post snap. So as we see right here, I'll clear it and we'll kind of roll it and we'll get to the mesh point. So as we get to the mesh point right here, okay. So now you've got Jordan Marshall in there and guess what this linebacker is doing. He's staying still now you've got this player down and I just want you to count the players on this side. You've got an unblocked player there for Minnesota here on the outside, the linebacker and the safety. There are four guys on that side of the ball with their eyes all over the quarterback and only one pulling H back to block them. This ball has got to be handed off on that side. This double team can work up to this linebacker. You've got numbers there. So again, you can't predetermine what you're doing with the football. This needs to be a direct run. It's first down. You have numbers on the left side. That ball needs to be handed off and you're going to get four, five, maybe even six or seven on this run. But that's not what happens. He pulls it and he's running around the edge. And yeah, it's, it's a gain of one or two right there, but that's not the right read. That is not the right read. And again, there's a lot of reading going on. That's a lot of side to side going on versus getting downhill in the run game. Let me show you one more example of this and this happened later in the game, another first down. Okay. And now they're actually driving. They're down in this game. At this point, this is the fourth quarter. And now they've actually got a drive that they've completed a couple of passes and they've got some momentum. It's first in 10. You've got to go down and get a score and what are we? call. Okay. Well, you're going to bring Hyder across on kind of the jet sweep right here. And then the quarterback can read it and if he keeps it, he goes to that side. First off, Hyder is not a jet sweep type of runner. Okay. So this is where the fit, the scheme and the players don't mix right here. Okay. So you got Savion Hyder. And now he's going to be asked to run kind of a stretch oriented jet sweep and pick a hole and then get vertical not his forte. He's a big back. He likes to go downhill. But this is the concept that they choose on first down. The read is very similar because you've got a run over there to the right side with the quarterback and kind of a quarterback power. And then you've got the jet on this other side. Okay. So what's the read? Well, I want you to watch the linebackers. I want you to watch the support players and the third level. Where are their eyes? Okay. So now when you start to see this, you start to realize like, yeah, it's predetermined here because as we get the mesh, where are all the defenders? They are going towards the jet sweep. There's a linebacker. Again, you've got one, two, three, four defenders with their eyes all over this wide side of the field and look at the numbers on the opposite side. You've got pullers for a here. You've got another puller to lead up the wide receiver is coming up. He can block. If this ball is kept, it's going to be more direct number one. It's going to be downhill. And it's probably going to gain eight yards on first down, which is what they desperately desperately need. So what happens? The ball is handed off. It's over here on this outside and it's stopped for basically no game. Can't do that. Can't do that. So on first down, we've got to gain positive yards and I think it needs to be more direct. It needs to be taken out of the quarterbacks hand and you've got to get downhill and get after the defense. So again, let me go back to what I said initially. Can it be fixed? Yes. Because at times you see them do this well. This is another first down. This is actually the first drive of the of the entire game. Watch the direct run out of the back. And then I also want you to watch this offensive line right here in the middle of this defensive line. Watch the movement that they get being direct going downhill. It's not even blocked perfectly. They've got actually free players in here in the run box from a defensive perspective. But watch the difference. There's the mesh right there. And then you're going to see these double teams just start to get movement right down the field and you're going to end up seeing this running back and you're going to gain five, six, seven, eight yards. It's just a massive difference when they decide to get downhill. Run down. It fits their backs. It fits their offensive lineman. The quarterback doesn't have to make as many reads even though I think on that play he was also reading that edge, but he gives it anyways and they get downhill and they have success on first down. So that's the run game fix. They've got a succeed going downhill on first down. That's one of the things that I think they need to do. Now let me get into the passing game really quickly because the passing game, there's two issues right now. One is in protection. The other is in predetermined decisions from the quarterback. So what you're going to see on this, and this is one of the interception. So first, let me kind of diagram the pocket and then I'll talk about the decision that the quarterback makes. First and foremost, you want to always make a pocket where your quarterback is clean, right? So you want everything to stay on the edges of that circle, kind of like that. So these rushers, you want to force defensive ends out and around so that the quarterback has a space in the pocket where he can read things out, make a decision, and then throw an accurate ball. They don't do that though because of this fold protection that they use, what's fold protection where you're going to come down downhill from this right side to left side. And then what happens is is that they pull a guard over to block the end and they have the back come to block the end. But I want you to watch the pocket as it collapse because you're going to see the defensive end come right into the face of the quarterback right