Glad we have Whitt at the helm for FB.
15. Kyle Whittingham, Utah (2020 — No. 11): Here’s another coach whose 2020 season deteriorated into a glorified exhibition slate. (The Utes went 3-2.) Before that, Whittingham led Utah to five nine-plus-win seasons in six years, including back-to-back Pac-12 South title teams in 2018 and ’19. The program has also produced an impressive 21 draft picks over the past four years, the most in the Pac-12.
12. Kyle Whittingham, Utah (2020 — No. 9): The former standout linebacker is a lot like Fitzgerald in how tough and well-coached his teams are and how much respect he’s brought that program in his long tenure. Whittingham’s had two top-five poll finishes and seven top-25 finishes with the Utes. They’d only had two top-25 finishes in the school’s entire history before he took over.
It’s weird Mandel dropped him so much. Last year didn’t really elevate coaches IMHO. I don’t have a sub to The Athletic but Dabo and Brian Kelly to me are not top 5 coaches. I get Dabo has titles but I wouldn’t want that guy near my program. Also, Brian Kelly is responsible for a death.
I think with a 3-2 season, ‘dropping’ from 11 to 15 (Mandel) or 9 to 12 (Feldman) is no big deal. I think he’s seen as a solid coach and happy he’s in that 10-15 range. Of course the top 5 is going to go to coaches that are essentially managing NFL teams and they get 5* and many 4* recruits. With recruiting classes in the 30s or so for Utah and a ‘top’ coach, we should expect continued regular presence in the top 25 with occasional magic seasons landing in the Rose bowl or other NY6.
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I think my point is who really moved their stock up in a Covid year? I guess they have to write something but last season shouldn’t be held against a coach like Whitt.
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Yeah, you’re right. They have to write something. Ryan Day jumped in (didn’t ‘qualify’ last year), others had full seasons that went well or were bouncebacks so they moved up (Jimbo, matt Campbell, Luke Fickell, Fitzgerald, Army coach).
Kind of like when a team has a bye and several teams have good games and move up in the rankings, thus pushing other teams down. No big deal, still up there with the best. Only matters what is actually done by the end of the season.