Whittingham said 'not right now' on Beck. Within a day, he fired him

Late Saturday night, at the podium after Michigan State beat Michigan 15-6, Kyle Whittingham was asked whether he would change offensive coordinators. "Not right now, not while I'm sitting here at this podium, no," he said, per ESPN. "But at some point, you've got to have results. ... It's a bottom-line business, and I'll evaluate everything after the season."

On Sunday afternoon he did not wait for the season. Michigan announced that Jason Beck "has been relieved of his duties, effective immediately," and that Jim Harding, the offensive line coach, will serve as interim offensive coordinator for the remainder of the regular season. Whittingham will run a national search for the permanent hire.

"The results have not matched our desired outcome, and I felt that a change in leadership was required for our offense," Whittingham said in the program's release. "We need to put our offensive players and the entire team in the best possible position to be successful." He called Beck "a great man and coach" and said "it did not work out the way that we wanted it to at Michigan."

What changed between the podium and the release#

The words at the podium were careful, and read again they leave the door open. "Not while I'm sitting here at this podium" is a statement about the next five minutes. "At some point, you've got to have results" is the sentence that came true.

There was one more sign inside the game itself. Beck left the coaches' booth and worked the second half from the sideline, The Michigan Daily reported. A coordinator changing where he calls the game from, at halftime of a rivalry game at home, is a coordinator trying something. It did not take. Michigan had 192 yards on 52 plays, per its official box score, and 65 of those came on the final drive, with Michigan already down 15-0.

Whittingham had backed Beck in public for weeks. Last month he said he would make an in-season coordinator change if one was needed, ESPN reported, while saying he still believed in Beck. The case for belief was Utah in 2025, where Beck's offense finished 4th nationally in scoring and 2nd in rushing, per ESPN.

The case against was nine games at Michigan. Michigan has scored 176 points, 19.6 a game, and has been held under 20 in 6 of 9. Its only game over 28 was 52 against UTEP. It has gained 2,723 yards, 302.6 a game, and has passed 300 in 4 of 9. The Michigan Daily has Michigan 132nd nationally in total offense. In its last two home games, against Indiana and Michigan State, it scored 6 points each time.

Who runs it now#

Harding is not new to Whittingham or to the job title. He was Utah's offensive line coach for 12 seasons, 2014 through 2025, and its co-offensive coordinator in 2015 and 2016, per his Michigan biography. He was co-offensive coordinator at Wyoming in 2013. He is also Michigan's assistant head coach.

He also has a stake in the scheme he inherits. The Rhino, the sixth-offensive-lineman package Beck brought from Utah, is built out of Harding's position group. In March, before Michigan's first spring practice, Harding listed "find a rhino" as one of his three goals for the line on the In the Trenches podcast, as written up by Andrew Bailey.

The release names Harding coordinator. It does not say in so many words who calls the plays at Autzen Stadium on Saturday. That question goes to Whittingham when he next meets reporters.

What is left#

Michigan is 5-4 and 2-4 in the Big Ten, one win from bowl eligibility, with three games left. All three are ranked in Sunday's AP poll. Michigan plays at Oregon, ranked 18th, on November 14 at 12:30 p.m. Pacific on FS1; at home against UCLA, ranked 4th, on November 21; and at Ohio State, ranked 21st, on November 28.

Tommy Carr threw for 138 yards and two interceptions against Michigan State, and was sacked five times. Whatever Harding changes, he has six days to install it before the first of those three.

The call: the change does not show up in the yardage right away, and Michigan gains fewer than 300 yards at Oregon. The against is real. Michigan has passed 300 in 4 of its 9 games, and the last time it went on the road, at Rutgers on October 31, it gained 427.

Beck is owed up to $10.1 million under his contract, subject to offset and mitigation, ESPN reported.

Sources: Michigan Athletics release, "Whittingham Announces Change to Offensive Coaching Staff," November 8, 2026; Michigan Athletics official box score, Michigan State at Michigan, November 7, 2026; Jim Harding biography, mgoblue.com; ESPN (Adam Rittenberg, with Pete Thamel), November 8, 2026; The Wolverine; The Michigan Daily (Drew Lenard), November 7 and 8, 2026; AP Top 25, November 8, 2026; ESPN team schedule and box scores for Michigan's 2026 season; Andrew Bailey, March 12, 2026.