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SALT LAKE CITY — As the University of Utah football program soon prepares for spring camp, it will be without wide receivers coach Guy Holliday.
Holliday's time at Utah is over after five seasons with the program, according to a tweet from the former coach. Holliday has spent nearly 30 years coaching football and had more than two decades of experience coaching receivers.
"If you know me no one speaks for me I speak for myself!" Holliday tweeted. "The only thing anyone wants is an opportunity. I'm thankful for the opportunity. At the end of the day no fan no game ever meant more to me than my players. Change is consistent in life and I love new challenges!"
A Utah spokesperson confirmed to KSL.com Monday that Holliday is no longer with the program. Holliday has also removed a Utah background from his Twitter bio, as well as him being the wide receivers coach at Utah.
Holliday joined Utah in 2016 after a three-year stint at BYU and helped the Utes partially improve its receiving game — in particular in 2017 when Oregon transfer Darren Carrington II joined the roster for his senior season. But following Carrington's departure, Utah fell back to a below-average passing team and hovered around being the 76th best in the country each season.
Utah's lack of progress in the receiving game was in large part due to the program's run-heavy offensive scheme, but no receiver has earned the same type of attention since Carrington left, even when former quarterback Tyler Huntley helped lead Utah to back-to-back Pac-12 Championship appearances. In 2019, however, Utah ranked eighth in the country in passing efficiency.
In February, Utah lost two of its starting wide receivers, Bryan Thompson and Samson Nacua, to the transfer portal. Thompson transferred to Pac-12 South Division rival Arizona State, while Nacua has yet to find a destination.
Holliday was no stranger to social media and often shared motivational messages on Twitter. His honest and candid conversations with players, coaches and media allowed anyone who interacted with him to know what he was thinking.
Holliday's son took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon and called out the university for letting his father go, though the tweets have since been deleted. He tweeted again Monday afternoon, reaffirming his previous tweets, though he deleted the tweet again.
