Utah @ 
Baylor 2025 – OC Candidates
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2008 National Champ.
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AuthorPosts
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Proud to Be a Ute
ParticipantInterested to hear the who the most realistic replacement is for Offensive Coordinator and why?
Personnel I’d like Brennan Marion. He’s young and seems to be an innovator. I’d bet he has many offer and other than watching a 30 minute youtube video I’m unqualified to assess his “go” “go” offense.
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The Miami UteParticipantI’m afraid that unless Whitt changes his offensive philosophy, who the OC is won’t really matter.
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NarfUteParticipantWhitt needs to let Scalley make the choice, or retire.
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TednabParticipantWhat about Aaron Roderick . Lead his team to a 9-1 season, currently ranked 38th in scoring offenses… Oh wait .. guess it really doesn’t matter
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AnferneeParticipantTheir total offense is 57 and passing offense is 59. And they’ve had 7 touchdowns total in the last 12 quarters. Exact same as us.
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Central Coast UteParticipantExactly. Teams aren’t scoring a lot on BYU and they’re just squeaking by most weeks. Including against Utah who didn’t score the entire second half. BYU’s record is due to their defense.
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Utah#1
ParticipantEXACTLY! Will see more of the same next year if Whitt is still head coach. He won’t change for anyone if even it meant going undefeated. He is set in his ways and it is destroying the culture of the program he created.
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UtahParticipantThis. Whitt has had…9? 10? 11? OC’s in 20 years. They have the same issues.
The issue isn’t the OC. It’s Whitt. As long as he is here, it really doesn’t matter who the OC is. We will run the same offense we always run.
That being said, we need an OC who is a run first guy and doesn’t really need the forward pass.
So my vote is Boise St’s OC.
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2008 National ChampParticipantDirk Koetter? I’d say his current offense is Ashton Jeanty first, but not necessarily run first. From his Wikipedia page: At Arizona State, Koetter compiled a 40–34 (.541) record, and four Bowl appearances in six years. Under Koetter, who was also the offensive play caller, the Sun Devils became known for a vertical passing attack.
2001 ASU – 34.0 ppg (#13 in country), 31.6 passes per game (259.3 yards), 38.5 rushes per game (167.1 yards)
2002 ASU – 32.3 ppg (#20), 39.9 papg (303.9), 34.9 rpg (89.0)
2003 ASU – 24.8 ppg (#73), 38.8 papg (274.3), 33.5 rpg (117.3)
2004 ASU – 29.8 ppg (#32), 41.8 papg (317.3), 36.3 rpg (118.1)
2005 ASU – 36.8 ppg (#7), 41.1 papg (373.4), 37.3 rpg (145.7)
2006 ASU – 26.8 ppg (#42), 26.8 papg (197.6), 38.2 rpg (169.7)
2022 BSU – 29.5 ppg (#58), 27.5 papg (190.6), 39.4 rpg (196.5) took over early October
2023 BSU – 32.1 ppg (#32), 26.6 papg (221.3), 40.0 rpg (214.9)
2024 BSU – 43.6 ppg (#3), 29.4 papg (233.5), 40.0 rpg (258.7)
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Participant
I’m sure you’re right.
I should prefaced my question with the condition that Whit retires and Scalley is given the freedom to do what he thinks is best.
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RUUTESParticipantWhoever it is it really needs to be someone from the outside. One thing I think has bit us in the butt too many times is the insular keep it in the family thing KW has going on. I’m all for loyalty but we need someone who isn’t home grown. The single greatest get we’ve ever had that transformed our entire program was Urban Meyer. We are unlikely to see another one of him. But we won’t even get close if we keep hiring old friends from inside the state.
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jshame17
ParticipantReality is they will make the safe decision to try to keep Ike at Utah.
That means and I fully expect it will be Bajakian, because he has the relationship with Wilson and is the most Utah option to take.
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UtesbyfiveParticipantBajakian is working with Ludwigs basic offense. There’s no way he could have installed his own system mid-season. Given an off-season, he can make wholesale changes around to his philosophy.
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Tony (admin)Keymaster…and his philosophy is?
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AnferneeParticipant
🎼 Bajak it, and don’t break it. It took your mother nine months to make it. 🎼 🎤🎸
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The Miami UteParticipant
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2008 National ChampParticipant
Film room: I found it interesting that the writer highlighted Tennessee running RPO in the red zone and the QB made the wrong read twice in a row so Bakajian called a reverse that should have been blown up as a great play sequence.
