Do we have a head coach problem?

The fact that this question is being posted is a concern.

It’s not a question as to whether we have coaching problems. The question is what to do about it.

He’ll be 65 in November. He isn’t a young man any more. If I were him I’d retire but maybe he wants to stick around to prove his detractors wrong. That being said, it sure would be a damned shame if he overstayed and that ended tarnishing his legacy. He’s on contract for three more seasons after this one so it’s definitely something to think about.

Whereas I’m typically quick to defend Whitt, last night was a very poorly coached game. I’m grateful Whitt in the presser said “Blame me”, because honestly that’s where the blame lies.

However, what does this mean in the bigger context (ie, should Whitt retire right away) is still uncertain to me. Whitt has historically been a very good coach, but nothing lasts forever, and he may indeed be at a point of diminishing returns. And after last night, it doesn’t seem impossible to me that he’s “in the way” as he would say.

And regardless of what we think, Whitt just might want to retire at the end of the season regardless (whether he does a great or p**s poor job the rest of this year).

But there is almost zero chance that Whitt will or should be fired mid season. I just don’t see that happening (even if he continued lay eggs like he did last night). That said, as there is already a “head coach in waiting on the team”, I wouldn’t necessarily be mad if Whitt part way through the season said “I’m out”, as I think we could carry on without him pretty easily.

He does not seem to have the fire in the belly he used to. I think he made the decision to retire after the season, and his mind is on his golf game and skiing.

I’ve defended Whitt since the 5-7 years on the old Block U site. But I think his time has come or is rapidly approaching. Not a fan of Scalley taking over either, hopefully I’m proved wrong about that, but I’d prefer Harlan take a look at Brian Johnson, Jay Hill, or Cignetti from Indiana.

follow up:

Anyone notice that Vegas’s offense hasn’t missed a beat the last two games? Imagine having a fully qualified backup who was ready to take over if the starter got injured or was otherwise unavailable for any reason. I guess that can only happen at deep pocketed universities like Texas or UNLV.

Whitt is a good coach who was a great coach. the game has changed. he hasn’t really. Scalley is his mentee and I’m not sure I see a radical change there.

And…I’m not sure it matters because Urban Meyer and Whitt came along as the right people at the right time in the right era…and that was like winning the lottery back to back.

I do not see us hitting the lottery again simply because the coaches who could be the new Whitt are not out there waiting to come to Utah. I’d bet all the monies in Vegas that we’d 80% likely get a mediocre coach who sticks around a while but never takes us past 9 wins or a low bowl…or 20% we get a Phenom who maybe stays 2 years and is out the door for the next massive offer. We wont’ see the last 20 years again…we really wont. And Whitt damn well deserves a statue.

KW has run his course as HC. KW leaves when he wants to so any firing talk is silly. Hopefully he has sensible people in his camp advising him to hand off the program to a new generation of coaches before it gets worse. A 7 year age/experience gap between the starting and backup QB speaks volumes, along with many other issues discussed on the board adding up to where the program is now. KW over the past few years has distanced himself and the program from the fans/boosters and now it appears he may be losing the players.