Michigan has fired offensive coordinator Jason Beck, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Others outlets have joined in to report the same.
Thamel adds Beck's contract calls for him to be owed up to $10.1 million. That's nearly $7 million in salary and nearly $3.1 in retention bonuses, and the contract is subject to off-set and mitigation.
It's believed to be the biggest buyout college football has ever seen for an assistant.
On Saturday night, after a 15-6 loss to Michigan State at Michigan Stadium, Kyle Whittingham was asked if he planned to make a change. "Not right now. Not as I sit here at this podium, no," Whittingham said. "But, at some point, you've got to have results. It's a results-driven business, and it's a bottom-line business."
Whittingham said the staff would watch the film Sunday. Come early Sunday evening, Beck was out.
Michigan State came to Ann Arbor at 2-6 without a Big Ten win. The Spartans held Michigan to 192 total yards and 54 rushing yards, sacked the quarterback five times, forced four turnovers and allowed just two third-down conversions in 10 tries. Tommy Carr went 14 of 26 for 138 yards and two interceptions. Michigan's lone touchdown, a 1-yard Savion Hiter run, came with 1:35 left.
"It's not one step back. It's three steps back," Whittingham said. "Couldn't run the ball. Didn't throw the ball worth a darn."
He added, "Really, I can't come up with one positive offensively in this game."
The loss dropped Michigan to 5-4 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten, with four losses in its last six games. The Wolverines are averaging 19.6 points per game, and 15.5 points per game if you take out the 52 they hung on UTEP. MLive reported the offense entered the Michigan State game ranked 126th out of 138 FBS teams.
The pressure had been building for weeks. Two weeks ago, Michigan lost 13-6 in overtime to #6 Indiana while managing 224 total yards and 57 rushing yards on 42 carries. That game ended with a sack on third-and-goal from the 1. After that one, Whittingham said, "Right now it's not the time to panic." After Saturday, asked if it was time to panic, he said, "Seems to be."
Whittingham hired Beck on January 2, bringing him along from Utah, where his 2025 offense helped the Utes go 11-2. Utah finished second in FBS in rushing offense (266.3 yards per game), fourth in total offense (482.9) and fifth in scoring (41.2 points per game). CBS Sports named him the top coordinator hire of the cycle.
Before Utah, Beck spent 2024 as the offensive coordinator at New Mexico, where the Lobos ranked fifth nationally in rushing and fourth in total offense behind quarterback Devon Dampier. He was at Syracuse in 2022 and 2023, first as quarterbacks coach and then as offensive coordinator, after six seasons coaching quarterbacks at Virginia (2016-21), including Bryce Perkins. He also coached quarterbacks at BYU (2013-15), where he worked with Taysom Hill, was the offensive coordinator at Simon Fraser (2012), coached quarterbacks at Weber State (2009-11) and started as a graduate assistant at LSU under Les Miles. Beck played quarterback at BYU from 2004 to 2006.
The production from Salt Lake City and Albuquerque never showed up in Ann Arbor.
Longtime Whittingham assistant and current Wolverines offensive line coach Jim Harding is taking over as interim offensive coordinator for the remainder of the season, but the schedule doesn't offer much runway. The Wolverines travel to Oregon on November 14, host UCLA on November 21 and close at Ohio State on November 28.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.