The University of Utah is suing Michigan tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham, alleging breach of contract after the longtime Utah assistant coach followed his brother, Kyle, who accepted the Michigan head coaching job on Dec. 26, 2025.

In a lawsuit filed in Utah’s 3rd District Court on Aug. 3, the university alleged that Freddie Whittingham “abandoned” his position as tight ends coach at Utah soon after Kyle Whittingham was hired in Ann Arbor. The university, according to the lawsuit obtained by The Athletic, is seeking at least $1 million in punitive damages and $300,000 from Freddie Whittingham for breach of contract.

The Salt Lake Tribune was first to report the lawsuit. Michigan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Freddie Whittingham had been a member of Utah’s football staff since 2012. The lawsuit alleges that he “failed to devote full-time attention and energy to the duties of an assistant coach” and did not obtain Utah’s written consent before engaging with Michigan during the hiring process. The suit also alleges he failed to pay Utah liquidated damages in his contract after leaving for Michigan.

Freddie Whittingham was one of five full-time coaches who followed Kyle Whittingham, along with offensive coordinator Jason Beck, offensive line coach Jim Harding, wide receivers coach Micah Simon and defensive line coach Lewis Powell. The lawsuit alleges that Freddie Whittingham is the only coach who did not fulfill the liquidated damages clause from their contract with Utah.

Freddie Whittingham signed a two-year contract with Michigan on Jan. 7 that pays him $600,000 this season and $650,000 next season, according to a copy of the contract obtained by The Athletic. The contract also gave athletic director Warde Manuel discretion to award Freddie Whittingham a signing bonus of $605,000.

On Jan. 1, Utah associate athletics director Jeff Rudy informed Freddie Whittingham that he was still employed by Utah despite reports surfacing that he would follow his brother to Michigan, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit states that Rudy observed Freddie Whittingham and other members of his family cleaning out his office later that night.

The following day, Kyle Whittingham spoke to the crowd at a Michigan men’s basketball game, joined by Freddie Whittingham and other members of his Michigan coaching staff. According to the lawsuit, Freddie Whittingham later texted Rudy and said his understanding was that Michigan’s athletic director would reach out to Utah’s athletic director to “see if he would work with us on the buyout” in Freddie Whittingham’s contract, which called for him to pay 75 percent of his salary for the remaining year of the deal.

The lawsuit goes on to allege “on information and belief” that Freddie Whittingham “actively recruited Utah players and recruits to Michigan while still employed by Utah.” Though it doesn’t identify the players by name, the lawsuit references wide receiver Salesi Moa, a top-100 prospect who signed with Utah but transferred to Michigan shortly after he arrived on campus, and wide receiver/tight end JJ Buchanan, who appeared in all 13 games and caught five touchdowns as a freshman at Utah before transferring in January.

Utah’s lawsuit is the latest salvo in a contentious breakup between Kyle Whittingham and the program he’d coached since 2005. Kyle Whittingham expressed interest in returning for a 22nd season in 2026, but Utah didn’t accept his proposed terms and ultimately promoted defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley, the program’s coach-in-waiting.

Kyle Whittingham, who has a five-year, $41 million contract at Michigan, will receive three payments totaling $13.5 million from Utah as part of a “transition bonus” in his contract. Utah athletic director Mark Harlan wrote a letter to Kyle Whittingham in January saying the university was “disappointed by your actions last month,” arguing that Kyle Whittingham failed to facilitate a “smooth and successful transition” by “recruiting our football coaches and staff to Michigan.”

Editor’s note: Fernando Mendoza is entering his first season with the Las Vegas Raiders after winning a national title and being selected with the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. The Athletic originally ran this story in January 2026.

MIAMI, Fla. — Last month, just minutes after Indiana beat Ohio State for its first Big Ten championship in 57 years, Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza couldn’t hold in his emotions. He had to let loose.

“The Hoosiers are flippin’ champs!” he told Fox Sports’ Jenny Taft, before crediting every position group on the team and explaining how the team is “process-oriented.”

Flippin’? Process-oriented?

“THE HOOSIERS ARE FLIPPIN’ CHAMPS!” 🗣️@IndianaFootball QB Fernando Mendoza was with @JennyTaft after winning the @bigten championship ‼️ pic.twitter.com/qNJBmXCSfW

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 7, 2025

For more than a year, Mendoza’s postgame interviews have drawn love and attention for their unique delivery and perfect grammar and prose.

Mendoza speaks like a coach or politician — maybe better — laying everything out, often looking into the camera while delivering an answer. He has dropped words like “migration” and “conglomerate” in interviews over the past month. In a world where athletes are trained to say as little as possible for fear of going viral in a bad way, Mendoza seems to always deliver something.

“People might think it’s fake, but it’s 100 percent him,” said Alberto Mendoza, Fernando’s brother and fellow Indiana quarterback.

Mendoza first went viral last year, as the quarterback at Cal, when he told ACC Network after a late touchdown drive to beat Stanford, “I’ll remember going 98 yards with my boys.” That line landed on T-shirts, but Mendoza’s near-tears proclamation that Cal was 6-6 and would go to a bowl game helped the clip resonate with college football diehards. It’s almost impossible to get a bad quote out of him.

“He’s incredible,” head coach Curt Cignetti said. “I take notes.”

“THAT WAS AN AMAZING COMEBACK … I LOVE MY BOYS … GO BEARS FOREVER!”

