Whit said he plans to retire by age 65 which is in 5 years. I think most would agree that Whit has done an amazing job building the program. And based on our current trajectory, I’m optimistic in 5 years Whit could have us solidified as a top 20 recruiting class, year in and year out.
Scalley might very well be our next Head Coach in 5 years and I think he would be great. 5 years is more than enough time for Scalley to overcome the hit his repuation has taken. But outside of Scalley, I wanted to get everyone’s idea for up and coming coaches that would help take our program to the next level after Whit retires. I personally believe that whoever is on the list, the #1 requirement should be the candidate’s track record as a recruiter.
Say what you want about Oregon with Phil Knight’s money and being Nike U as the reason why they are so successful in recruiting. However, the 10 years prior to Cristobal Oregon finished around the Top 20 range in the recruiting rankings. What Cristobal has been doing since he took over after Helfrich (in just 3 years) is nothing short of amazing. For anyone who disagrees, please listen to this Podcast first. PODCAST: Why Oregon is recruiting at a level never seen before.
With that said, here are some coaches with bright futures:
Brian Hartline (33 years old) – Ohio State, WR Coach – Brian Hartline: Recruiting track record
Todd Bates (35 years old) – Clemson, DL Coach – Todd Bates: Recruiting track record – Rivals Recruiter of Year 2019
Karl Scott (35 years old) – Alabama, Cornerbacks Coach – Karl Scott: Recruiting track record
Dell McGee (46 years old) – Georgia, RB Coach – Dell McGee: Recruiting track record
Chip Long (37 years old) – Tennessee, former OC Notre Dame – Chip Long: Recruiting track record
Sherrone Moore (34 years) – Michigan, TE Coach – Sherrone Moore: Recruiting track record
I fully recognize the above coaches are all at Blue Blood programs, offering them a huge advantage in recruiting when they walk in the door of any 4/5* kid’s home. However, I still want a HC that’s actually had experience landing this level of talent before. Cristobal is a good example of this coming from Alabama. Would love to hear other opinions.
I’d bet Utah would be more likely to hire Jay Hill or Kalani Sitake. Start the down votes.
Harlan’s obviously a big factor if he’s still AD when Whitt retires. If the decision were made today, I don’t think Sitake would get serious consideration. A few years down the road, perhaps. I don’t know that Hill’s experience at Weber State would get him enough cache (accent over the e).
I think Harlan will look outside the U family for better or for worse looking to make an impact from his network. That is more worrying to me than encouraging. I’m not that impressed with Harlan. I thought his posturing in the Scalley press conference last week showed a man much more interested in his own reputation than the program and its coaches. Admittedly, I’m looking for reasons to dislike Harlan. A few friends of mine do not care for him so I’m jaded. I do not have any personal interaction with him.
Completely agree with Rick on this. To me, Harlan came across as a total p***k in the presser with Scalley. Made it seem like he only kept Scalley due to all the positive feedback given from former players and Whitt (which is a good thing) while trying to appease to those who wanted him gone by laying down the punishment, which was far to extreme in my opinion.
Yes, Harlan seems to be doing well on the fundraising side, but any decent AD should be able to do that.
The only way Scalley has a shot at HC is if Whitt really pushes for him come his retirement. No way Harlan looks at Sitake or Hill.
The question is about 5 years down the road…
I just don’t think so. I think this will be a true nationwide search. Harlan has connections in the south. It’ll be interesting.
Utesbyfive,
Harlan anointed Scalley the chosen one proving he’s not above keeping it in the family. I hope you’re right about a true nationwide search, but Harlan has already proven he’s willing to keep it here.
How did he anoint him? I believe he stripped him of the title of “head coach in waiting,” and cut his pay by half. He also sounded kind of p**sed that he had to keep him on staff. I think he’ll look elsewhere when the time comes.
You know exactly what I’m talking about. And im not wrong.
Unfortunately, I agree. KSL recently threw out Brian Johnson as a potential HC, currently QB coach at Florida.
Brian Johnson might be a good fit. If I’m not mistaken he doesnt have much OC experience though. Two years here a long time ago amd I think one year at Houston.
*cracks knuckles*
MDUte, first I want to applaud your homework of finding so many potential candidates. Well done good sir (or ma’am….or whatever your preference 😉 )
Here are my 2 cents:
What Cristobal has done at Oregon truly is awesome. I am jealous of all these ridiculously talented players, several from our own backyard, that he is bringing to the program. He is rolling in the talent and it is clear that that was a major factor in us getting destroyed by them last year.
