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If I were Beck first thing I’d be doing is trying to convince him to stay. I know many are down on him but I think his ceiling is highest from what else is on the roster or who we could feasibly get in the portal.

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I’ll withhold too much judgement as I can’t speak to what he’ll do with Utah’s players or what the scheme is. But, from an optics perspective, I’d say this is a pretty uninspiring, conservative decision. Of course the guy has just followed Bronco around and has ties to the state, I’m sure Whitt heavily valued whatever input Bronco would have shared on him.

Certainly not a sexy hire and screams Whitt is still in the driver’s seat. Really would have preferred someone from outside the Utah/BYU footprint.

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I saw a picture online that was Rice Eccles in 1994 and then again in 2024, and it was disappointing to see that not much looked different. There are more bleacher seats, and the press box, but look at how a school like BYU does their game operations compared to Utah. There should be more invested there, for sure. I don’t know if you blame that on Harlan or who, but it’s a sign they aren’t modernizing their experience. Admittedly, the wifi has been good add so that’s a credit, but the concourse management is abysmal. When we’re trying to convince the modern day athlete to come here, they want flash, they want energy. Based on the game broadcasts this year, as long as Utah is competitive, we’ll get good game times on ESPN and Fox, but idk, it would be cool to have a more evolved game day experience.

Whitt definitely feels stuck in his ways to me and it is crazy that of coaches of his era, Saban seems to be the only “old school” type of coach who realized that you need to have a modern offensive scheme and skill players to succeed. If he had it his way, I bet Bama would be winning on fundamentals and defense but instead they churned out Heisman candidates at multiple positions.

When I heard the type of offense Scalley wanted, I got optimistic, but it has been frustrating to see that, for whatever reason (I won’t speculate), they can’t lock in a guy who meets that vision. Is it Whitt stepping in to veto? I don’t know, but I am certain that they won’t be able to get the train back on the tracks without nailing this hire. Harlan allegedly low-balling Leftwich based on “experience” is a bad sign. I get the apprehension, but they need young, fresh ideas and I will be tremendously disappointed if they bring in some older JAG type of guy to run the offense. It could set the program back another handful of years if they get this wrong.

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I’m sure he’s getting a lot of trash in his replies on X but he needs to be aware that Utah is now on a higher tier of program. Not saying they’re a blue blood or anything but the program and the university have more eyes on them than ever and expectations are higher than they have been. Fans are not going to just twiddle their thumbs until next fall and “trust that it’ll get figured out”.

Fans are reactionary and emotional by definition. It’s not unreasonable for fans to be upset at the lack of information. The team had an offense that was ranked lower than a school like UMASS last year, has had 2+ months to target and lock in their selection for OC, and we’ve now seen them get stiffed by their top 2 selections. That is justifiably cause for concern. The future of this team’s success depends largely on if they can reload and come back with a competent offense next year. They’ve done nothing to address that concern. NSD has already happened and the portal is opening in the next few days. There needs to be some urgency.

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To be honest this is all lining up as worst case scenario. I’m not adamant that Whitt needs to step down but if he’s staying he needs to cede offensive control to Scalley and his vision. Why mention Scalley has been involved in the decision process if it’s going to come down to Whitt’s preference anyway?

I’d rather have Whitt retire and take our lumps with Scalley and any transfers if it meant we are going to modernize the offense instead of staying in purgatory where our offense isn’t QUITE good enough.

Also, Harlan needs to realize this school is NOT a destination. Losing a guy from OK to a blue blood program I can stomach (though it definitely stings to hear he would have come to coach with Scalley), but imo there is no excuse to lose to a school like TTU. If they needed to pay a premium to a top-tier candidate to get him out of Texas, so be it. If he is playing hardball in these negotiations that is frustrating considering they were massively overpaying Ludwig for years.

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Not sure what sources you have or what you can disclose but if Whitt is half the guy he seems to be from the outside, wouldn’t you think that he is aware that his offensive philosophy is outdated? I think the reason many were OK or hoping for him to step down is because he seems to have a blind spot or unwillingness to allow his team to play offense the way the modern game requires.

If he’s willing to start slowing turning things over to Scalley (let him run some additional meetings, start teaching him the secret sauce to be a good HC, etc.) and allows Beck to run the offense, I don’t think many will have a problem with him finishing out a few more years. The criticism comes from his perceived inability or stubbornness WRT the current state of football.

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I think he has some kind of family ties to the area IIRC. Any WR worth their salt would reconsider after seeing what happened with Dorian this year. Hopefully they can shore up OC and QB and we can start building again. Having a great RB is a good start.

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You’re not wrong, but when there is a lack of official news, fans are left to speculate. As an example, see how fans acted during the last 2 years of QB misinformation. Not justifying it, but when people are passionate, they are going to discuss the topic with or without official reporting.

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As someone who also follows the NFL, there are a lot of parallels to how Bill Belichick’s tenure ended in New England. He was allowed to “mutually walk away” but the obvious subtext is he was fired.

Harlan is Whitt’s boss, at the end of the day. No one wants to see it get ugly, but to say his hands are tied isn’t quite correct imo as he could truly fire him if he needed to. Not saying we’re there yet, but if Whitt made certain assurances about how he’d be working with Scalley and what his input would be and he’s walked that back, it shouldn’t go unchecked.

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I don’t think they have a choice at this point. Unfortunately, things really can’t get worse from here, other than the footnote of starting 4-0 and losing out. I’d play him if it helps secure him coming back.

Allegedly Isaac has some attitude problems. I’m not sure if he could get buy in from people for the last few games. I’d imagine he would need to come back from the offseason with a new attitude and improvement to win people over, but who knows.

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