Estimated read time: 10-11 minutes
I talked with Kyle Whittingham on Friday. The University of Utah football coach was in his office in the early morning and we had a wide-ranging one-on-one conversation.
The talent and depth of his team? The future of college football? The return of the "Holy War" (Utah vs. BYU) rivalry game?
This offseason Utah revealed that defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley is the program's "head coach in waiting." He'll take over after Whittingham retires.
What was the thinking there?
Later this month, the Utes will kick off their first Big 12 football season, a major shift in the paradigm.
What happens to the sport next?
Whittingham's program has veteran quarterback Cam Rising back and is my pick to win the conference.
Does he allow himself (and his players) to hear the noise?
Our conversation:
Q: What do you love about the start of football practice and fall camp?
WHITTINGHAM: Oh, wow. Well, first of all, I enjoy the grind of it. I mean, it's like going into a cave for three weeks. It's football 24-7 for three straight weeks until school starts. And then you get into a little bit different mode. But you get into a groove during fall camp. And like I said, it's all ball and being around the players and the bonding that takes place and the chemistry that you're building with the team. So I really enjoy it.
Q: Do you enjoy camp more as a player or coach? Is it different?
A: It's different. It's different. There's no substitute for playing. I mean, that's one of the reasons why you coach is because you miss playing so much. But it's still very satisfying and rewarding.
Q: The 'coach in waiting' plan after you retire has been laid out with Morgan Scalley at Utah. How did you know the offseason was the right time to make that plan known publicly?
A: Well, first of all, it's not that uncommon for schools in this situation to do. It's been done before. You had a coach that's nearing retirement, a successful program with really good assistant coaches. It just makes sense and probably the primary driving factor is recruiting. Recruits want to know what's going to happen and I think that laying out a coach-in-waiting plan really gives stability to the program and lets recruits know that, 'Hey, when it does happen, it's going to be a seamless transition.' Things will just keep on going. It's not going to blow the program up and bring in a new coach from the outside and have a whole different regime. So I think from a recruiting aspect, that's where the real benefit of having this plan comes into play.
Q: I've never been to a BYU-Utah football game. I'm thinking about covering it in person this season. What is the 'Holy War' like? What is the rivalry about?
A: It's very intense, I'll tell you that. It's the single-biggest sporting event in the state of Utah, pretty much every year it happens. Now it's been on and off for the last 10 years. It used to be a staple back when we were in the same conference — Mountain West and WAC before that — it was a yearly event that happened in that traditional rivalry week slot in the last week of the season. So now that we're in the same conference, the rivalry is back.
However, it's not in the traditional slot yet. We play 'em in early November rather than the last week of the season. But the state gets extremely involved, extremely excited. Like I said, other than maybe if we got the Olympics or something of that magnitude, it will be the biggest event of the year sporting-wise.
Q: Do you have a memory of the BYU-Utah rivalry as a young person?
A: Sure do. My father coached down there and started in, what, 1973. I've been a part of that rivalry for what? 50 years? Since '83? Yeah. Going on 50 years, I've had either myself or a family member on one side or the other. I don't think there's ever been a year that we didn't have somebody involved in the rivalry for 50 straight years.
Q: You've talked about the future of major college football. That a line will be drawn in the sand and that Utah needs to be on the right side of the line. When is that coming? How many teams will it include? What do you see?
A: Well, yeah, I think there is a major realignment coming, and it'll be a big one. I think it will create even more of a divide and exclusivity for the teams that are on the right side of that line. 20 months to four years? How about that for a time frame? In my opinion, it's going to look very much like an NFL minor league.
I see an expansion of the playoff with that to 16 teams. The short version is Super Conferences. I think it's going to boil down to 40-60 maybe teams in the Super Conference. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't play anybody but other Super Conference teams. Make that a division as far as who you play. Like I said, a full-blown playoff. Whether or not the players will be employees, officially, remains to be seen, but I think that's very likely. I think that's where it's heading.
Q: Utah's brand played a role in getting you on the right side of the 'Power 4' line. It's why Big 12 said last August, 'Hey, we have to have these guys.' What goes into building the brand of a football program?