However, I have no desire for a firework coach. PJ Fleck, Urban Meyer, and (hopefully) Mario Cristobal are good examples. Hear me out.
A firework coach per my definition is someone that comes in and just revolutionizes the program and brings it to a completely other level within a short period of time. Within 3 years they bring it from somewhat competitive to beating some elite program. A relatively short amount of time and a whole lot of flash and show. Firework coach.
This impact, however, is not sustainable. That’s why the elite programs are more or less the same handful of teams year-in-year-out. Over time, they have slowly improved and joined the elites and stayed there. I’ve seen too many programs throughout the US get a coach and a team that performs way above expectations for a few years and the program gets all this attention and such. But then, the head coach gets bought out by some bigger university (Urban from Utah→Florida→Ohio State, PJ Fleck from Western Michigan→Minnesota, and Mario Cristobal from Alabama→Oregon→Miami (hopefully)) and when he leaves, he usually takes his staff with him which leaves the program scrambling to fill the holes and it’s usually in a sorry state the next few years. It may or may not recover. Utah has been lucky. It took Florida years to get back on track and still aren’t really competitive yet. Western Michigan is done for.
Now, if this happens multiple times, it becomes this brutal coaching carousel of heartache and rejoicing. I want no part in this.
No, I’m looking for small, sustainable progress to the future. I’m perfectly fine trying to give the coaches you mentioned a job so they get buy-in to the program, but I want to join the elite programs of the country. To do that, you need sustainable improvements that compound on each other over time and personnel that stay. I am fine with setbacks as long as we are improving over time. This requires a lot of patience and a lot of trust.
So how does Utah get there? I believe it’s another head coach that can commit to 15-20 years. Someone that will stay even if the big universities come calling with their massive wallets (this happened to kwhit multiple times but he’s declined it all). That person is Morgan Scalley. He has been a Utah man for decades and will continue to be. He will continue to improve and the staff we have is stable and generating NFL talent with the kids we have better than anyone in the country. It’s only a matter of time on our current trajectory that our average recruiting rankings are mostly 4-star talents.
TLDR: I’m all for progress but it must be sustainable over decades, not just years. I think Mario will be offered a job he can’t refuse somewhere else. I think Morgan Scalley is our guy for the next few decades and I trust in him and what we’re building. I’m all for bringing on talented staff but Utah needs talented staff that will STAY and continues improving the program every year. A talented staff that will stay cannot be bought. They must be made.
Dresden- great post. Before I even got to your endorsement of Scalley, it was clear that he’s your guy. And I’ve pretty much felt the same as you. However, once I started to learn a little more about Cristobal and what he’s been doing it made me question whether I’m thinking too “small”.
Totally agree with your definition of firework Coach. But I would argue that what Urban Meyer did in 2 years, took Utah Football to a whole new level and gave everyone a glimpse of what is possible in little Salt Lake City. And knowing what we know now, that Urban was only going to stay for 2 years, it would be crazy for anyone to say we’d rather pass on him in favor of Whittingham. Whit would be the first to admit that he’s a better coach having been under Urban for those 2 years. In the same way, Scalley would be that much better if we brought in someone that could raise the bar, especially when it comes to recruiting. And if so, I don’t think we’d at all be disappointed if they were to spring board to their “dream job”.
I’d be totally excited if Scalley ends up being Whit’s replacement. And I have no doubt that Scalley would continue slowly building the program over time which is a great thing. But I wonder if we would reach a bit of a ceiling in that scenario, competing for Conf championships occasionally but never really breaking though. And that doesn’t negate getting better than where we are today. It just takes into account that Oregon, SC, Washington will also be getting better as well. I’m all for staying competitive at the top of the conference vs potentially going backwards with the wrong hire. It just felt amazing being in that playoff conversation right up until that CCG, even if we really weren’t quite in that league of talent. If there was a chance to enter that stratosphere, I think I might take it.
When I stated above about not wanting to think “too small”. I believe looking inside the state like at Jay Hill, Kalani Sitake, or even Gary Anderson is just that. IMO, the old Utah in the MWC days would think that way. But I definitely wouldn’t say that about promoting Scalley from within. He’s the safe pick IMO, and my risk averse side says he’s also the right pick. But maybe when Whit hangs it up we could be in a prime position to take a risk??
Great analysis, you two. This is why I am loyal to this place…
Oh and you can call me sir, thanks.
Perfectly stated Dresden. I couldn’t agree more with your post.
