In the Trenches 593 - Alex Whittingham Transcript
7/1/2026 10:15:00 AM | MGoBlue Podcasts
Brian Boesch • 00:00
Happy July, folks. We are two months away from Michigan football, and we've got a great episode of In the Trenches presented by Meijer for you coming up momentarily. I'm Brian Boesch. A few quick notes before we get to Alex Whittingham, Michigan linebacker coach. First off, I know it's a holiday weekend coming up this weekend. Hope you and yours have a chance to celebrate, relax, unwind, stay cool. But a reminder that the on-sale date for single-game football tickets is right at the other side of this holiday weekend. The process begins Tuesday, July seventh and stretches all the way through next weekend, while inventory lasts. And if you are listening to this podcast, you know inventory does not last very long for Michigan football and the home slate jam-packed. You've got Oklahoma coming up in week two, the reigning national champions Indiana coming to town in October, the rivalry with Michigan State November seventh, plus Penn State, Iowa, part of an eight-game home slate.
Brian Boesch • 01:00
For the full breakdown, head to MGoBlue.com football tickets, that's MGoBlue.com football tickets. It's got the schedule, it's got the options and it has the pecking order. And simply being a member of the Michigan Athletics digital community moves you up a day in the process. Next week, MGoBlue.com football tickets. One more note, we are going to take a little bit of a break here, getting ready for training camp, so we'll be off for at least a few weeks getting revved up, but I assure you we will be jam-packed with a ton of Michigan football content for you as we approach yet another Michigan football season. So, enjoy. Alex Whittingham, Michigan linebackers coach here on In the Trenches, presented by Meijer.
Jeff Laurence • 01:46
Welcome to the official podcast of Michigan Football, in the Trenches with John Jansen, presented by Meijer, presenting sponsor of the 2026 Michigan football season and proud supporter of hundreds of local sports teams across the Midwest. Nobody covers Michigan football better than the two-time captain, national champ and Michigan Athletics Hall of Honor inductee.
Alex Whittingham • 02:09
The guys that are stepping up now, you know the Chase Taylors, the Troy Bowles, the Nate Owusus, those guys are eager to show what they can do, and it makes it fun to work with, work with them and teach them, and you know they're so open to being coached.
Jeff Laurence • 02:24
This is In the Trenches presented by Meijer. Once again, here's Jon Jansen.
Jon Jansen • 02:30
Joined now by another coach Whittingham, and that's Alex Whittingham, linebackers coach. Coach, thanks for joining me. Welcome to Ann Arbor and Michigan Football. Your reaction to being in Ann Arbor?
Alex Whittingham • 02:45
It's, it's been awesome. It's almost overwhelming how welcoming everybody has been. And I got to pinch myself every day that I get to come to work and put this block M on my shirt and. And just enjoying every day. Man, that's awesome.
Jon Jansen • 03:00
Some of the coaches are older coaches, right? And their kids are grown, obviously, you know, your dad being amongst those. But you've got a younger family. What was the reaction from your wife and kids about, you know, leaving Kansas City, where you were previously, and coming to the Midwest?
Yeah, well, like you said, my kids are younger, so they don't really realize it yet. They don't really know what's going on. And my oldest is going to start kindergarten in the fall, and so we're not really. This changing schools thing for them is not kind of a thing yet, and so makes it a little bit easier in that regard. We spent eight years out there, though, and so we got some roots and a lot of good friends out there. And so my wife is. It's going to be an adjustment for her, but she's handling it very well. And it just. It was the right time, and it was. Yeah.
Jon Jansen • 03:48
And so, I want to start with, obviously, the coaching profession. Football. It. There's no question it runs through your veins, but why did you choose to get into coaching?
