Top CFB Head Coaches

[MDUte]

It’s unbelievable to me how our own fanbase is so quick to criticize and throw Whitt under the bus at the first sign of trouble.
Every national media person has Whitt in their Top 10 coaches. Ute fans could NOT be more fortunate to have one of the top coaches in CFB leading our program, let alone for the past 20 years!

Top 10 College Football Head Coaches via The Athletic's @BruceFeldmanCFB🔥

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— On3 (@On3sports) March 6, 2024

[chinngiskhaan]

I don’t associate with Ute fans outside of this website and my immediate family, but I haven’t seen anyone throwing him under the bus. I haven’t seen anyone state he’s less than at least a top 20 coach.

Sure, some whine about certain things he does,but even those people know he’s a damn good coach.

[MDUte]

The 247 site had a considerable amount of fans going after Whitt for mismanaging the QB situation last year. It was very surprising and disappointing to me that Whitt hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt from fans at this point.

[Central Coast Ute]

Same as a segment of Ute fans on X/Twitter

[The Miami Ute]

Are you really saying that the QB situation wasn’t mismanaged last year? I love Whitt but he’s certainly not infallible. No head coach is.

[MDUte]

None of us know the full details of what happened last year. For all we know, Whitt made the best possible decision each step of the way with the information he had. For example, maybe there were no options to bring in a better QB from the transfer portal than what we had on the roster after spring ball. Remember that a transfer QB still would have to learn Ludwig’s offense in a short period of time in order to be more effective than what we already had (ie the Charlie Brewer experiment).

Maybe Whitt made mistakes last year with the QB situation or maybe he did the absolute best he could given the circumstances. The point is that as much as us fans want to win, nobody wants to win more than Whitt and the players. And for Whitt to lead the team to 8 wins given the QB situation and the extraordinary amount of injuries last year is remarkable. Take Penix away from Washington, Nix away from Oregon, Williams away from SC as well as 12 of their top impact players and I guarantee they’re not finishing better than 8 wins…likely would do much worse.No coach is perfect, but when you have 1 of the top 10 coaches in the country leading the program and who has literally put Utah on the map, why wouldn’t you simply give him the benefit of the doubt and enjoy the ride???

[RoboUte]

For all we know, Whitt made the best possible decision each step of the way

We’re lucky enough to have a coach that you can rate top 10 in the country without resorting to mental gymnastics of this magnitude. It’s really not required, his career is actually that good.

[MDUte]

Mental gymnastics goes both ways. You assuming the worst with how Whitt managed the QB situation and what you think he could have or should have done is the exact same thing. You don’t know all the details and neither do I. So what good does it do to shout at the rain and throw Whitt under the bus? Does it make you feel better or something? Seriously, I don’t get it.

[RoboUte]

You assuming the worst with how Whitt managed the QB situation and what you think he could have or should have done is the exact same thing

It’s not. We know far more than enough to point out several very obvious mistakes along the way and many posters have already spent time throughout the season doing so. Including several who initially agreed with you… You don’t even have to assume the worst to come to this conclusion, or really make any assumptions at all, you just have to use your noodle for about 5 seconds.

Observing the fact that someone made a mistake is not throwing them under the bus. This is a fact. Get over your need to see your heroes as perfect. It really is just fine that he made mistakes. Utah football will live on. Know this: if Whitt shared your clinical discomfort with accountability he wouldn’t be on anyone’s list anywhere.

Does it make you feel better or something?

It doesn’t make me feel anything either way. In fact, if my perception of reality is beginning to be influenced by how I feel then I know I need to take a step back. Hm. there’s a good lesson there…

[MDUte]

Haha whatever dude. As I’ve already stated above, nobody is perfect…including Coach Whitt. But he’s BY FAR the best coach we could possibly have leading our football program, period end of story.

I’m glad you think you know all of these facts that nobody else knows. After getting all of the info that was available from insiders on 247 last year, the real fact is that we simply don’t know the extent of all the details that went on behind the scenes. You and all the others that think like you do are making assumptions that may seem obvious to you, but they’re assumptions.