here. And then it makes it very difficult on him to make the read. So now here's that fold blocking scene. Look at the run that the defensive end gets. So he's heavy up field. The quarterback feels that. Now what's going on on the outside? Well, this is where I think he predetermines where he wants to throw the football because Andrew Marsh is going to be running a go-rout on the outside. And JJ Buchanan is going to be following him on a little bit of a wheel. Now you always anticipate because there's a single safety in the middle of the field that that corner on the outside is going to get deep. You expect him to get deep because he's got deep responsibility. But here's the thing. You've got to read it out because the corner is the read. If he sits, you throw the go route. If he bales, you throw the wheel route. You're putting him in conflict. That defender over there cannot be right unless you as a quarterback predetermined the throw. So the protection is not great because the defensive end is in his lap. And now watch as the corner sits right here. And then he's still decides to throw the wheel route. Andrew Marsh is wide open. It's going to be a touchdown. A predetermined throw hurts them. The pockets not right. The full protection is not right. All of that needs to change. And to stay out of those types of situations, obvious passing situations, they need to run downhill on first down. So all of that being said, I told you I would do a little bit of a deeper dive into their film. That's it right there. So let's give a progress report right now on Kyle Wittingham. And I think that this is a progress report that even he would admit to. And that is their below expectations at this point, losing to Minnesota's below expectations. I think that the loss to Iowa was one thing in particular when they felt like they were more dominant than their opposition in that game. But that game and their offensive performance, he knows that that's not the expectation. So they're below expectations. Right now there are 177th in the country and yards per carry in their run game. And that has to change from Michigan going forward. Okay. Some other guys first year coaches in their current locations. Let's take a look at Bob Chesney at UCLA. All right. Get out of the doom and gloom and start looking at someone that's really excelling right now. First the goals, if you're UCLA and you're a fan for UCLA, I think if you're really honest with yourself, you wanted two things. You wanted relevancy and some competitiveness. Like that's kind of what they wanted because they weren't relevant and they were not competitive prior to Bob Chesney last year was a disaster. Now I think that we can understand that these coaches in their first year at these locations, the expectations are vastly different, right? But this is a much lower bar than what Kyle Wittingham has at Michigan. And that's okay. And that's okay. And that we're going to be rating best based on these expectations and goals. The bar is much lower for Chesney and we understand that. But here's the deal. I think there are times when it's easier to go into a tear down rather than to go into like a remodel, right? Just to give a bad analogy, you walk into a house and it's like, yeah, gosh, it's good. But I've got to renovate it and there's this wall that I don't really love and the style is not really my style. But can I make it work probably? And like, you know, that's a renovation. That's like Michigan, right? But you go in at UCLA and you're like, oh, yeah, I'm just paying for the dirt here. Like, let's go. It's a tear down. And at times that can be a lot easier because he can have his entire fingerprint over that program right away. There's nobody sitting in that UCLA locker room that can sit there and be like, well, this is the way we used to do it. That doesn't exist at UCLA. So he has full autonomy speaking of Bob Chesney to go in there and do what he wishes and do what he pleases and everyone's going to follow him versus the tug of war style that Kyle Wittingham is going to have at Michigan because those players, ten of the offensive players of the 11 offensive players were recruited to play a very specific style of football that, by the way, worked at one nine games and one of national championship not too long ago, right? So those players are sitting there and they're like, hey, this is how we used to do it. And guess what? They have a point to some degree, but that's not the case at UCLA. And for Bob Chesney, I think that that that presents almost an easier path. Now you're starting from a lower area, but you're trying to reach a lower bar and you get to tear it down and it's, you've got full autonomy. This is a sign, a signety model. You bring your players, you bring your coaching staff. It's all yours. And they're off to an incredible start. They're four or no. They're running the ball like crazy. They're one of the best teams Russian, the football and college football. They've got a great test this weekend as they travel to go face the Oregon ducks. And here's the thing. There's buzz about UCLA. So when I talk about relevance, it's not just being competitive on the field. It's like, what does it look like and sound like in your fan base? What does it look like and sound like in your recruiting efforts? And I think both of those things are important and there needed to be important for UCLA. Both of those things had fallen off drastically in the last couple of years. Well, I certainly hear a lot more fans out there talking about UCLA grant. I live in Southern California, but there's a bit of a buzz. They're getting talked about on national programs like this one and others because of what Bob Chesney has done. And what that that's also done is translate to recruiting. Did you know that they are right now 17th in the country for their upcoming class? Do you know that USC is only a few spots ahead of them right now? Like they've got major buzz. The last