Oh, and am I the only one who thought the Spencer Fano wrinkle on the 2 point play was really nice but could have been unveiled in a higher leverage situation? I’d have rather that be on the 3rd and 3 where Wilson got blown up instead of trying to cut the lead from 13 to 11 which doesn’t change the calculus of needing 2 TD’s either way to take the lead.
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UtesbyfiveParticipant
I dunno. I assume he has one. What did he run at NW?
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2008 National ChampParticipant
you saw his offense in the 2023 bowl game. If you weren’t impressed by the 14 points Northwestern put up against 1/2 of the Utah starting D, or the 22.1 ppg (106th in country), you aren’t going to be impressed with what he does at Utah.
That 22.1 was the high water mark for him at Northwestern. But it was an improvement from the 13.8 in 2022.edit: I think what we saw on Saturday is pretty representative of what Bajakian likes to run. Lots of WR screens, flares to the RB, inside / outside zone hoping to set up a couple of deep shots per game.
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AZUTE
ParticipantKeeping Issac at Utah is not Whit’s first concern.
He will not bow to a single player over the team needs.
With that said Whit will hire someone who’s willing to play “Whit ball”
If you think it’s gonna be some young and up and comer or Scalley might have a say in it you are wrong.
It will be an older Ludwig type say Dirk Koetter. It will be someone Whit knows and trusts that he can relate to.
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AnferneeParticipant
So status quo? 😫
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UtesbyfiveParticipant
He’s been kowtowing to Wilson, or his family all year. What makes next year different?
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Participant
What?
Whitt said himself he didn’t pull Cam when he couldn’t hit a single pass against Arizona State., because…. Cam said he was going to keep playing. 28.7 QBR and 3 ints….
He let the PLAYER make the decision and it cost the TEAM severely…
Whitt absolutely caved to Cam and NIL over the team..
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UM4G
ParticipantMy opinion:
1. Brian Brohm, has Louisville offense in top 10 scoring offense the last 2 years. Would have to hope $$ talks because he’s an alumni and might view it as a lateral move.
2. Dirk Koetter, Boise St OC.
3. Kevin Decker, Old Dominion OC, has their offense sitting at 10th ranked scoring offense vs teams with winning records.-
Central Coast UteParticipant
I’m not sure Utah can outbid Louisville even if he was willing to make a lateral move for more money.
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Participant
Good point, my only hope is that Louisville doesnt want to spend 1.5 million for their OC. Basing that on the comment someone previously made stating that Utah spent 1.5 million on Ludwig which was much higher than the national average. Not holding my breath though, haven’t even checked to see how much he currently gets paid by Louisville.
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The Miami UteParticipant
Read this and weep or laugh. Highest-paid college football coordinators at the start of the season:
$2.1 million: Mike Denbrock, Notre Dame
$1.85 million: Andy Ludwig, Utah
$1.75 million: Garrett Riley, Clemson
$1.65 million: Charlie Weis, Jr., Ole Miss
$1.6 million: Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State
$1.5 million: Kirby Moore, Missouri; Bobby Petrino, Arkansas
$1.4 million: Mike Bobo, Georgia; Kirk Ciarrocca, Rutgers; Marcus Satterfield, Nebraska; Will Stein, Oregon
$1.3 million: Nick Sheridan, Alabama
$1.325 million: Kyle Flood, Texas
$1.25 million: Alex Atkins, Florida State; Bush Hamdan, Kentucky; Phil Longo, Wisconsin
$1.1 million: Tim Lester, Iowa; Chip Lindsey, North Carolina; Brian Lindgren, Michigan State; Seth Littrell, Oklahoma*
$1 million: Rob Sale, Florida*
$950,000: Kirk Campbell, Michigan; Josh Gattis, Maryland; Cortez Hankton, LSU*; Graham Harrell, Purdue; Joe Sloan*, LSU
$900,000: Kasey Dunn, Oklahoma State; Joe Jon Finley, Oklahoma*
$875,000: Tyler Bowen, Virginia Tech; Des Kitchings, Virginia
$850,000: Robert Anae, NC State; Zach Kittley, Texas Tech
$825,000: Barry Lunney, Jr., Illinois
$800,000: Jeff Grimes, Kansas; Derrick Nix, Auburn; Mike Shanahan, Indiana; Pat Shurmur, Colorado; Glenn Thomas, Nebraska*
$750,000: Kevin Barbay, Houston; Buster Faulkner, Georgia Tech
$745,000: Ben Arbuckle, Washington State
$725,000: Ryan Gunderson, Oregon State
$700,000: Brian Brohm, Louisville; Brad Glenn, Cincinnati
$600,000: Greg Harbaugh, Jr., Minnesota*; Matt Simon, Minnesota*
$550,000: Eric Bieniemy, UCLA; Mike Bloesch, Cal; Russ Callaway, Florida*
* – co-coordinator
Kind of reminds me of when Coach K was receiving Top 10 MBB HC money and delivering mediocre results.
