We didn’t end the season where we may have hoped, but instead find ourselves in a bowl game against a somewhat lackluster opponent, and I have all kinds of mixed emotions about the end of the Whittingham Era at Utah. However, as of today, I am officially putting all of that behind me and focussing on this game and the beginning of the Morgan Scalley Era.
I’m super excited to see how his career as a head coach starts in this game, and eager to see how he manages the transition and what sort of staff and team he assembles next year.
When I think of Scalley, I have a few strong memories, mostly of his playing days:
His touchdown run toward the end of the 2003 Liberty Bowl, which put an end to the late attempted comeback of Southern Miss, and sealed the Ute win.
His opening kickoff return for a touchdown against UNLV in 2004.
And later that year, we took our 10 year old son to the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona, along with the families of several of his school friends, who all played basketball, football, and soccer together. At a Ute sponsored event the boys all found Scalley in the crowd and got autographs, (as well as did several of the mothers in the group). What I remember most, was that Scalley took a very long time to talk with the boys asking about their sports backgrounds, how they liked school, and what the had in mind for their futures. He probably spent more that 10-15 minutes with the 8 or 10 boys we had in our group. None of the boys ever forgot that experience, and have always followed Morgan and his career closely. Several of the fathers commented that he’d make a great coach some day.
Congratulations on your new role, Coach Scalley, and Go Utes!
Lots of Husker fans here and they were loud and proud at the pep rally on Fremont Street. Haven’t seen that they’re very engaging, though. We’ve tried to chat a few times and it’s polite but reserved. Maybe they loosen up at the stadium but it seemed like they were here to support the team because that’s what they do, but they aren’t excited to be playing us.
We went the Alumni event at Ole Red. Very early on we noticed many people with wrist bands and drink tickets. When we asked where they got them it was from the Crimson Club reception that had been immediately prior. Well, not all CC, of course. It was for top level only. That explains why we didn’t know about it. Nice snacks, but the beers there were $15 a pop. That keeps you in control. They were giving away all the “Thanks Whitt” buttons you were willing to take. We told a couple of the organizers about our “Rally for Scalley” slogan and they liked it. Look for that on a rally towel in the future, and we won’t even get royalties.
Pre-game tailgate starts at 9:30am PST. It’s free, but probably with $40 breakfast burritos.
Having fun, just being facetious. Hoping for a great performance by the Utes.
