Do we have a head coach problem?

[Yergensen]

Has Whitt lost his edge and has he/will he overstay?

[Tony (admin)]

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

[RoboUte]

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

[2008 National Champ]

I think the phrase is “what should be done eventually must be done immediately” but the why do you want to Fire Whitt crowd won’t agree

[The Miami Ute]

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.

[HATUman]

Maybe he’s just been waiting to get to 65 so he can collect that hefty social security check.

[The Miami Ute]

Social security will be chump change compared to the money that he’s already socked away.

[Roy Rangum]

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.

[2008 National Champ]

Is anyone calling for him to step down or be fired immediately? I think even his biggest detractors would say that is silly.

I think all anyone wants is for their to be a cold eyes look at 2023 & however 2024 ends up and compare it to 2021 & 2022 (both 9-3 seasons even if the allocation of the losses allowed Utah to play in the CCG) to see if there were structural issues which should have been identified before those seasons and/or in the moment. And then Whitt and Harlan need to have an honest conversation after the conference season ends on whether Whitt is the right guy to fix it and whether he really wants to. Just like they’ve done every year.

There is nothing wrong with averaging 9 wins a season. But if the program decides they want to swing for the fences and go for broke there needs to be some changes in the staff below the HC and some new ideas are going to have to be allowed into the conversation.

[Roy Rangum]

2008, when you said “what must be done eventually must be done immediately”, I interpreted that as you calling for a mid season firing. My apologies if I misinterpreted.

[2008 National Champ]

It probably came off as more flippant than intended but the concept is sound. It’s more about making sure that all the pieces are in place for a seamless transition as quickly as possible so that you don’t allow an untenable situation to continue. I’m not there with Whitt and have never called for him to go but if the decision is that he needs to, you create more problems letting him finish out his contract than making the move now.

We don’t need to look any further than the damage Larry Scott did to the Pac-12 because the President’s dithered around and then allowed him to stay on as a lame duck commissioner for years after he’d proven himself incapable of doing the job.

[The Miami Ute]

I don’t trust Harlan to have that conversation with Whitt or to make a correct decision. In fact. if Scalley is not the next HC, I don’t trust Harlan to be the deciding factor as to who the next HC would be.

[2008 National Champ]

Definitely feels like the stranglehold JoePa had over Penn State.

How have Harlan’s other hires gone? I only follow Utah football and gymnastics and he did a terrible job by keeping Farden as long as he did.

[EagleMountainUte]

Harlan is supposedly a guy that gets booster donations. While I think he has done well with NLI transition. Basketball is completely held back by him. Smith was a horrible hire.

[The Miami Ute]

I’ve had basketball season tickets close to the floor for a few seasons and see Harlan all of the time at games schmoozing and working the “whales”. So, you might be right Eagle in that he’s a smooth talker and can work the financial/donation side of the athletic department. However, for me, he definitely failed his first task, which was to get MBB back on its feet. It still boggles my mind that, to solve that problem, all he did is take an hour’s drive to Logan and hire Smith.

[EagleMountainUte]

I have seen many people unsatisfied with Scalley. I am like who trust Harlan to make a hire? I think aiming for “Whitt Jr” is 100% the best decision until we find an AD.

[Holladay Ute]

Agree w/ this. I’d be excited to see what, if anything, Scalley would do differently than Whitt (mainly on offense, of course).

[Utesbyfive]

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.

[The Miami Ute]

This is not a troll question, but do you know Whitt personally and associate with him? There’s got to be some people here that really know what’s going on in his mind. If I’m 65, in a high-stress/high-pressure job and I’ve already made more money than I’ll ever be able to spend in my lifetime, I don’t spend more than a minute after the season is over as Utah Head Coach.

[Utesbyfive]

No, I don’t. I’m just speculating. This is my best guess.

[UM4G]

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.

[The Miami Ute]

I like Cignetti, but don’t you think that going from Indiana (and the B1G) to Utah and the Big XII would be a step down or at least a lateral move? I know that Indiana has never been a football school but even with that, they seem to get recruits (i.e. Penix) that Utah wouldn’t have a chance to get.

[UM4G]

It’s definitely a long shot, probably not possible now that we’re on the outside looking in (again), but he’s definitely at the top of my wish list.

