Lucky to have Coach Whitt!

[UtesRule]

Can’t believe there were EVER some, early in the transition to the Pac-12 who wanted to get rid of Coach Whittingham!!
All time great

[ALUF]

I’m worried football will become like basketball when he leaves. After majerus left basketball has been to a few sweet 16s and had a few lottery picks but has been very underwhelming since he left. Hopefully whoever replaces him takes football to the next level!

Whit has been a legend though, so many great memories and moments during his time.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

The key to getting Whittingham was that after Meyer announced his decision to leave for Gainesville, he personally tapped KW as his successor.  Now ultimately Dr. Hill would have to make that call, but Meyer strenuously recommended him.  Meyer knew “coaching talent” when he saw it.  But does Whittingham also possess that degree of insight?  

Brian Johnson seems to think so.

[UteThunder]

Big difference between Whittingham and Majerus – Whittingham has built a family oriented, team culture and will likely leave the program in great shape. Majerus had great success throughout his career but towards the end his team culture had become toxic. He also didn’t do the program any favors with the way he stepped away from the program for his health problems and his mother’s health problems but wouldn’t resign so the rebuild could begin right away.

[belli1976]

Agree with Ute Thunder.

Majerus pushed Judkins out. Who was the next inline. The players loved Juddy. Big Rick didn’t like it.

Juddy had to settle in women’s basketball at BYU. Which is a difficult place to succeed with the culture. But he put the program in a materially better status.

[pedro]

I knew some fans as late as 2020 that were calling for his head.  CAD!  (crazy ass dumb)

[2008 National Champ]

Can you define “calling for his head?” I know that I stated before the 2020 season was cancelled that Whitt had not met his own stated seasonal goals since joining the PAC 9 years earlier. If it’s not fair to judge a man by the standard(s) he sets for himself, I’m not sure what is.

Sounds like revisionist history to claim that there weren’t legitimate reasons to opine whether Whitt was the right man to get Utah football to where it is currently. Losing seasons in 2012/13, what seemed like yearly OC changes, the complete inability to field an offense worthy of P5 status, recruiting classes consistently in the bottom half of the conference.,, anyone who would have stated that they knew before the 2015 season that entering 2023 Whitt would have his team in 4 straight full season CCG’s and consecutive Rose Bowls would have been laughed off the internet.

Don’t let the current success blind you to the fact that it was a struggle to get here. CAD!

[pedro]

Well my comment wasn’t directed at you or about you.  But if you feel the need to get that off your chest, glad I could help.  

To answer your question, I have two friends who specifically said Whit wasn’t the guy, we would never win the conference and that Utah shoulld cut bait and move on. 

But to you and them, at the time, I would and did say (to them) that anyone who was watching this program closely could see the problem.  It was depth.  We could and did compete with anybody, anywhere.  Then we would lose games late in they year we shouldn’t.  We could debate why, but IMHO it was depth.  We would get beat up and our 2’s were not nearly as good as our 1’s.  

Without a big name in HC position, you are not going to improve recruiting overnight.  Whit was not a big name (nor would Utah be able,even now, to land a LR or DS type of name) and thus the ability to improve the 2’s via recruiting took more time than many fans thought it should (forgetting the struggles every team in utah has w landing high profile minority players – see the Jazz).  But those looking at the situation objectively (keeping our hearts out of it) could see progress was being made and we would get there.  

Hope that helps!

[2008 National Champ]

Just to make sure I’m understanding you, the problem for Utah was depth. And the person in charge of making sure the team had the correct depth is not to be critiqued on that aspect of his job?

It’s Whitt’s program and has been for the last 18 years. He either gets the appropriate plaudits for it’s success as well as the appropriate criticism for it’s failures or the whole discussion is a waste of time (in my opinion). If the point of your post was to feel good about yourself while maligning “some fans” without a true examination of why those fans might feel the way they do, I’ll get out of your way and let you have your moment.

[pedro]

Haters going to hate.  MWC depth was there.  PAC12 depth took time.  It’s clear you don’t like the man.  I’ll just leave it where it lies.

[pedro]

I lied.. 

Let’s compare….

Took ASU 8 years to win the PAC after joining

Wildcats? 15

Colorado?  12 years in an they’ve got nothing

Utah?  10

Teams who haven’t won it since Utah joined?  WSU, Cal, ‘Zona, ASU, Colorado, UCLA and OSU

So if “fans” think the step up should’ve been easier or taken less time, the facts say otherwise.  There was a talent gap and recruiting the right guys takes years as the evidence shows.  But again, haters going to hate.