My thoughts on Coach Whittingham.

[ProudUte]

Let me preface this by saying this just one old man’s opinion.  I’m not saying any of this is a fact.

First, there is no one who was happier that he decided to stay on to coach the Utes after the 2004 season.  I was grateful to players like Casy Evans, Madsen and others who went to his house the night he was ready to accept the BYU job.  These guys helped Whitt to change his mind and coach at Utah.

Recruiting

I think that Whitt is an adequate recruiter.  I don’t think he is a great recruiter.  He has missed on many local kids and some of that happens.  But, I do think he should have got a higher percentage of the local kids.  I do think he has a good eye for potential players like Eric Weddle.

Player Development

I believe that this may be Whitt’s biggest strength.  Just look at the star rating of his recruits and then the number of players he has placed in the NFL.  He has competed in the PAC 12 with what most consider lesser talented recruits.

Defensive Coaching

This speaks for itself.  He took his dad’s defensive philosophy and implemented here at Utah.  He was a great D coordinator and all of the D coaches under him have had success.  The defensive lineman and D backs he has had drafted is amazing.

Offensive Coaching

IMO this is one of his weaknesses.  He follows the Coach Mac philosophy of winning in the trenches.  He is not one to open up the offense.  He wants to win time of possession  and control the clock.  That is okay.  However, he gets way too conservative when he has a lead.  He is also afraid of making mistakes.  After Travis Wilson threw 6 PIs against UCLA, he never let Travis really open things up again in his career.

Special Teams

Whitt has been amazing with special teams.  His kickers, punters and returners have been amazing.  This is where the majority of his All American players played.  No one can complain about this part of his coaching.

Management

From internal sources (players and coaches) Whitt is a micro manager.  He demands control of all aspects of the team.  He has gone as far as to not allow any coaches to speak to the media.  I have learned after 30+ years of management, that to be successful at anything – you must delegate and let people do their jobs.  I don’t think he has delegated enough to his assistant coaches.

He has typically only hired coaches he knows.  He has been afraid to go outside of his circle to find talented up-and-coming guys.  This is a big mistake IMO.

Publice Relations

Whitt is not great with PR IMO.  This is not the most important thing for a coach, but it is an important role for a college football coach.  Meyer was great at it and Mac was good at it.  It seems that Whitt would rather not ever talk to the media.

Bottom Line

We have sold out for about a decade, even during the recession.  That says something.  Some say that is the bottom line.  He has been competitive in the PAC 12 and certainly respected.  He is the third longest serving coach in D1 football.  That is also amazing.

I hoped and hope that Whitt would take us to the next level.  I have said before, that I think it would be possible to become like Nebraska of the 70s-90s or Oklahoma today.  It won’t be easy.  It won’t happen until he recruits better.  Can he do it?  I hope he can, but we are far from being there yet.  We cannot compete with the top 5 teams in college football because we do not have the same level of athletes.  Whitt does great with what talent he has.

 

[pedro]

A counter thought or two….

The last several OC’s have all commented that Whit does not get involved in the offense.  He will occaisionally tell them that we need to change directions or what have you.  This year, and our earlyk inability to find an offense, would be a great example of him inserting his opinion when needed, but only when needed.  Hard to argue with those results.

Micro-managing?  Hardly.  Aside from G. Monson, I have not heard anyone say he’s a micromanager and I have known and currently know members of the team and coaching staff.  

Finally, by your standard, NO ONE in the PAC 12 would be good enough to coach the Utes.  Currently there is not a team in the PAC in the top 5 in CF.  Is that really what we’re realistically holding Whit to?  MOST of those team out recruit us every year, yet finish below us in the standings.  We may need to adjust our expectations.  Afterall, top 5 out of 129 year in and year out, damn near impossible unless you name ends in Bama.

More food for thought, since 2011 when we joined the PAC, 5 different coaches have won the PAC.  With only two winning it more than once…. Shaw and Peterson.  I hear many of the same complaints about Shaw from Cardinal fans.  Yet he is the only one to win it three different times.  Not even Leach makes that list and many on here would ‘gasm if we were to hire him.  

An opinion from this old man who’s been in the stadium since before many here were born…..  Utah fans are inherently negative – not saying you are as I don’t know you.  But we tend to go to the sky is falling mentality sooner that we should.  We have seen this team progress almost every year since joining the PAC and yet it is not good enough for us.  We have a coach, who nationally is touted as one of the best ever…. yet he isn’t good enough for us.  Our defense dominates and we focus on our offense being subpar – even though we still win the majority of the time.  

My buddy compares Whit to Sloan.  OK, fair enough.  But my hell, say what you will but Sloan got the Jazz to level they had never been too before nor since.  I suspect that when Whit finally does leave, we will say the same about him.  Like it or not, Utah has a stigma.  The players tweat about it all the time (saying they are pleasently surprised that it’s not as weird as they thought it would be).  That makes recruiting tough and would make finding a better coach than Whit even tougher.  But my point, why kick a winner to the curb if he’s still winning and still actively improving the team year after year?  Makes absolutely zero sense.  You don’t dump a super model girlfriend just because in you mind, she isn’t quite as good as the top 5 GF’s in this world.  Just my two cents.  

[ProudUte]

Pedro – you make it sound like I said to fire Whitt.  Most of the things I said were very positive.  I stand by these comments:

– He is just an adequate recruiter.  He has not proved to be a great recruiter yet.  I hope that changes.

– He chooses to play a very conservative offense, especially with a second half lead.  I beleive he learend that from Mac.

– IMO – he is a micro manager.  I have talked to people inside the locker room.  In the words of one former Ute all conference defensive player, “Coach Whitt is a control freek.”  I don’t believe this is unusual for head football coaches.  However, I believe he could have more success, by letting his coaches have more control.  Now, I have never been a college coach, so this is just one man’s opinion.

I did say he was amazing at defensive coaching, special teams and player development. And again, no where in my post did I suggest firing Whitt.

I admit I have high expectations (maybe too high).  I would like to see this team take it to the next level and I do beleive it is possible.