five years, that was not the case. The last five years in recruiting UCLA was 60 second, 41st, 90th, 37th and 61st. They're relevant. Bob Chesney is exceeding expectations right now at UCLA. And by the way, I don't know if it matters what happens in Eugene. Yes, they'd love to play well. And my goodness, they would love to win because with the rest of their schedule, they can start thinking about a college football playoff appearance. if they were to beat Oregon in Eugene this weekend. But even if they don't, he's exceeding the expectations because let's be honest about what those expectations were, relevance and competitiveness. They're that 100% and he's doing an excellent job. And if he continues to recruit, if they continue to remain relevant on the recruiting trail, then this will continue. You know, this is signety 2.0. Both came from JMU and who knows? Who knows? Who knows? By the way, Trip works on the show. He's our UCLA guy here. So when I'm in studio like this, I can hear him in the back and he's always like, yeah, so it's no longer cat. Cat. Hope you're doing well. Catherine Cordagio was an amazing producer of ours. She's moved on. Now she lives in Nashville. She was always a Tennessee fan. So when I'll talk about Tennessee, good, bad and different. She'd give a whoo. Now it's trip in the back. And he's always like, he's always loving up on UCLA. See. All right, sir. How about Lane Kiffin? First year guy at LSU. What are his expectations? What are his goals? Let's think about that. I think for LSU fans, it's returned to tier one of the SEC and make the playoff. Not just contend for the playoff and make the playoff. That's what people are expecting. This is what you expect. When you pull this guy out of a playoff race with Ole Miss, when you deal with all the crap that comes with Lane Kiffin and the attention that he gets, and he's trying to sign NFL players. And he's got the Instagram models going on and all you know, I mean, he's got everything going on, right? He's got quarterbacks on the injury report. It's a circus with Lane. But why do you do that? Because you want to return to tier one of the SEC and you want to make the playoff. He's got a ton of resources down there. They've, they're fully resourced up. And I know I probably shouldn't do this, but I kind of understand losing that game to Ole Miss. There was a lot of teams that would lose in an environment like that. That was supercharged, super emotional, supercharged. And they lost that game to Ole Miss. But we said during the summer that if they could get through those first four games as a three and one, and that would include win over Clemson and A&M. And now I don't think Clemson and A&M are that great. But I do know one thing. This LSU defense can play. They were coming back and they were almost going to win that game against Ole Miss in the middle of that environment. Now I thought Lane made a couple of poor play calls in particular inside the five yard line. But like they're kind of where they need to be at this point. And they have what I think is the most important thing to have in the SEC. And that is a pass rush. They can get after the passer. They've got things on the defensive side that will cause major problems for their direct schedule and competitors. Mississippi State, Camario Taylor. He's got to sit there and read that deep choice concept that they like to run with Jeff Levy from the art briles tree. What do you need? Pass rush. They've got it. Keelan Russell with Kaylyn DeBoer. He's got all day to throw. And if he's got all day to throw, you will lose. You will lose Rocky IV. Keelan Russell, you got to get after him. They have a pass rush. They play Texas arch. When does arch struggle? When you put them in conflict. When you put pressure on him, he has not played well. Texas has not played well after they are right now kind of like a paper number one great resume inconsistent team. Don't look now, but like Ellis, you could absolutely make a run to the SEC championship because they are strong in the exact area that you would build a team to be strong to face the schedule that they've got. So what is Lane doing right now? I think he's meeting expectations. He can't exceed yet. The only way for Lane to exceed expectations is to go to the playoff go all the way to the national semi final and maybe even the national championship game. But right now, I think Ellis, you people are like, yeah, we're going with this. He's meeting our expectations. How about Matt Campbell at Penn State? Wolf. What are the year one goals? What is the expectation for Matt Campbell? Well, the expectation is to go further than what James Franklin had given them. James Franklin had given them a program with an insanely high floor, but unfortunately a low ceiling, okay? James Franklin beat everybody that he should be and he could not beat the teams that they desperately wanted him to beat. So they didn't beat Michigan. They didn't beat Ohio State. They couldn't beat Notre Dame in the national semi final, but they were there. And a lot of those games were close. They would beat Wisconsin. They would win all the games that they should win. And so for Matt Campbell, it was win the big games in the big 10. We expected Matt Campbell's floor to be quite high as well coming from Iowa State in the program that he had built at Iowa State. We thought that that the retention of what James had built and a guy like Matt Campbell that the floor would remain high. And here's the problem. That floor is way lower. And the last two weeks, it has gotten bad for Penn state. The last six quarters of football for the Knitney Lions, they had the blown lead against Wisconsin. Then they allowed what 413 yards to Northwestern. This is not what they signed up for. And I use it as a case study in caution to USC because everyone at USC is kind of the same thing. I think USC right now has a pretty high floor. And everyone wants them to look, well, take the next