Michigan football finalizes offensive coaching staff for 2026

The Michigan football staff under Kyle Whittingham appears to be complete.

Days after the program announced its defensive and special teams hires, the Wolverines put out an official statement naming the entire offensive staff that will lead the charge under Whittingham in 2026.

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U-M had already announced Jason Beck was taking over as offensive coordinator and Whittingham has officially named four other offensive coaches from his previous Utah staff: Jim Harding (offensive line), Micah Simon (wide receivers), Freddie Whittingham (tight ends) and Koy Detmer Jr. (quarterbacks). U-M has also added Marques Hagans (assistant wide receivers) from Penn State and Mike Lynch (assistant offensive line) from Nevada.

The Utes were the No. 5 scoring offense in the nation (41.4 points per game) under Beck, No. 6 in the country in total yards (478.6) and No. 2 in rushing offense with 269.8 rushing yards per game. As a team, Utah had 37 rushing touchdowns and led the nation with 6.1 yards per carry.

Harding is seen as one of the top offensive line coaches in the country.

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He hails from Maumee High in Northwest Ohio and played at Toledo, where he was a four-year starter at tackle (1997-2000), including his senior season when he was a captain and named first team All-MAC en route to a spot in the Rockets' athletic hall of fame.

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Harding has spent the past 12 years as Utah’s offensive line coach and added the title of assistant head coach beginning in 2017. He coached 11 players to All-Pac-12 or All-Big 12 honors and has had seven players from his unit drafted into the NFL during his time in Salt Lake City.

Harding’s lines paved the way for a 1,000-yard rusher in 11 of the past 12 seasons, with 2025 the first year in more than a decade that the Utes did not have a 1,000-yard rusher. Sophomore Wayshawn Parker finished with 981 yards.

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Simon, 28, played wideout at BYU during his college days and has been tied to Beck the past two years, having coached wide receivers under him at New Mexico before joining Whittingham's staff at Utah. Ryan Davis earned All-Big 12 honorable mention after leading the team in receiving with 62 receptions for 725 yards and four touchdowns.

Freddie Whittingham, Kyle's brother, will coach tight ends, the same job he held in Utah the past 10 seasons. His most notable product is Dalton Kincaid, who became a first-round NFL draft pick and is now a standout for the Buffalo Bills.

Detmer Jr., son of former NFL quarterback Koy Detmer, likewise has worked with Beck at his past three stops, which included Syracuse before New Mexico and Utah. Detmer coached two seasons at his alma mater, Texas A&M Kingsville, where he mentored the wide receivers (2021) and running backs (2020).

As a player at Kingsville, Detmer passed for 3,831 yards and 32 touchdowns over two seasons (2018-19), completing 59% of his passes.

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Hagans has 16 years of experience under his belt, including the last 13 as a wide receivers coach. He joins U-M's staff after a three-year run at Penn State, where he worked with the wide receivers and was the recruiting coordinator for the offense. Before that he was at Virginia for 13 years including 10 as wide receivers coach (2013-22).

Last but not least, Lynch enters the fold after two years at Nevada, where he was first running backs coach and then worked with the offensive line in 2025. Before that he was on the Syracuse staff for eight seasons (2016-23) which included a two years stint as offensive coordinator(2018-19).

Lynch also has experience in the Midwest having been on staff at Bowling Green (2014-15) and Eastern Illinois (2005-13).

Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football finalizes offensive coaching staff for 2026