There are lots of reasons, but I have found three main ones.
Firings
This always sucks because when someone is fired they lose their job and their entire coaching staff usually does too. Whitman’s first day on the job included the firing of head football coach, Bill Cubit.
The reason Cubit had the job was because Tim Beckman was fired right before the 2015 season, and the interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson decided to have Cubit remain coach for two more years. Whitman found this not good enough and ultimately let him go. The football program was a mess and Whitman made the first step in turning it around.