And even if there were alternative moves Whitt could’ve or should’ve made (like you and others believe) regarding the QB room last year, there’s no guarantees they would’ve produced better results. At the end of the day, the only way Utah was going to have the “special” season we were all planning on is if we got our star QB back.

[RoboUte]

I’m glad you think you know all of these facts that nobody else knows

I do have a family member in the coaching staff. However I don’t go asking about juicy info (or any inside info at all) like a busybody. The fact of the matter is that all of the information required to come to the correct conclusion is available to everyone. The assumptions come in the whys. I can’t speak to all the whys for exactly that reason.

[MDUte]

all of the information required to come to the correct conclusion is available to everyone.

That’s called an assumption. Thanks for finally admitting it.

[RoboUte]

Let me introduce you to a little friend of mine. I don’t think you two will get along but I think you should know he’s out there. With pieces of information you can use my friend here to do some really wonderful things.

[RoboUte]

Because he botched it. I’ll never stop being surprised at grown people who lack the capacity to entertain nuance. Whitt can be a top coach and make mistakes. But for simpletons it’s one or the other. It must either be black or white. Any hint of a shade of grey and they start screeching like kindergartners.

Fans who are constantly negative are annoying. Fans that demand utter positivity are just as annoying but with a dash of pathetic thrown in. Don’t be either.

[Utegator]

IMO the thing that is keeping us from getting to the next level is our constant issues with the QB situation. They even picked a transfer over Rising and we all know how that went. Poor QB room leads to talented WR not wanting to come to Utah and a cascade of problems. This year was just beyond frustrating though.

[AlohaUte]

There are a few fans here who do. I understand occasional criticism for a decision here or there or even their bowl performance, but there are legit people who think we should move on from Whitt and that Utah can find someone better.

[MDUte]

“Legit” people?? Not buying it. Anyone who says Utah should move on from Whitt has zero credibility.

[J Rocksville]

You know, it is actually possible to make the best possible decision, and still not have it work out.

None of us know what happened on the inside. Even with the benefit of hindsight you still don’t know all that went into those decisions. You can have an opinion of course, but even with all the info we have we still don’t really know what went on. It’s all a guess and your guess is as good as any.

[Charlie]

It is interesting how those outside the Utah program respect it the most. They are aware how hard it is to beat Whitt. They would prefer to play most all of the big name coaches over having to play Whitt in a big game they need to win. Often even when getting a win over Utah they whish they were more like Utah. I feel the better respect from non-homers is a bit unique in sports.

As it relates to the QB situation last year, some feel problems and shortcomings are simply the result of mistakes. As an example, the lack of a transfer QB does not lead me to assume we did not try. A comment from Whitt that great options don’t want to chance sitting behind Rising does not at all tell me he did not try, he could have tried very hard and actually experienced the comment. For as many of us there are that think Whitt can’t make a mistake, there are just as many that can’t accept that Whitt was caught by circumstance due to lack of information or inaccurate information from third parties protected by privacy.

It is pretty simple. You can assume Whitt was incompetent in the effort to avoid the QB train wreck or you can assume despite best efforts he was unable to avoid the QB train wreck. It would seem that outsiders are more likely to fall in the second camp.

[RoboUte]

inaccurate information from third parties protected by privacy.

Oooooo Thin ice there

[stbone]

Everybody wishes the results were different last year, and there are things we wish had played out different. Also, there are some decisions that are inexplicable (e.g., giving practice reps to Cam instead of to NJ or BB).

Regarding a transfer portal QB – (1) I assume that they looked for one; and (2) Our NLI probably doesn’t allow deep-stacking of top-notch portal QBs. Given that, I can’t say that anything there was mismanaged.

For how much we beat this dead horse of coaching decisions last year, does anybody really believe that giving NJ or BB a couple more reps in practice would have made a difference? From his body of work, NJ was never going to be a competent FBS quarterback, and BB had game-related mental processing issues. In a best-case scenario, giving BB more reps might (but I really doubt it) have led to another win.

The decision that made the biggest impact on the season was letting Rose go full contact in camp. But, I see that as a decision with no right or wrong answer.

I get that we wish the season went better, but those who are really upset about last year seem to be focusing on make-believe scenarios that read more like a disney film than real life.