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2008 National ChampParticipant
What coordinator worth his salt is going to come to Utah on a standard 3 year deal with a coach who could retire at any time? And why would Utah commit 1.5MM per w/ buyout for 3 years given the same reason?
Ludwig got a pretty sweet friends and family deal that should not be available to the next guy. I agree with people up above who said the next OC will be someone close to Whitt’s circle that is willing to come in to a last stop before retirement gig, probably mentoring Scalley’s choice who may or may not be ready for the full time job yet. Like Dennis Erickson did for Brian Johnson.
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Participant
If Whitt stays my only hope is maybe Koetter from Boise St, he’s old school and his offense seems to fit Whitt’s style featuring a power RB. The other 2 in my wish list above is assuming Whitt retires and Scalley opens up the search. I don’t have any illusions about how this will go though, just wishful/hopeful thinking.
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2008 National ChampParticipant
I’m with you on the thinking but Utah doesn’t currently have an Ashton Jeanty on the roster. And I’m not sure next year’s RB’s fit a power run game. I’m not one who believes that you have to have a 230 pound bruiser to run the ball effectively but if you aren’t going to run the defender over, you have to be able to avoid contact and I haven’t seen that out of Mitchell/Stanley.
The RB room gets pretty thin after Thanksgiving. Bernard and Vincent should be out of eligibility. Randle is now a cornerback. Glover will be in the portal as soon as it opens. So you are left with Mitchell, Stanley and whatever Woods turns out to be. And I’m not seeing any recruits in this year’s class. So do you bring in a run heavy OC and hope he can get 3 out of the portal the quality of Thomas, Pledger and Curry?
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Participant
Good point, I have been pleasantly surprised by other teams success with the portal, so if it were any other team I’d say yes, but under Whitt no I don’t believe we could get those types of RB’s to come in, which I guess brings us back to square one – if Whitt stays who the hell gets the OC role that we can even remotely be excited about.
Agree about the type of RB, shifty or power, makes no difference to me, my favorite RB of all time was shifty as hell (Walter Payton).
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2008 National ChampParticipant
The portal opens in less than a month and Utah currently hasn’t named an OC. Who that’s planning on entering the portal right now chooses Utah to come and play offense next year? At least prior to 2024 you could sell receivers on playing with Rising in an offense that had been top 15 in 2021/2022. Now? Every kid in the country can quickly pull up Utah’s stats and see that Singer, Pittman, Alford, etc had their pro prospects end once they put on a Utah uniform. Maybe not Singer but his time on the hill hasn’t enhanced his profile.
RB’s? How do you sell a kid on putting Moss into the league 5 years ago and nothing since?
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Participant
Speaking of Moss – I miss Dennis Erickson simply for his Florida recruiting ties. I know Brian Johnson spent a couple of years at UF, I wouldn’t be opposed to him getting an interview for HC or OC (if he wanted it) once Whitt is gone, assuming he could tap into Florida high schools. His ability to develop QB’s is a huge plus as well.
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2008 National ChampParticipant
I haven’t followed Johnson’s career. Which QB’s has he developed?
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Participant
Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts, and now Jayden Daniels. Also learned this morning that he was the one to recruit Anthony Richardson to Florida, though he wasn’t around long enough to develop him.
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2008 National ChampParticipant
I’d go with coached all of those and maybe developed Dak Prescott depending on how much credit you want to give Mullen.
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Participant
The big question for me in regards to a power run game isn’t just the RBs…
If we keep Harding, can the oline actually start moving people? Power running isn’t just Moss breaking 2 tackles in the backfield to gain 10 yards.
Boise’s online actually opens up holes..
no offense can run when the QB and RB are dodging people in the backfield every play.That is what made Wilson’s hesitation so frustrating. The few times he had time, he couldn’t pull the trigger and didn’t climb the pocket…
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2008 National ChampParticipant
reply fail. nothing to see here
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TrailgoatParticipantWhat credible OC in their right mind takes the OC job if KW decides to stay for his “day to day” retirement plan? Defense is a great selling point, everything else is nothing but red flags. College coaching is a tight group. Only takes a couple quick phone calls to find out the OC job at Utah under KW is a no win situation. Nothings going to change, it’s been this way for 20 years.
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SteelUteParticipantYou can have any color you want as long as it is black- that is Whitt. You can run the offense any way you like as long as you run it 70-75% of the time.
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Participant
Ah, the classic Ford Motor quote..
Fits perfectly.
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