Head coach Kyle Whittingham comes to Michigan with a singularly robust resume. After leading Utah since 2005, he is the third-winningest active head coach and second only to Kirk Ferentz in the Big Ten.
Michigan
Michigan auditor general to look into child care program performance
The challenge of low wages for child care workers in Michigan
Child care workers in Michigan, including passionate educators like Carla Brown, face low wages and limited benefits despite their crucial role in child development.
Michigan’s auditor general plans to review the state’s child care subsidy program, and among the factors for the decision is a request for an audit from State Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt.
Nesbitt, who is running for governor, called for an audit of the program after Trump administration claims of widespread child care subsidy fraud in Minnesota and across the nation.
Nesbitt’s request is one of several factors that led the auditor general to put the program on its 2026 docket, which includes around 30 other programs. Other factors that inform this kind of decision include whether there’s available staff to carry out the audit, the program’s audit history and general public interest in the program, said Kelly Miller, Office of the Auditor General spokesperson, in an email.
The specifics of what the audit will cover are not yet known, since auditors have to first identify areas of concern or improvement before figuring out what the scope of the evaluation will look like, Miller wrote.
The auditor general carries out annual financial audits on each major state subsidy program using federal dollars, but given its limited time and resource, the office must be selective in which programs receive performance audits.
Financial audits make sure a program is complying with federal requirements tied to federal dollars, performance audits put a magnifying glass to some specific program element, often related to policies and procedures. Past Michigan child care subsidy performance audits have identified problems including a lack of systems to track the accuracy of payments to child care providers and insufficient background vetting of licensed providers.
The last performance audit of Michigan’s child care subsidy system came out in November 2025, though it didn’t focus on evaluating how well the program manages fraud and improper payments. Instead, it focused on an issue that continues to come up consistently for providers and families utilizing the program: poor communication practices by the state’s early childhood agency, MiLEAP, which administers the program, that leave child care providers and parents stranded when payments are late or kids can’t get turned onto the subsidy.
MiLEAP did not respond to requests for comment but department spokesperson Aundreana Jones-Poole said in a statement earlier this month that “MiLEAP has a zero-tolerance policy for fraud or abuse of funds meant to benefit Michigan families.”
Sen. Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, said in a press release that he welcomed the audit, calling it “good news for legitimate, law-abiding child care providers and the many families who struggle to find affordable childcare throughout our state. It’s time to root out waste, fraud and abuse and hold our state agencies accountable for everyone who is fighting to make it in Michigan.”
Auditor general investigations are two of several state oversight measures intended to track a program’s integrity and curb potential program fraud: MiLEAP randomly audits licensed providers across Michigan to check time and attendance records and make sure billing is accurate and the Inspector General for the Michigan Department for Health and Human Services carries out fraud investigations each year.
The federal government’s Office of Child Care also audits every state’s subsidy program. States are grouped in cohorts that are evaluated in 3-year cycles. Michigan’s next federal audit is also coming up in March 2026, according to the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, a Michigan-based early childhood nonprofit. Federal audits look at how programs tackle fraud and address subsidy payment errors.
MiLEAP did not respond to questions about how the department will prepare for both a state and federal audit falling around the same time.
Beki San Martin is a fellow at the Detroit Free Press who covers child care, early childhood education and other issues that affect the lives of children ages 5 and under and their families in metro Detroit and across Michigan. Contact her at rsanmartin@freepress.com.
This fellowship is supported by the Bainum Family Foundation. The Free Press retains editorial control of this work.
CHIPPEWA COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) — A Wisconsin man is facing felony charges in Chippewa County after Michigan State Police say he stole a vehicle in Green Bay and forced another man to travel with him to Michigan at knifepoint.
According to MSP, troopers were notified by Green Bay police on Tuesday, June 9, that a suspect who had allegedly stolen a vehicle was believed to be headed toward the Sault Ste. Marie area.
Troopers later located the stolen vehicle on M-28 near M-221 after it broke down, but the suspect was no longer with it.
A short time later, police were called to a Dollar General in Kincheloe after a man ran into the store and asked an employee to call 911, reporting that he had been kidnapped.
Investigators say the suspect, later identified as 26-year-old Blaze Gugin, was found inside the Pizza Patch restaurant in Kincheloe and was taken into custody without incident.
Police allege Gugin stole the vehicle in Wisconsin and then threatened his adult male roommate with a knife, forcing him to travel from Green Bay to Chippewa County. After the vehicle broke down, investigators say the two hitchhiked to Kincheloe.
Gugin was arraigned June 10 in 91st District Court on charges of unlawful imprisonment and receiving and concealing a stolen motor vehicle.
His bond was set at $250,000 cash with tether and other conditions. He is scheduled to return to court June 22.
The owner of the stolen vehicle has been notified so arrangements can be made for its return.
The case remains under investigation.
NASA announced this week the four-man crew that will embark on the Artemis III mission, and one of those astronauts has ties to Michigan.
Mission specialist Andre Douglas, who served as a backup crew member for the recently completed Artemis II mission, received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from the University of Michigan in 2012, according to NASA.
Douglas will now join fellow astronauts Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano and Frank Rubio. Bresnik will serve as commander with Parmitano as the pilot.
The crew is expected to launch into Earth orbit in 2027 to test rendezvous and docking procedures with moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin before the U.S. sends astronauts back to the moon in 2028.
“To get an opportunity to serve in the Artemis program as someone who kind of just came in the door not too long ago, it’s a huge honor,” Douglas told CBS News.
According to NASA, Douglas was born in Miami and grew up in Virginia, graduating from Western Branch High School in Chesapeake. Douglas received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2008. After earning his master’s degrees from U of M, Douglas later earned his doctorate in systems engineering from Georgia Washington University in 2021.