Alex Whittingham • 04:03
Well, I think the biggest thing was watching my dad do it for so long. Growing up, kind of being around locker rooms and being at games on the weekends, just as a kid, had a huge impact on me. I loved being in that competitive arena at a young age. And then for me, more personally, I love teaching. If I wasn't coaching, I'd probably be just in a classroom some way somehow, doing some form of teaching. That's all coaching really is just teaching a different kind of subject. And so just that love for having a concept in mind, figuring out the best way to teach it in a simple way and get a message across to a student or a player, so to speak, and seeing it click for them and. And seeing it making a difference for them is. It's kind of the foundation of why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Jon Jansen • 05:01
And you, obviously, you mentioned it. You come from Kansas City. You spent eight years there, and in my estimation, you had a chance to coach with some of the greatest coaches in the NFL and maybe in the history of the NFL. Let's start from the top down. Andy Reid, what was it like to coach under him and learn from him? What did you take away from your time with Coach Reid?
Alex Whittingham • 05:23
It was a great experience working for him. Great is kind of underselling it a little bit. I can't really state how much I learned from him. And just being around him and seeing how he operates and kind of seeing the similarities between him and my dad and how they, you know, they kind of come from that LaVell Edwards coaching tree from way down the line. And there's some similarities there, but, you know, the way I look at it, when I was a player at Utah, I learned how football should be played. And working in Kansas City, I kind of saw how it should be coached. And so, I'm kind of just, kind of blending those different philosophies together, and that's kind of formed the foundation of what I do as a coach. But just the consistency and passion that Coach Reid had day in and day out, you know, you gotta be consistent at that level with those long seasons.
Alex Whittingham • 06:14
You know, you can't be up and down.
Jon Jansen • 06:15
And Coach Spagnuolo, who I think is a brilliant defensive coordinator, a brilliant mind, what did you learn from him on the defensive side of things?
Alex Whittingham • 06:24
A ton. Spags is as good as there is, I think, at that level, as coordinators go. And he's a Hall of Fame defensive coordinator in my eyes. And the level of detail and organization that he had in his system taught me a lot. And just how you can have certain pieces and certain techniques and then just move pieces around to create a new look for an offense while having it be very simple for the defense to have to learn, just putting things into buckets. Kind of how he structured his defense in a lot of ways and how he called things form the basis of a lot of what my philosophies are as a defensive coach.
Jon Jansen • 07:00
You had a chance to go to a number of Super Bowls, win some Super Bowls for a championship. Coach, what's the diff? What was the biggest difference from the teams that won the Super Bowl versus the teams that.
Alex Whittingham • 07:16
Well, for one, Patrick Mahomes would be, to humbly say that, you know, he's a difference maker, obviously, but it was amazing. You know, you get to that point in the, in the NFL season where you're in the playoffs and teams just seem to run out of gas at times. You know, they get to that point, and you fight and claw through training camp, preseason, regular season. You finally get to the playoffs, and you'd see teams that would just kind of. They lost their passion for it, and they didn't have that sparkle in their eye in those playoff games. And it was the teams that outlasted, I think mentally, more than anything else, because you get to that level, everybody's physically good, everybody's physically talented, and it's just who can stay engaged and locked in on a singular team goal for longer than the other guy. And that's kind of what made the difference.
Jon Jansen • 08:09
I've talked to your uncle, and, you know, he's coaching tight ends, and we talked about the relationship that he has with your dad and what it's like to coach underneath him. I'm curious your take on what it's been like to this point, coaching for your dad.
Alex Whittingham • 08:25
It's been a great experience. I was lucky enough to play for him, you know, for five years, and so I've seen all different sides of him. Being raised by him, obviously, was my first exposure to him. Playing for him was great. I got a taste for that, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. And then now, kind of, I went out and did my own thing for eight years. And then circling back to what he does and how he operates, with having some more context with the industry and different views on that, kind of seeing him in that light now has been awesome, just professionally speaking. And then, of course, having my kids, his grandkids, kind of be around family again, like that is also a special experience.
Jon Jansen • 09:13
A lot of people are going to be looking at the linebacker position because it's a storied position here. And especially in the recent past, there's been a lot of really good linebackers, a lot of big names, and there's quite honestly, four of them moved on from the program after last year. And so, when you look at the room as a whole, what is it that you see?