Fernando Mendoza overcome with emotion after his game-winning drive vs. Stanford 🥹@CalFootball | @qb_fernando pic.twitter.com/yYZvGQDhPY

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) November 24, 2024

People from Indiana, Cal and Mendoza’s marketing agency agree that it’s just Mendoza’s natural personality. The only media training notes he ever got from them was to shorten his answers. He didn’t need to name-drop every teammate.

“It’s greatly due to our parents,” said Alberto, who speaks with the same confidence and cadence as his older brother. “They taught us how to speak to people, how to carry ourselves, how to act in a professional manner.”

Like only he can, Fernando on Saturday referred to their 14-year-old brother Max as “a great businessman and person.”

His use of “flippin’” in Indianapolis was authentic, too. There is no cursing from Fernando, even in private.

“He’ll be like ‘gosh darn it’ when he gets scored on in (video games),” said Indiana receiver and roommate Charlie Becker, whom Mendoza referred to as “such a young man” in his on-field interview after beating Ohio State.

The quarterback’s delivery is no accident. Mendoza said at Saturday’s national championship media day that he took public speaking classes in high school and at Cal, and he watched YouTube videos about public speaking.

Those studies, along with his now-famous LinkedIn page, came from a desire to improve how he presented himself for a life after football — long before he was a Heisman Trophy winner and presumed No. 1 NFL Draft pick. He’s aware people say he talks like ChatGPT. He promises he’s a real person who does normal things.

“Such an important part is communication,” Mendoza said. “That’s how you really get yourself across the line. That’s how you really portray yourself and give a good impression to another person. That’s something I would recommend to anybody, especially any young sports athlete, is the way that you represent yourself and the way that you’re able to come across to your peers, to your coaches and to, later, ownership, it’s so important on your journey.”

As far back as his first press conferences as the starting quarterback at Cal, Mendoza would look into the camera while delivering answers. His Heisman Trophy acceptance speech last month, in which he got emotional talking about his mother and motivated overlooked players to believe in themselves, drew widespread praise.

Fernando Mendoza after winning Heisman:

“I want every kid out there who feels overlooked, underestimated to know, I was you… You don’t need the most stars, hype… You just need discipline, heart, and people who believe in you. And you need to believe in your own abilities.” https://t.co/S7I1RuA7dN pic.twitter.com/Vrekz6mPMX

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 14, 2025

For almost an hour on Saturday, Mendoza took every question, good and not-so-good, in stride. There wasn’t a single wasted answer, as he tried to give each reporter what they were looking for.

“He wants to make a personal connection with everyone,” said Greg Campbell, Indiana’s assistant athletic director for strategic communication. “That’s unique in a lot of ways for any walk of life. He wants people to feel like, when you ask him a question, he’s answering your question and not answering it for anybody else. He’s so personable and easy to like and work with.”

Mendoza has played the optimistic counter to his head coach Cignetti, who seems to like leaning into his own curmudgeonly narrative. Cignetti will rarely crack a smile. It’s hard to find Mendoza not smiling. They’re the yin and yang of emotional leaders who took the Hoosiers into Monday’s national championship. When Indiana won its first title in school history, the world awaited Mendoza’s next postgame message.

“I got declined to walk-on at the University of Miami. Full circle moment here playing in Miami.”

Fernando Mendoza’s full interview with @sportsiren after winning the CFP National Championship ❤️ 🥺 pic.twitter.com/2cWbD9sc3H

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) January 20, 2026

“He doesn’t say a lot in the building or on the practice field. He’s not a vocal guy,” Cignetti said. “Where you get a full taste of Fernando Mendoza is during the interview process.

“And it’s always an A-plus interview.”

Australian rider Maeve Plouffe says she narrowly avoided being hit by a car during the first stage of the Tour Of Britain Women.

The Netherlands’ Lorena Wiebes retained the leader’s green jersey with victory on stage two.

Plouffe, 27, who rides for British continental team O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes, said the incident happened on a roundabout as she was chasing back to the peloton, following a puncture on Wednesday.

Posting on Instagram, she wrote: “While the race convoy was still in sight, and I was less than two minutes down, there were cars from the general public coming at me from all directions, including one that nearly hit me on a roundabout.

“Later on, the moto escort was wonderful and I felt much safer. But considering the recent devastating events in our cycling community, it’s scary to see situations like this, when we know that this can have horrific consequences, especially so soon after suffering such a tragedy.”

Plouffe was referring to the death of 19-year-old British rider Fin Tarling, who was killed last week in a high-speed collision with a van, which had strayed on to the road during the eighth stage of the Volta a Portugal.

Before the Tour of Britain Women began, there was a tribute to Tarling with a photograph of him projected on to a large screen and a minute’s applause which all 114 riders and spectators took part in.

Tarling was the younger brother of Netcompany Inoes rider Josh Tarling, who was announced on Thursday in the team’s line-up for the Vuelta a Espana three-week Grand Tour, which begins on Saturday.

Reacting to Plouffe’s social media post, Jonathan Day, the events director of British Cycling Ventures – a commercial entity of British Cycling, which organises the Tour of Britain Women – issued a statement to the BBC.

In it, Day said: “We note Maeve Plouffe’s comments about her experience during yesterday’s race, and we’re taking these extremely seriously.

“Rider safety is paramount and will always be treated as a priority in our planning and how we operate any race.

“We’re reviewing what happened with Maeve and her team O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes with the seriousness and empathy these comments demand.

“We recognise this comes at an especially difficult time for the cycling community, so we want to reassure all riders, teams and fans of the sport at this time of how serious we are treating these comments.”