NASA selected Douglas to join the 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class, and he reported for duty in 2022.
The Artemis III crew will carry out a mission similar to the Apollo 9 flight in 1969. During that time, three astronauts tested the spindly lunar excursion module in Earth orbit.
Note: The video above previously aired on June 9, 2026.
Mind you, this is a Utah program that has never won 10 games without Whittingham on staff; a program that has been playing at least 10 games in a season since the ‘50s did not reach double-digit wins until Whittingham joined the staff as an assistant in 1994. Since then, the Utes reached that threshold twice with Whittingham as defensive coordinator and eight times as head coach, including a program record 13 wins in 2008.
Whittingham navigated Utah through two conference changes, Mountain West to the Pac-12 in 2011, and the Big 12 in 2024, and each move came with an adjustment period. His only losing seasons (all three were 5-7 efforts) took place within three years of joining a new conference.
But those were only bumps in the road; excluding 2020 and his first game as head coach — a 35-7 Fiesta Bowl win at the end of the 2004 season after Urban Meyer left for Florida — let’s dive deeper into Whittingham’s winning ways.
Whittingham is 17-3 in season openers, with all three losses coming on the road. Two came early in his tenure against UCLA in 2006 and Oregon State in 2007, and the most recent defeat came in 2022 at Florida. The next time he faced all three of these teams, Utah won by an average of two touchdowns.
This record isn’t propped up by cupcakes either. Utah went 2-0 in openers against Michigan, 3-0 if we include all matchups. In 2008, in what was arguably the high point of the season for the Wolverines, Whittingham came to Ann Arbor and beat Rich Rodriguez by two points. That same Utah team would beat a 12-win Nick Saban Alabama squad in the Sugar Bowl by 14 points.
In 2015, the Jim Harbaugh era officially got underway in Salt Lake City. The Wolverines made it look better at the end, only losing by a touchdown, but the Utes led by multiple scores for most of the contest before winning by seven.
Throughout his career, Whittingham has rarely stumbled out of the gates and has never lost a season-opener at home. He is 10-1 all-time in the month of August and 55-20 in September, a mark that only dips slightly in the months to follow.
Whittingham is 48-28 in October and 48-30 in November. The incredible consistency comes with steady records against all his rivals, regardless of when the games are played. Unlike Michigan vs Ohio State — at least for pre-unwanted expansion — these games don’t take place at the same time every year. They are more similar to Michigan State or Minnesota.
As a head coach, Whittingham has a winning record against all three of Utah’s primary rivals. He is 11-6 against BYU, 11-3 against Colorado (a rivalry that reignited in 2011) and 8-1 against Utah State.
The Holy War is one of the most famous rivalry games in the sport and carries extra significance for Whittingham, who is a BYU alum. He left Utah on a down note, dropping the last three against the Cougars, including the last two by a combined five points. But before his protege Kalani Sitake (Sitake was an assistant under Whittingham for 10 years) began to get the better of him, Utah had won nine in a row, the longest streak in the rivalry since the ‘80s.
Save a year or two here and there, the Rumble in the Rockies was played every year between 1903-1962 before going dormant until 2011. Once resumed, Colorado exacted revenge in the first meeting before Whittingham ripped off a four-game win streak and a six-game (remember we are not counting the season played in front of cardboard cutouts) win streak, with a loss to the 2016 Buffs sandwiched in the middle. With the John O’Korn equivalent at quarterback for the Utes in 2024, Coach Prime smoked Whittingham by 25, but Whitt repaid the debt, winning by 46 last season.
And in the Battle of the Brothers, his only loss to Utah State came in overtime in 2012 during his first losing season as a head coach. He exacted his revenge the next year by four points, doubled down and won by 10 in 2015, and in his final game in 2024, the Utes won by 17.
Whittingham has shown growth in conference championship games. In his first two Pac-12 Championship Game appearances in 2018 and 2019, Utah lost and failed to score more than 15 points each time. The 2018 loss was especially painful, falling 10-3, and losing to Washington for the second time that season.
But in 2021, Utah finally reached the top of the conference. Following an inauspicious 1-2 start and the murder of cornerback Aaron Lowe (the second shooting death of a Utah player in less than a year), Whittingham rallied the troops to win eight of their next nine games and set up a clash with Oregon for conference superiority. Utah had beaten Oregon 38-7 earlier in the year and most expected a closer rematch. The Utes were only favored by three going into the game, but the Utes won handily, 38-10, and reached the Rose Bowl for the first time in program history.
The following year, Utah found itself in a similar situation, in a rematch with USC for the conference title. Utah had beaten USC by one point in one of the best games of the season earlier. In that game, Utah scored with less than a minute remaining and took the lead when Whittingham went for the two-point conversion and the win over the tie to prevail, 43-42. For the rematch, oddsmakers favored Lincoln Riley, Caleb Williams and USC by three, who just needed to win to reach the College Football Playoff.
Early on, it looked like the Trojans would Fight On to the CFP. But after continually pressuring and battering Williams, the Utes overcame a two-touchdown deficit and steamrolled USC, 47-24, and went to the Rose Bowl for a second straight season.
The Utes lost both Rose Bowls — one to Ohio State and the other to Penn State — but let’s not lose sight of the accomplishment. Utah has reached a sustainable level of success for more than 20 years despite only having 64 players drafted since 2005. For context, Michigan has had 116 selected in that time, 82 of which came under (or were recruited by) Harbaugh.
No coach has consistently won more with less talent than Whittingham. The first few years in a new conference have proven the most challenging in the past, but history suggests it’s inevitable he’ll return Michigan to the top of the Big Ten.
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