It appears Harlan was flexing his muscles at the presser. It’s rare to find a GM or sales manager in any industry that doesn’t like to showcase their status when the spotlight comes their way. Some do it well but most come across as being a pompous prick.
I wish we knew if he wanted to or if he felt like he had to remove the head coach in waiting status from Scalley; because Harlan sure didn’t have a problem with giving Scalley that cushion after he just arrived.
The safe bet is Scalley will be ready for the job when itcomes available and he’ll probably get it. It will be well deserved. His shoes at DC will be an interesting fill though. I have no problems at all with Scalley as a future head coach as Utah will not pull another HC from another P5 school. As previously noted, it would be from another assistant coach somewhere – then why not Scalley?
I’d like to know why Jim Harding has held the assistant head coach title if Scalley was told he was the heir.
Thanks for all good reads you guys I read them all.
Thanks, gents. I’m obviously passionate about this stuff.
MDUte, you’re absolutely right that these next few years are crucial. In reality, every year is crucial but these next few will be rather interesting. I believe Morgan will more than make his point in proving he is ready to take the head coach job. I think the real question is, can we have the best of both worlds?
Ideal situation: a head coach that stays with us 10+ years in the program that recruits better than Mario Cristobal, coaches better than Kyle Whittingham and has the results of the Urban Meyer era of Utah football or better. Is this possible? What are we missing?
Here’s what I think needs to change:
#1: With the passing of the baton, no more of this “underdog” garbage. We will not practice like the underdog, we will not believe we are underdogs, we practice and play like we’re the best in the country. Period.
#2: We learn how to recruit the elite. We offer some really, really talented kids but it doesn’t seem like the top of our offers list grade-wise take us seriously. This requires being a ridiculously good salesman. Marion learned how to sell, then ‘Bama came knocking. He then was the #1 recruiter in the nation. Oregon then called him up. If we don’t already, I would like to see consistent recruiting/sales training from some elite recruiters to our guys. This may not be possible, but there has got to be some recruiter out there turned consultant that will cost a pretty penny for a weekend but what we learn in that weekend may just bring us from a few 4* talents and mostly 3*s to a few 5* talents, mostly 4*s, several underappreciated 3*s and some conference championships and playoff berths to boot. That is something like a 10x return if you ask me.
#3: Training change. It seems that Utah football is at it’s best from Oct-early November. This month and a half is a really wonderful time to be a Ute fan. After November however, especially recently, Utah seems to slump. I’m not sure if our guys’ bodies just can’t take the punishment as in we’re pushing them too hard or we lack motivation or sleep or something but it is clear that we run out of gas. When we run out of gas, the more talented team on average wins. That’s been Texas, Oregon, Northwestern, and Washington. It didn’t use to be this way. Utah used to bring the freaking pain come the last game of the year but it seems that lately that isn’t the case. This may be because the final game is against some really great opponents. I’m not certain.
We were so close to the playoff. Given our recent end-of-year slump, I don’t think we would have competed very much with any of the other teams. It would have been an incredible experience even if we were humiliated on the big stage but still, I’d rather be on the big stage and humiliated than not on that stage at all.
Dresden, perfectly said! Thanks for sharing your analysis. Couldn’t agree more with everything you outlined…especially the part about no longer seeing ourselves as the underdog both in play and in recruiting. IMO, the next step for us is to go from the 3 or so 4* kids we get to double that amount. If we can consistently get 8 4* kids then it will only be a matter of time before we start to break through with 1 5* kid here and there. It was interesting to learn that Cristobal makes a point to go around the country and meet a number of the 5* kids he targets. I don’t know if Whit does the same or not but it’s my impression that we just send an offer letter to all 5* kids regardless but it’s basically a waste of time. Doesn’t seem like we believe we can actually land one or that we are at a level deserving of competing for that type of talent. But that’s where we need to get to. Just my 2 cents fwiw
like it! I know kwhitt would like to have a local (bubble) who he can relate to for the next head coach. But a national search that can pop the Footloose bubble is what’s needed.
Was Footloose filmed in Utah?
Worked well in basketball
Utah needs Urban Meyer to come back. He was all over national tv claiming how his best time coaching was at Utah. He is the #1 option. He solves every issue stated by others. Recruiting is the lifeline and as much praise as Coach Erickson received for opening up the Florida pipeline, Meyer would create a national 4-5* pipeline overnight…
Noneyadb, I have to admit that would be the dream scenario for me. If Urban came back to Utah, Whit took over the defense, Ludwig the offense…we’d become the super power out west overnight. IMO, there are only 3 coaches that the 4/5* kids line up to play for…Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, and Urban Meyer. After a couple of recruiting cycles, our team would be littered with this level of talent.