step. Maybe we need to make a change to take the next step. Well, that's exactly where Penn state was. And I love Matt Campbell. I think Matt's a really good coach. But this clearly clearly has taken a step back. The last six quarters of football have not been good. I think this might be more of a rebuild than we realized, you know, that that roster is an Iowa State roster. And, you know, at times, they're not even playing to that level. And so they've got some work cut out for them. We forgot that James Franklin, how successful he was. I think people were just kind of like tired of it. And like, we've got to change. You never change for change sake. You only change to be better in life and in college football. Just remember that progress report below expectations for Matt Campbell. I think that that one's a pretty easy one. How about Will Stein at Kentucky? If you're thinking about the goals and establishing expectations for Will Stein, I think that you would, if you're Kentucky, you know, you're coming off the stupes era. And I think for Will Stein, it's like, Hey, can you establish us as like a true, this is going to sound bad, middle SEC team? Like, can we just be like middle to top half? Because I think you know, Kentucky fans would be like, you know, I would take that, I would take that right now. And Will's got Kentucky just outside of the top 25. I think that this has been a great start. Now, Grant, they didn't play great in the second half against Alabama. But man, how about a couple of their road wins in SEC play? They go to A&M, get a win. They go to South Carolina and get a win. That was an emotional win. Obviously with the two point conversion, a good call by Will. Will's a really good coach. He was at UTSA. Then he goes up and follows Kenny Dillingham as Dillingham left Oregon. Will Stein went up to Oregon. He was the OC there for Dan landing. Now he's got his own program played his college ball at Louisville. He's been, you know, he's around that area. I think he can succeed there. I don't know what level Kentucky can ever get to in the SEC. But if you're asking him to establish a top half SEC program, you're kind of seeing it. What do you need to do to be a top half program? Beat the bad teams. A&M might be bad this year. South Carolina, certainly bad this year. And I think those two road wins are a great start. Now, we'll see if they can keep it up. They've got, you know, a step up this week. We saw when they tried to level up to Alabama. It wasn't close. They've got another one of those types of games with LSU this week. We'll see if they can level up. But at this point, I think if you're a Kentucky fan, you're saying to yourself, like, I think Will Stein's exceeding our expectations right now, right? Like those road wins in the SEC, not easy to come by. I think that he's doing a heck of a job. There's relevancy there. It's, it's a little bit like Bob Chesney at UCLA, like Will has exceeded expectations. I don't think any Kentucky fan realized that it would kind of flip this quick and that they would go and get some of these road wins right away. If you asked the Kentucky fan before the season, hey, you're going to go in and beat Texas A&M in Kyle Field. Would you take it? They'd be like, yep, exceeding expectations. So that's what I give Will Stein there. Hey, college football season is in full swing. And this is the time of year. 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Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later when you go into purchase. Just a huge shout out to SeatGeek. How about Eric Morris at Oklahoma State? Here's the year one goals for Eric Morris. I think Oklahoma State fans were used to Mike Gundy playing at a very high level. Mike Gundy had a bunch of 10 win years. Bunch of 10 way. He was excellent at Oklahoma State. It did not end well. and granted, we know that. One win, Mike Gundy fired, didn't end well. I think they want Oklahoma State to be back as a big 12 title contender, 'cause that's what they were for a long time under Mike Gundy. You know, they were a top tier tier one big 12 title contender, and that's what they want from Eric Morris. This program was in rough shape, and then they went out week one and lost to Tulsa, and it was like, "Oh, no!" That was a rough start. And I bet cowboy fans were like, "Uh, what? What was that?" Don't worry, they just turned around and beat Oregon, and they put up all those rushing hours with 270 plus rushing yards in now, and so they immediately come back, and by the way, they beat Oregon, and they're averaging 600 yards per game over the last three games. It's like the traditional old school big 12 offense, which Oklahoma State fans love. They love that. Think of all the, you know, the Brynn Whedons of the world, and all these guys that have just been throwing it all over, and they've got that a little bit. Mestemaker is outstanding. This, to me, is a team that absolutely is going to contend for a big 12 title this year. I think that they're that good, in particular on the offensive side. So Eric Morris is exceeding expectations. He's right there. He's doing more in his first year than I think they could, they could possibly have hoped for. More than, I think most of us thought that they would be able to do. I think that they're further ahead than a lot, where a lot of us thought they were going to be. John Summerall at Florida. Your one goals returned to the top half of the SEC. I thought this was even a low, low bar for Florida. This is a proud program. Now they have struggled and they've been underachieving for a number of years, what feels like. But he's a coach that seems like he's going to get the most out of them. I know that was a disappointing performance against Missouri last week. I, I'm fully aware, but the gaming is old miss. You're like, all right, you know, I'm into that. Now they've done that before. And so Summerall, what he has to do is he has to make sure that he's not, you