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SALT LAKE CITY - Teams aren't this good for this long without people paying attention. In college football that attention is usually in the form of coaches getting more money in higher profile positions and colleges. This Utah Utes coaching staff has accomplished a lot and the success isn't going unnoticed.
Since Kyle Whittingham has taken over as head coach they are 65-25 and 6-1 in bowl games. They were a BCS busting team in 2008 and defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. He won two Coach of the Year honors that season. At that time he had Gary Andersen as defensive coordinator who left to become the head coach at Utah State.
Today we are going to look at the rumor mill that is churning about the possible spots that Ute coaches are up for.
Kyle Whittingham: First off, it will be noted that coach Whit signed a contract extension and got a $300,000 raise per year, so he is going to stick around for now. However, this year there were two teams that were going after Whit as a top candidate as their head coach and they let it be known. The first was Penn State and the other was Arizona State.
Penn State is in a mess, but who would be better to clean up that program than a coach who has been relatively clean since he has taken over at Utah. Penn State has a tradition found few and far between, but it has since been a little tainted with the fall from grace with Joe Paterno. This would be a hard coaching job for anyone following a legend, but Whit has already followed one, so he could follow another. If the next Penn State coach doesn't pan out, don't be surprised if his name is brought around again. The big selling point for Penn State would be money. Big Ten football is loaded, so a raise from his new $2 million up to say $3 or $4 million would require a second look from anyone. He is also a defensive coach that relies on the run, which is what Penn State has been for years earning the moniker "Linebacker U."
Arizona State is a team that has talent all across the board. From Vontaze Burfict to Brock Osweiller the Sun Devils haven't been lacking talent over the past half decade, but were never able to stretch out a full season. Even with a down program, with no head coach and a lot of change the Sun Devils have six four-star recruits and a top-150 player. They have been in the Pac-12, former 10, for years so Utah could make up the difference of recruiting with one great year. It is always easier to recruit sunny and warm than snowy and cold, so if Whit wants to see what he can put together with another team that is lacking a lot of tradition this could be a good choice.
For now Utah is his team, his contract is for five more years and he will make enough money that his family will be happy and comfortable. Utah is already getting better recruits and with Under Armour and the Pac-12 backing them now there is a shot that the Utes could become a powerful team that Whit doesn't want to leave for any other program.
He may lose some of his coordinators though. There are two names floating around for the same job on Whit's staff. Offensive coordinator Norm Chow and defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake are both candidates for the Hawaii head coaching void according to sources including the Honolulu Star Advertiser (full story requires subscription) and is reported on ESPN's rumor mill for NCAA football. The ESPN story actually indicates that they have both not only have interest but have actually applied for the job.
Norm Chow: Chow has been an offensive guru for the past 40 years or so dating back to his time at BYU where he groomed a number of quarterbacks including Steve Young and Ty Detmer. He left BYU in 1999 and has coached two Heisman winners in Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and helped Vince Young in the NFL in Tennessee. He has always indicated his interest in being a head coach, which has been widely talked about as the reason he left BYU years ago. He is from Honolulu so his ties to the school, culture and location would be a good asset in recruiting. Kalani Sitake:
Sitake is a young coach and that may hurt his chances at landing the Hawaii job, but his resume is impressive. He is only 36, which is young for any head coach especially college, there are only a handful of 30- year-old college coaches, USC's Lane Kiffin is 36, Mississippi State's Dan Mullen is 39 and Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald is 36. There are a few others, but Sitake would be the youngest regardless. He would bring a defensive look to Hawaii, who has been known for their run ‘n shoot style offense over the past decade, producing record breaking numbers with quarterbacks like Timmy Chang and Colt Brennan. Sitake has been the linebackers coach since 2005 and the defense has been the team's strength, including their Sugar Bowl win. He took over as defensive coordinator in 2009. Their defense has been in the top 25 in scoring since 2007. His name was brought up by UCLA's SBnation as a possible candidate to become the Bruin's defensive coordinator.
Losing any of these coaches would hurt the Utes program, of course Whit is the leader of the team and his impact would be felt the most. The upside of this situation is that it is clear that there are talented coaches on both sides of the ball and when young coaches are brought up as candidate's in other colleges it can be looked at as a compliment as something done right.