Alex Whittingham • 09:34
Yeah, I see a room that is hungry and eager to get after it and make names for themselves. Like you said, you know, we lost a good amount of good players to the draft or the transfer portal or whatever the case was. And the guys that are stepping up now, you know, the Chase Taylors, the Troy Bowles, the Nate Owusus, those guys are eager to show what they can do, and it makes it fun to work with, work with them and teach them. And, you know, they're so open to being coached and showing up each and every day willing to work on a new technique, a new aspect of fundamental football, and it's fun. And I think fans should be excited about what they're about to see from these guys.
Jon Jansen • 10:15
How'd you see your guys grow and develop over the course of spring football?
Alex Whittingham • 10:21
It was a ton of progress was made by a lot of guys. And, you know, credit to them, they. There was a lot for them to learn, not just fundamentally from, you know, scheme and technique standpoint, but just as a culture as a whole. You know, seeing a brand new coaching staff come in and figuring out what us as coaches, what we're looking for, you know, as far as behaviors and mentalities and just practice habits, stuff like that, and seeing guys buy into that along with, you know, the new techniques that we're trying to teach and the new schemes and the calls and just the progress that was made in so many regards was really encouraging and we're really happy with where we're at.
Jon Jansen • 11:02
You're going to continue to learn more about your players, they'll learn more about you. But let's start with some of the more veteran guys. Troy Bowles, what can you tell us about where he's at and what he is on the field and your expectations in the fall for him?
Alex Whittingham • 11:19
Troy had a fantastic spring. He made huge strides as far as his strength in the weight room, body weight, putting on good weight while still maintaining his speed. You know, he moves extremely well. One of our faster guys in that room and just had a very complete spring and took a lot of steps forward physically, understands the game really well. You know, coming from that coaching coach's son background, you know, he's got great football IQ and understands the concepts and then just kind of emerging as a leader in the room. You know, we were hungry for leadership in that room and looking for guys to start step forward and to be that guy not just for the room and for the unit, but for the team. You know, we're looking for guys to step up and do that and Troy's doing a great job of that.
Jon Jansen • 12:07
A couple of the guys you already mentioned, but. And we got a chance to see him a little bit last year due to injuries and young guys getting moved up the depth chart. But Nate Owusu-Boateng and Chase Taylor, what have you seen from them? What do they bring to that room?
Alex Whittingham • 12:21
Nate has done a great job of buying into what we're trying to do, and he dealt with some injuries this spring. Just got a little minor, things got dinged up here and there, but he showed his toughness by playing through it and doing the best that he could to get his body out, his body healthy, to get out there and practice for us. And he's getting more physical each and every day. And then Chase Taylor, man, he's going to be special. I think we should be really excited about him. He's filling out, putting on weight, maturing as a student, as a player, as a person. He makes things look easy out there and just has so many athletic gifts that he's been blessed with, and he's going to be fun to watch for sure.
Jon Jansen • 13:03
Fans got a chance to see a lot of players in the spring game, and there were some big hits, especially down on the goal line. Who else has stood out as you get towards fall camp?
Alex Whittingham • 13:14
Yeah, so the young freshman class that has come in, Aden Reeder, Markel Dabney, Kaden Catchings, they've done a fantastic job kind of getting up to speed and they're doing a good job picking up the system. There's some senior-type leadership that has transferred into the program with Aisea Moa, Max Alford, Nate Staehling, two of those guys were not healthy this spring, so we haven't seen what they can do on the field just quite yet. But you know, having Aisea Moa in the room has been fantastic. You know, his having been in the system before and kind of being that extra coach in the room has been crucial. But those young guys are really picking things up, and we expect them to contribute this fall.
Jon Jansen • 13:56
Well, coach, I appreciate your time, and a lot of eyes are going to be on that linebacker room, so we're excited to see how you guys do.
Alex Whittingham • 14:01
Bring it on.
Jeff Laurence • 14:02
Bring it on.
Alex Whittingham • 14:03
We're going to bring it, and we can't wait to show you guys what we got.
Jeff Laurence • 14:05
Thanks for listening to this edition of In the Trenches with Jon Jansen. Presented by Meijer, presenting sponsor of the 2026 Michigan football season and proud supporter of hundreds of local sports teams across the Midwest. In the Trenches is part of our Michigan Athletics Podcast network, MGoBlue podcast. The preceding is a Learfield presentation of the Michigan Sports Network.
