Utah football mailbag: Is Kyle Whittingham the bad guy, is he the next Michigan coach, and more

SALT LAKE CITY — Kyle Whittingham does not sound like a guy intent on retiring after 21 seasons as the head coach at the University of Utah.

If you talk to enough people behind the scenes, and if you read how the Dec. 12 press release announcing Whittingham was stepping down was worded, and if you listened to what Whittingham told local reporters last week, well, no, the 66-year old would like to keep on going.

Whether Whittingham will actually keep coaching beyond the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31 is a different matter, but it's certainly on the table.

We'll start this Utes mailbag right there.

Q: "If Whitt coaches elsewhere, who comes out looking like the bad guy? Whitt or Harlan?" - @cooterbobjim

We are 11 days removed from Utah announcing Whittingham would step down at the end of this season. At this point, I feel very comfortable making a few statements.

• It was time for Whittingham to go. No knock at all there, but the timing was right after a 10-2 regular season.
• Whittingham was not entirely ready to call it a day at Utah. Folks above Whittingham on the operational food chain helped make that decision for him.
• Very wisely, very predictably, Whittingham is not kicking and screaming on his way out. If you do that, you turn into a martyr, and usually, nobody wants to hear about it if that's the path you've chosen.

If Whittingham is coaching college football in some capacity in 2026, I'm not sure anyone comes off looking like the bad guy. He officially stepped down, and however it went down behind closed doors, it's his right to go find new employment.

If Morgan Scalley starts out poorly next season, you will absolutely hear the Whittingham side of things screaming about how he was forced out too soon, and against his wishes.

Take that one to the bank.

Q: "Dampier, staying or going?" - @UtesBcrazy

When he met with local media last week, Dampier wasn't fooling anyone when he tried to soft-sell a pending announcement on his plans for next season.

He's coming back, and he's owed a substantial amount of money. I'm not sure who he thought he was fooling with what he said, but OK.

All of that, I will have some questions on Dampier's status if Whittingham somehow winds up the head coach at the University of Michigan.

Wait, what?

Q: "Based on "rumors," I don't know if I blame either side (Whitt or administration), but, let's say Whitt goes to Michigan, and takes some coaches and players with him. How does that impact his legacy, possibly removing Utah's Playoff hopes for next season? I sure wouldn't be happy." - @utes_big12

Right off the top, I find it unlikely Whittingham ends up the head coach at Michigan, but there's enough chatter that we should address this possibility.

Kalen DeBoer is not the next head coach at Michigan.

Kenny Dillingham is not the next head coach at Michigan.

Now, the school has to recalibrate its search, with the expectation being a coach will be hired before the end of the year.

Given his age, Whittingham is not the long-term answer for the Wolverines, but he would make sense potentially as a bridge to get to the next guy.

After several years of embarrassment, which coincided with a national championship, Whittingham would steady things and bring respectability back to one of the brand names to the sport.

It would be very hard for Whittingham to win anything of consequence in Ann Arbor, but that's fine. This is not a fan base and donor base screaming to be contending every single year. Those people will not want to fire everyone into the sun after Whittingham goes, let's say, 8-4 in his first season.

Hypothetically, let's say Whittingham goes to Michigan, and, at a bare minimum, he takes Dampier and offensive coordinator Jason Beck with him.

So what? Would that be the first time a new coach took personnel with him from the old place? You think that piece of business, which would negatively affect Utah, would hamper Whittingham's legacy?

If you really believe that, I think you really need to find a hobby. His legacy was secure probably 10 years ago. It was in stone after the 2021 Pac-12 title.

I think I'm actually rooting for all of this now, just to see the fallout and reaction.

Q: "What's the Christmas breakfast play for the Newman family?" - @StuFather

We celebrate Chanukah, and like any good Jews, our Christmas includes some combination of the movies, Chinese food, and the casino — although that last one was more of an option before we had kids.

On Christmas Eve 2018, my wife and I were still in New Jersey and headed down to Atlantic City for a couple of nights. That morning, she decided to make cinnamon rolls, and for some reason, that has stuck ever since on Christmas Eve.

This Christmas Eve, we've got chocolate chip cinnamon rolls planned, which oughta please the older kid when he sees them come out of the oven.

Q: "When should Christmas decorations come down? The day after? New Year's? End of January? What's proper etiquette here? Asking for a friend of course." - @abelopezz

Only try-hards and weirdos are getting on a ladder Dec. 26 to remove Christmas decorations.

The end of January is an indication that you're either incredibly busy, or incredibly lazy. I'm going with incredibly lazy.

Christmas and New Year's are part of one time period, so I'm not going to make you take your stuff down before New Year's. It's still holiday time, so it's OK to remain in the holiday spirit through the end of the year.

I think you get the first week of January to keep your house looking festive. Beyond that, your place starts to become an eyesore.

Get up there, take the decorations down, and stick them back in a box in your garage where they belong.

Q: "When should the stadium be renamed 'Kyle Whittingham Field at Rice-Eccles Stadium'? Before the statue unveiling, or at the same time?" - @ngde09

OK, so we agree that Whittingham is deserving of a statue, right? I mean, that shouldn't even be a debate.

Now, let's see how the fallout progresses, and whether Whittingham takes a new job, and potentially takes coaches and players with him. If that happens, it's pretty easy to envision some people getting salty about it, and maybe some hard feelings develop, and maybe a statue, or even field naming gets delayed by years.

I get that. I do, but eventually those feelings will soften, and Whittingham will get his just due; but in fairness, the guy is 66, albeit in great shape.

Whatever happens, those in charge would be well-served to honor Whittingham while he's still alive.

Q: "When Matt and Sean foolishly thought they could move up the chain by gunning down Christopher, what was the biggest tragedy? Chris almost being killed, Sean dying because of his seatbelt, or the fact that nobody checked on Beansie's ramp?" - @Mike_Hammer_RG

Mike and I would be good friends, I'm sure of it after this Sopranos question, which I thought way too long about.

Immediately, we scratch Beansie's ramp from consideration. The ramp never got done, and either way, that whole thing was just for optics after the incident.

Sean Gismonte dying, partially because he couldn't operate his passenger-side seatbelt, feels like a total shoulder shrug.

Yeah, it's Christopher almost being killed by Gismonte and Matthew Bevilaqua, aka "Matt Drinkwater," while minding his own business as he leaves the diner.

OK, here's a question to your question, Mike.

What do we think Christopher's diner order was?

That scene begins with him walking out of the diner in daylight, but we have no idea what time of day it actually is.

He's a skinny guy, so we presume he's not ordering anything crazy, especially if it's breakfast.

I say he ordered a turkey club, light on the mayo, fries, and a Diet Coke. Satisfying, relatively guilt-free, no big deal to work off at the gym.

I love The Sopranos unapologetically, and Mike does, too.

Related topics