[The Miami Ute]

I understand…but I doubt that Cignetti, a guy frpm Pittsburgh who’s never coached west of the Mississippi River, even considers the Utah job. Plus, he’s only a couple of years younger than Whitt and close to retirement age himself.

[UM4G]

Right, like I said, long shot. My point being I don’t want the reigns to be handed off to Scalley without looking at other options first. Age isn’t as much of a concern to me, I’d take 2 to 5 years from a coach if it meant he elevated the team beyond a conference championship. I’m no longer a fan of hiring a coach with the plan to be there for 2 decades, it seems to lead to complacency and prolongs the transition once they’ve lost a step simply because everyone wants to give him the benefit of the doubt for being loyal so many years, I want the best guy for the job whether that’s 2 years or 20.

[2008 National Champ]

oh, and welcome to the board. I enjoyed our conversations at Block U

[UM4G]

Same! If I remember correctly you’re a fan of Kiltlifter? I hope they made last night a bit more bearable. They finally made their way up to Salt Lake, I’m not typically a beer drinker but those are good.

[2008 National Champ]

Yes, I’m a big fan of the Kiltlifters but not many people make it. Are you getting 4 Peaks? Or maybe the Pike’s version out of Washington. Both are much smoother than an IPA, in my opinion, without the fruitiness of a Hefeweizen. Alaskan Amber was my go to about 20 years ago and 4 Peaks has been a nice next step.

[UM4G]

Four Peaks is what I’m finding, I’ve tried a few local breweries but not found any quite as enjoyable. To be fair whiskey is my go to majority of the time so it’s probably just me.

[2008 National Champ]

I was given a lifetime ban from drinking whiskey in my early 20’s so I never got to the point where I could afford to try any good ones. Canadian Club, Canadian Mist, Seagrams, Crown was pretty much all I could afford.

Got my dad a bottle of MacAllan 18 for his 75th birthday but didn’t try it.

[2008 National Champ]

If you really wanted him, the time to get Cignetti was after last season. He’s not moving from Indiana until he gets offered one of the top 10 jobs like DeBoer did when he moved on from Washington.

I realize there haven’t been a lot of hiring opportunities since I started being a Utah fan in 1988 but what you need to try to replicate is the Urban Meyer hire. Go find the next big thing at the G5 level who is prepared to bring almost a whole staff with him and inject new life into the program. Hopefully you can convince one of those new guys (or the DC who was already on staff) to stay for the next 20 years and take the program to even greater heights.

My worry with Scalley stepping up will always be that he will try to run the Whittingham program model and keep as many of the current staff as he can. At least it will be until he proves me wrong. A major part of Whitt’s success is the innateness of him being Whitt. Scalley will need to forge his own path instead of trying be something he’s not just because it worked for the last guy.

[UM4G]

I agree, though I haven’t paid attention to any G5 teams outside of BSU (well mostly Jeanty) so I’m not aware of which coaches, if any, would fit that mold.

[The Miami Ute]

What do you think of Odom at UNLV? He was at Mizzou for four years before getting canned but actually had a decent record there. He’s got deep ties back east and could probably make Utah’s case to a different type of recruit. A guy that I really like is Jake Dickert at Washington State. Whatever the case, I think that Utah’s best move is to hire someone that’s not currently in the program.

[2008 National Champ]

I’d rate the possibility of Odom considering Utah about a 3 out of 10. He’s going to get an SEC/B1G offer after this season now that the stink of how his tenure ended at Missouri is gone. Both UNLV and Missouri are historically tough places to win so he should get a pretty decent look.

The offense Odom ran with Drew Locke (Heupel as OC) seemed pretty QB friendly and from what I watched last night, it’s working pretty well in Vegas. I’d be willing to kick the tires if I was the AD but wouldn’t want to pay him Whitt money which is probably what he would ask for.

Edit: I missed your mention of Dickert on my first read. That would definitely be someone of interest, especially for the double whammy of my sister disowning me because Utah stole her coach. And it would be a triple whammy if he brought his OC with him.

A better option might be for Scalley to bring in whoever is calling the shots at North Texas and turning the offense over to them but that would be if you are sticking with the in-house ascension.

[2008 National Champ]

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.

[UM4G]

I am more interested in their coach every passing week, same with Boise St.

[RUUTES]

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.

[Trailgoat]

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.

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