Honest question. What if Harlan told Urban he’d make a huge splash by making Urban the highest paid coach in America to return to Utah? Whit gets a little over $4M a year. So what if he came up with another $5.5M to get Urban….IMO, that would be the best $5.5M the Athletic Department could spend. Everyone knows Football is the revenue driver. And if we became an elite Football power, which we know with Urban we would….to me, that’s a no-brainer. But I guess, one can only dream…
He loved his time at the U. Instead of bringing him on as a HC, could we instead just pay him as a consultant to learn how to do what he did? Is that possible?
Just like a weekly or something training where we pay him a high price tag but he ultimately trains us. That gets him on our side but keeps him out of the head coach seat. He got tired of being head coach and even half reitred while at Florida didn’t he? Him becoming a HC here at the U I think is a stretch but some kind of consultant contract between the two parties may be possible and super beneficial. Urban gets cash money & time with his family, we get trained by him and possibly develop MULTIPLE mini-Urbans.
Yea, kind of like we did with Erickson? That would be awesome! At least until he figures out where he wants to go??
Well I guess Erickson was actually hired on as part of the coaching staff. I love your idea of bringing Urban on as a consultant. The more I think about it, having him transfer his knowledge of how to take our program to the next level as you described is exactly what we need.
Good idea. As a consultant would he be able to contact recruits? The NCAA can be weird with their rules so I really don’t know. If he could consult and take kind of a second tier recruitment type of position, to me that would be ideal.
Someone get kwhitt on the phone! We’ve got a solution! Heck, I’ll draft the contract for them.
that’s a Bingo!
He’d be the HC. He’d choose his own staff. Consultant position isn’t going to attract kids like the HC.
Must take care as this is determined. There are 11 other schools in the Pac also doing everything they can to get to the top, most of them trying to overtake our position. Almost all have more resources, history and offer some great things. Many have swung for the fence and come up short of where we are at currently. Think of what UCLA has going, what they have done and how much they would like to catch us. It is like George Patton said, the other side has plans too.
With that said, we need to avoid the results others in the conference has experienced, even with more money, and not take a step back. Next, is finding something that can make the break thru to a conference title. It can be done but that step is beyond the understanding of almost every fan and beyond the ability of all but a few coaches. If it was more simple more would get it done.
Our AD needs to keep the progress going, the coaches need to keep the improvements in recruiting going. I would love to see Meyer come fill a roll like Erickson if that is even possible. If we do end up looking in house, at least that house is already in the top quartile of the conference. I’ve been here since the 60s and have seen great overall improvement, I expect to see that continue. Anderson may have a chance to get his hat into the ring but Sitake and Hill will have difficulty getting consideration. National guys will be looked at. When the AD pulled the HC in waiting, both knew Scalley had time to overcome this setback.
Scalley’s first HC experience shouldn’t be at Utah. He needs to learn from other coaches. Whitt has been good, but still lacks the finer nuances that other HC’s already know. Time management, adjustments, and personnel being key issues. Hiring friends and family hasn’t helped.
I kind of agree with you. This is why schools hire professors from out of state. Different experiences, different perspectives. I really like Morgan, but I think new blood from outside the bubble, as Pace would say, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. One thing they absolutely must understand however is the LDS culture of missionary work, etc., which is why I disagree with Pace, that looking for outside Mormon coaches isn’t wise. Think it’s absolutely fine.
The problem with “going outside the bubble” is you run the risk of having a situation like Colorado. He came in, didn’t even have a ton of success on the field, but things appeared to be trending in the right direction. He then gets poached by Michigan State. If Utah does go out side the bubble, they may have to pay a lot more money. Whitt is unusual in the fact that he’d rather stay here than go to another school, as long as he’s getting decent pay. MS would work along the same lines because he wants to be at Utah. Utah isn’t everyone’s dream job.
5 years is a long way down the road. I don’t think Whit knows for sure if he’s going to retire or not. By then the available coaches will be totally different. Thread is very premature right now.
Seems like we aren’t the only ones thinking about the future. four-candidates-to-be-utah-footballs-next-head-coach-in-waiting/amp/
Haha.. someone’s keeping track. No one cares.
^ Mormon hater
^m0rmon
Keeping track are we..???
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