know, getting the Napier big win over Ole Miss. And then it's like, and then you, you know, fall by the wayside because that's kind of where we're at right now. So I don't think he's below expectations. And I don't think that he is exceeding expectations. I think right now if I'm a Gator fan, that Ole Miss showed me that I can play at the high end. Last week showed me like, all right, we've got work to do. But I'm meeting expectations. I think that there's buzz. I think that Summerall is doing a nice job. Jayden Bach can run the football. There's no doubt about that. Didn't last week that's going to need to change as they move forward. Last one, James Franklin on the progress report. No, I'm sorry. I've got two more. I've got two more. James Franklin at Virginia Tech. Your one goals compete for an ACC championship game. That might be too high. If I'm giving a pass to John Summerall in Florida, this might be too high. But I put it up there because it's the ACC, right, like it's Virginia Tech. I think that that's what they want eventually, eventually. I thought that was really tough for him to lose his kind of like first big game against pit. And I think that there's going to be some people that are like, oh, this is James Franklin. This is what he does. This is what he did back at Penn State. I think that's unfair. I kicked my gun in, by the way. Like, can we raise the goalpost? What are we doing? I think he's got people thinking about Virginia Tech again, which they weren't for a number of years. This is a program that's got a great fan base. They got Metallica playing as they're coming in. They've got Inter Sandman, all of that going on and he needs to produce at a level that got them competing toward a potential ACC championship game. I think there are some huge games coming later. So I don't think he's below. I don't think he's exceeding. I think he's meeting expectations at this point. Again, they would love that when they've got road game at Clemson. When they push Clemson further down in those ACC hierarchy at SMU, which is a contender for the ACC championship game, they've got Miami and the question then would be like, well, how big is the gap between Miami and everybody else? So James Franklin meeting expectations. Now my last one, Morgan Scali at Utah. Now he's been at Utah for a long time. So it's not his first year at Utah, but it is his first year as the head coach. The goal for Morgan Scali is to keep their kind of tier one position in the big 12 as one of the top big 12 programs. And he has absolutely done that Utah has gone out and taken care of business. Devon Dan Peer has played very well. Their offense is playing well. It does not hurt that they're sitting there and their ranked number 12 in the country and Michigan is unranked with Kyle Whittingham having left Salt Lake and obviously not directly for the Michigan job he retires and then leaves. But listen, that's got to hurt those people at Utah. And I know a lot of people at Utah, by the way, in their administration that were not happy about Kyle leaving. And so this has got to feel good to them that Morgan's got them right where they want to be an on track. They're on track to play BYU in the Holy war later in the year. I think the winner of that game is going to go to Dallas and play for the big 12 title. And if you're playing for the big 12 title, you are 60 minutes away from a spot in the college football playoff. There's only two ranked games left on their schedule. Both are at home. I think it's one of the tougher places to play in the big 12 Houston and BYU both go to Utah. Morgan Scally is meeting expectations. Utah is right where they expect to be want to be. And as a first year head coach, he's doing a really nice job meeting those expectations. So there is the new coaches, progress report, whoo. Am I an easy grader? Am I a hard grader? What do you think about those expectations? Where am I wrong? Where am I right? Leave a comment down below in the YouTube page. Share this. I'd love all of your thoughts on this and I'll try to jump down there and we can kind of converse over it in the YouTube comments. If you haven't subscribed to the show, please do so. If you haven't followed us on social media, all of our stuff lives out there in the social media world, agile class show. And then wherever you're listening, if you are listening as an audio version of this show, first, make sure to go watch that film review that I did earlier today and rate and review us and as always, please tweet.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Kyle Whittingham at Michigan is below expectations due to a misalignment between his offensive scheme and player preferences, particularly in the run game where players are not suited for side-to-side reads.
  2. Michigan’s offense struggles with predetermined decisions and poor protection, leading to ineffective passing and frequent turnovers, especially in obvious passing situations.
  3. The run game must shift to a downhill, direct style to generate consistent yardage, as demonstrated by successful plays where the offense gains 5–8 yards on first down.
  4. Bob Chesney at UCLA is exceeding expectations by revitalizing competitiveness, recruiting success, and fan engagement, transforming the program from a struggling to a relevant and buzzed-about team.
  5. Lane Kiffin at LSU is meeting expectations with a strong defensive pass rush and early wins, though playoff contention remains unproven.
  6. Matt Campbell at Penn State is below expectations after a steep decline in performance, with poor results against top-tier opponents and a roster that fails to match Iowa State’s standards.
  7. Will Stein at Kentucky is exceeding expectations by securing key road wins in the SEC, establishing a credible presence in a competitive conference.
  8. Eric Morris at Oklahoma State is exceeding expectations with a dominant, high-scoring offense and a strong return to Big 12 title contention.

