Paul Finebaum was asked why the Michigan Wolverines were not on his most-hated-teams list. His answer said everything about how he sees the Wolverines right now.

A caller on The Paul Finebaum Show recently pointed out that Michigan was missing from Finebaum's list of most hated programs, which included the Tennessee Volunteers, Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, and Ole Miss Rebels. Finebaum had a simple reason for the absence.

"Once Harbaugh left, it felt like that program just flatlined," Finebaum said on his show in June 27. "They're just not that relevant. And I'm sorry. I can't get upset about Michigan. They cheated and stole a national championship three years ago."

The charge of cheating is a direct nod to the Connor Stalions sign-stealing saga. Michigan was caught in 2023 with an off-the-books analyst stealing signals from opposing teams.

The program was met with NCAA sanctions and Big Ten penalties. Jim Harbaugh was suspended for the first three games of the season.

But through it all, Harbaugh led Michigan through the controversy and won the national championship. The Wolverines beat Washington 34-13 in the title game in January 2024. Finebaum praised Harbaugh for the win at the time.

Then Harbaugh left for the Los Angeles Chargers. That is when things started falling apart in Ann Arbor.

Sherrone Moore took over as head coach in 2024 and went 8-5 in his first season, but 2025 told a different story. Michigan went 9-4 and missed the playoffs entirely.

One rough season was all it took for the narrative to shift. Finebaum saw that opening, and he took it.

"I don't really take Michigan that seriously in football right now," Finebaum said on the same appearance. "And maybe, maybe that will change under Kyle Whittingham, but it's hard. Just hard to get much emotion."

Michigan's fall from national champions to playoff outsiders in just two seasons made Finebaum list Michigan as not relevant enough to be in his rankings. The program is now in a rebuilding phase under Kyle Whittingham.

Kyle Whittingham has already made his expectations clear in Ann Arbor

Finebaum is already holding expectations that things will change under Whittingham.

The head coach went 177-88 over 21 seasons at Utah and took the Utes to two Rose Bowls. As he now steps into the Big Ten, he made his expectations clear during the first spring press conference.

“I would expect that Michigan would challenge for the Big Ten title every single year,” Whittingham said back in March as quoted by The Athletic. “That should be a given. Every single year, you should be in the hunt.”

Finebaum left room to revise his stance if Michigan makes the Playoff in 2026, since calling the program irrelevant would then be much more difficult.

Do you think Michigan will prove Finebaum wrong under Kyle Whittingham in 2026? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar