​Former Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer said he is looking forward to watching five coaches in particular during the 2026 season.Current Ohio State Ryan Day is not among them.When Meyer shared his list on an episode of the “Triple Option” podcast July 7, his former defensive coordinator and new Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham received the top spot.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”But it’s also what in the hell happened up there,” Meyer said on the episode. “And that’s very un-Wolverine-like, what’s taken place there the last five years. … Kyle [Whittingham] loves his team, he loves his players, the quarterbacks got to get much better.”Meyer is most interested in how Whittingham will adjust to the bigger market at Michigan rather than Utah, where Whittingham spent 32 seasons, including 21 as head coach.”Coach Whit has been at Utah and I love Utah, but Utah doesn’t have the same pressures that that other place has up north,” Meyer said.Former Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer, now with Fox Sports, watches on the sideline during the NCAA football game against the Texas Longhorns at Ohio Stadium on Aug. 30, 2025.Michigan hired Whittingham after coach Sherrone Moore was fired after the 2025 season and was arrested after an encounter at the home of a woman with whom he had a roughly two-year affair. Whittingham had a record of 177-88 at Utah.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMeyer focused on another of his former coaching stops for his second coach to watch: Florida’s John Sumerall, hired to replace Billy Napier, whom the Gators fired following a 4-8 season.Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham watches a play during the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 18, 2026.Along with Whittingham and Sumerall, Meyer highlighted LSU’s Lane Kiffin, Penn State’s Matt Campbell and Indiana’s Curt Cignetti as coaches he is closely paying attention to in the upcoming year.Kyle Whittingham, Michigan WolverinesLane Kiffin, LSU TigersCurt Cignetti, IndianaThis article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Urban Meyer names 5 coaches to watch in 2026 — and Ryan Day isn’t one of them