Summary:

The Joel Klan Show delivers a detailed progress report on first-year head coaches across major college programs, evaluating their performance against realistic expectations. Kyle Whittingham at Michigan is below expectations due to a misfit between his side-to-side offensive scheme and players who prefer downhill runs, compounded by poor protection and predetermined quarterback decisions. Despite initial optimism, the offense lacks consistency and has not met the goal of contending for a Big Ten title.

In contrast, Bob Chesney at UCLA exceeds expectations by revitalizing competitiveness, recruiting, and fan engagement, moving the program from irrelevance to national recognition. Lane Kiffin at LSU meets expectations with a strong defensive pass rush and early wins, though playoff success is still distant. Matt Campbell at Penn State is below expectations, as recent losses and a weak performance against top teams suggest a program in decline.

Will Stein at Kentucky exceeds expectations through key SEC road wins, establishing a credible mid-tier presence. Eric Morris at Oklahoma State surpasses expectations with a dominant, high-yielding offense and a return to Big 12 title contention. The analysis also notes that Morgan Scali at Utah is meeting expectations, maintaining the program’s top-tier status, while John Summerall at Florida is meeting expectations despite a disappointing loss to Ole Miss.

Overall, the report highlights that success in first-year coaching depends on program context—some teams like UCLA and Oklahoma State see dramatic improvement, while others like Michigan and Penn State face significant challenges. The show emphasizes that stability, player fit, and execution are critical factors in long-term success.

FAQs

No, Kyle Whittingham is below expectations at Michigan. The team's offensive performance, particularly in the run game, has not met the standards set for a playoff-contending program. The run game is currently ranked 177th in the nation in yards per carry, and there are ongoing issues with offensive scheme fit and execution.

The primary issues are a lack of fit between the offensive philosophy and the players' preferences. The side-to-side run game fails to align with players' desire for downhill runs. Additionally, the quarterback often makes predetermined decisions, and the offensive line struggles with protection, leading to poor execution on first down.

Yes, Michigan's run game can be improved. The coach believes it's fixable by shifting to a more direct, downhill run game on first down. This style better suits the players' strengths and offensive line capabilities, resulting in more consistent and positive yardage gains.

Bob Chesney is exceeding expectations at UCLA. He has revitalized the program by improving competitiveness, recruiting, and fan engagement. UCLA is now ranked 17th in the nation for upcoming recruiting and has gained national attention, signaling a significant turnaround from previous years.

Lane Kiffin's goal is to return LSU to the top of the SEC and make a playoff run. While the team has not yet achieved that, they are meeting expectations with a strong defensive pass rush and a solid foundation. A playoff appearance would be needed to exceed expectations.

Matt Campbell is below expectations at Penn State. The team has struggled with poor defensive performances, including a blown lead against Wisconsin and a 413-yard loss to Northwestern. The roster appears to lack the consistency of previous years, indicating a potential rebuild is needed.

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