A: Winning. When you win your brand follows suit, builds, and you become more nationally known. And that's really the long and short of it. When you get on those national stages and have the opportunity to play in Rose Bowls and playoffs and that type of thing, although we haven't got the opportunity to play in the playoffs yet. That's still on our list of things that we need to accomplish as a program. But that is the bottom line. You've got to have the opportunity to be on those national stages, and you got to perform well. When you're there, you've got to be competitive.
Q: I've asked you a lot about your father over the years. Tell me about Nancy Whittingham, your mother.
A: Incredible. Incredible. She's the backbone of the Whittingham family. She has provided so much stability for our family through the years. My dad was an NFL player and then a coach for 20, 25, 30 years. I can't even remember how long he was a coach, but she was always there. In a lot of ways, she was like a single parent. When you're in the football business, it's consuming. She did a great job of holding everything together and being the constant in me and my siblings' lives.
Q: You had football with Dad as an activity. What kinds of things did you do with mom?
A: We didn't have any particular thing we did together as far as activity. She was just always there. She was the one that you can always count on, that you can count on for great advice, for any help you need as far as just anything. She's always been there for us.
Q: Cam Rising is back for a seventh season. What has it been like to have your quarterback healthy, around, and nearing middle age?
A: (Laughter). It's obviously huge for us as a program. When Cam's out there, the complexion of the entire offense changes. In fact, the complexion of the entire practice changes when he's on the field. It's great to have him back. He's our team leader. He's the leader of the leaders and the guy that sets the bar for us. He's got that unique ability to make those around him play better. That's really the mark, in my opinion, of a great leader and a great player is the ability to make the supporting cast play above the level they would otherwise.
Q: I used to hear coaches say they wanted to recruit speed. Then, they started talking about recruiting 'length' — they wanted players with longer wingspans. More recently, they've talked about getting into the transfer portal to recruit older players. Everyone wants to get older now. Has what you value in recruiting changed?
A: I think most coaches are of that same mindset. We all do the same thing. We measure wingspans, among other things, in our evaluations. We measure the arm length, too, because the wingspan doesn't always tell the story. Arm length is important. Of course, we're looking at height and the physical attributes that pretty much everyone else looks at — speed, strength, and so forth. I believe our roster here at Utah has gotten better and better every single year since we joined the Pac-12. This might be the roster that has, 1-through-85, the most talent we've ever had.
Q: Have you ever watched a recruit interact with his parents and backed off recruiting them? Maybe you didn't like how the kid talked to his mom. Do you pay attention to that?
A: Absolutely. We pay attention to everything. Everything matters in recruiting. I expect my assistant coaches to have done a deep dive into every recruit that they bring to the table. That would mean not only the obvious, talking to their high school coaches and so forth, but principal, teachers, cafeteria ladies, and custodians. We do extensive research on anybody that we are contemplating bringing into the program.
Q: Utah is my pick to win the Big 12. I'm not alone. Others are predicting your team will win the Big 12 and make the College Football Playoff. Do you pay attention to that talk?
A: It's impossible not to pay attention to it. We don't put a lot of stock in it because you've got to go out and play the games. But I think it's a show of respect for our program and our players. And so it's not like we disdain it, but we know that you got to live up to it on the field.
The state of our program right now is that should be the expectation. We expect that out of ourselves. We expect to win championships, and that's just the state of our program. We don't hide from it. We certainly don't dwell on it, but that is our expectation. And if people on the outside have the same sentiment, then OK. And we've just got to be able to continue to work hard and do our thing.
Q: Do you allow yourself to look at the role you've played in building something special? Or can you afford to do that when you're in it?
A: Ahhhhh, yeah, not right now. Maybe someday. I'm sure there will be a day when you can take a step back and feel pretty good about what you've done. As a head coach — you know this as well as anybody — you've got to surround yourself with great assistant coaches and let them do their job. And even more important than that, is you've got to recruit the right way. 80% of your success, or lack thereof, in college football, is tied to recruiting. We've been very good at targeting the right guys to get into this program, guys with high character, and, obviously, good football players. But give credit for any success we've had to the assistant coaches and the way they've recruited, and of course, the players. The players come in and make it all happen.
