Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham speaks during the Big 12 NCAA college football media days in Las Vegas, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. | Lucas Peltier
LAS VEGAS — Talking to coaches across the Big 12, there’s a level of respect for what Kyle Whittingham has built at Utah — even among those who have never coached against him.
As he enters his 20th season at Utah, Whittingham carries an impressive resume — two BCS bowl wins (one as co-head coach with Urban Meyer in 2004), an undefeated 2008 season that culminated in a Sugar Bowl win over Nick Saban and Alabama, three conference championships (one in the Mountain West and two in the Pac-12) and the Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year award in 2008.
Even as retirement questions are growing louder in the wake of the program publicly naming Morgan Scalley as Utah’s “head coach in waiting,” Whittingham has shown no signs of slipping — look no further than the fact that Utah was picked to win the Big 12 in its first year in the conference.
It’s the third different conference for Whittingham as head coach of Utah, but there is some familiarity as he enters the Big 12.
Utah has played five schools currently in the Big 12 — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, TCU and BYU more than five times in the Whittingham era — and Utah has faced three other current Big 12 teams with Whittingham at the helm — Iowa State (2010), West Virginia (2017) and Baylor (2023).
Whittingham has coached against five current Big 12 coaches — BYU’s Kalani Sitake, Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, Baylor’s Dave Aranda, Colorado’s Deion Sanders and TCU’s Sonny Dykes (while he was at Cal).
Here’s what six Big 12 coaches — and one player — said about Whittingham and Utah’s program at the conference’s media days in Las Vegas.
Arizona coach Brent Brennan:
“I think Kyle…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/big-12-coaches-saying-kyle-235206346.html
Author : Deseret News
Publish date : 2024-07-10 23:52:06
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