For me it’s not about the “baggage” at all. First opportunity as a HC should not be at the P5 level. Other programs can take that risk, not Utah. Utah is an upper-half of P5’s program. Should get someone proven as a HC.
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I can get on board with that reasoning. We’ve seen many times that the jump from coordinator to HC is bigger than most people think and running the whole program, fundraising, hiring/firing additions to the role are harder then they look.
I can see how it’d be a better path for Scalley to be HC at a G5, prove himself, then see how things go.
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I like that you assume Whit can’t be fired. He’s the state’s number one paid employee. He can be fired. I’m not rooting for that but he needs to not lose so many games. Covid-19 exemption allowed.
You can’t just fire the coach that built the program into what is today.
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Let’s Hire Urban before we fire him.
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Ok, that’s funny. It made me chuckle. Clever 
Urb built 2 years of awesome teams. And jumpstarted us with a winning culture. He deserves a lot of credit for putting us on the P5 path. Whitt kept us on the path, solidified it with 2008, then built the PAC12 program (recruiting, facilities, etc.) over 16 years. I’d even give McBride a little credit for what he did in 13 seasons, bringing some toughness and respect to the program to make it even appealing for an up and coming coach like Urb to consider
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Oh you can if it’s an upgrade. See Ronny Mac. Loved him too.
There is a substantial difference between him and Whitt.
I’m not sure of that. In fact, the last few years of Whitt are looking very similar. Whitt also has been given a huge amount of resources that Mac did not have - both personal compensation as well as facilities.
I agree that this ship was built on the shoulders of Mac, Urban and Whitt but we don’t owe any of them anything more.
hmm. don’t see it.
| Coach | Conf | Year | Overall | Conference | Standing | BYU | Bowl Game | Coaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McBride | WAC | 1990 | 4–7 | 2–6 | 7th | L | ||
| 1991 | 7–5 | 4–4 | 4th | L | ||||
| 1992 | 6–6 | 4–4 | T–5th | L | L | |||
| 1993 | 7–6 | 5–3 | 4th | W | L | |||
| 1994 | 10–2 | 6–2 | T–2nd | W | W | 8 | ||
| 1995 | 7–4 | 6–2 | T–1st | W | ||||
| 1996 | 8–4 | 6–2 | T–2nd (Mountain) | L | L | |||
| 1997 | 6–5 | 5–3 | T–2nd (Mountain) | W | ||||
| 1998 | 7–4 | 5–3 | T–3rd (Pacific) | L | ||||
| MWC | 1999 | 9–3 | 5–2 | T–1st | W | W | ||
| 2000 | 4–7 | 3–4 | T–5th | L | ||||
| 2001 | 8–4 | 4–3 | T–3rd | L | W | |||
| 2002 | 5–6 | 3–4 | T–5th | W | ||||
| Meyer | 2003 | 10-2 | 6-1 | 1st | W | W | 21 | |
| 2004 | 12-0 | 7-0 | 1st | W | W | 5 | ||
| Whittingham | 2005 | 7–5 | 4–4 | T–4th | W | W | ||
| 2006 | 8–5 | 5–3 | T–3rd | L | W | |||
| 2007 | 9–4 | 5–3 | T–3rd | L | W | |||
| 2008 | 13–0 | 8–0 | 1st | W | W | 4 | ||
| 2009 | 10–3 | 6–2 | 3rd | L | W | 18 | ||
| 2010 | 10–3 | 7–1 | 2nd | W | L | 23 | ||
| PAC12 | 2011 | 8–5 | 4–5 | T–3rd (South) | W | W | ||
| 2012 | 5–7 | 3–6 | 5th (South) | W | ||||
| 2013 | 5–7 | 2–7 | 5th (South) | W | ||||
| 2014 | 9–4 | 5–4 | 5th (South) | W | 20 | |||
| 2015 | 10–3 | 6–3 | T-1st (South) | W | W | 16 | ||
| 2016 | 9–4 | 5–4 | 3rd (South) | W | W | 21 | ||
| 2017 | 7–6 | 3–6 | 5th (South) | W | W | |||
| 2018 | 9–5 | 6–3 | 1st (South) | W | L | |||
| 2019 | 11–3 | 8–1 | 1st (South) | W | L | 16 | ||
| 2020 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 3rd (South) | |||||
| 2021 | 2-2 | 1-0 | (South) | L |
Edit: added in TDS since like it or not, coaches have been judged in the past by this.
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Thanks for the data. I was going to post something similar my self.
No. It’s not the same. Y’all want it to be the same but it’s not.
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Whoa! Do you realize what Mac inherited? We NEVER beat BYU. We were the laughing stock of the nation. Our stadium had wooden benches. Mac would pick up recruits in a station wagon. Our fall practice was in a mud pit. There weren’t 3000 bowl games back then either. Need some perspective here.
If that isn’t enough, keep in mind Mac hired Kyle.
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We can’t let Whittingham go, barring some weird disaster. He will be here as long as he wants to be. What we do need is planning for the next head coach. I think most of us would like to see a change in philosophy. Nothing wrong with smash-mouth, defense-oriented teams that run as much as possible and emphasize ball control. But do we have to keep doing this forever? Is that the only model that will work here? The Urban years teams show us that the answer is no.
I personally think that Whitt has gotten us to a high plateau. It’s high, but it is a plateau nonetheless. I’m not sure he can ever get off of it.
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Huh. Whittingham and now Sitake are examples of coordinators making the leap with success. Plenty of examples of HC’s moving and not finding success. I don’t think there should be hard and fast rules like this.
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Um, I was the 1st in this thread to say Mac should get credit too. You were harping on giving all the program credit to a guy that was here for 2 years. Everyone played their role. But the main point was the last few years for Whitt have looked better than the last few years for Ronnie in a harder conference albeit with more resources too.
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I’ve always wondered if the reliance on a certain type of Olineman ( local Poly’s) makers for better road graders (smashmouth) then passing attack? Just a thought. Utah is very very fortunate to have such a strong Poly community in it’s own backyard- Utah has taken advantage of this talent - and this is the offense it creates
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Blockquote First off, 2019 until we were soundly defeated by Oregon we were in talks to be included in the CFP - in fact had we beat Oregon we would have been there. Yeah, that didn’t happen and we got soundly thumped by Oregon and Texas, but even in our undefeated seasons we weren’t remotely considered contenders by the rest of the nation at any part of our season.
2019 was not great in my opinion. We had wins against No Iilinois (barely) and Idaho St. we lost to USC and Oregon. Really only had one quality win (Washington) and got humiliated by Texas in our bowl game.
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I agree. Oregon was the prove it game. Shat the bed.
That was really the first really high stakes game Utah has been in where the Utes were favored (that I can remember?) Ducks had better athletes and much better coaching. It was over before it started.
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I have a crystal ball on my desk, and it doesn’t tell me squat about what the future looks like. Given all the things that have happened in the last almost 24 months alone, the one thing that can be said for certain is the time period has probably been the most mentally and emotionally draining period anyone has ever experienced. I didn’t need a crystal ball for that. 
Based on record of accomplishments, Kyle isn’t going anywhere unless he chooses that path.
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This topic makes me laugh. Does anyone know how long Whit would be unemployed if we were stupid enough to fire him? About 3 seconds. Teams would be firing their guy just so they could make Kyle an offer.
Everyone knows that we’re one of the youngest teams in the country right now, right?
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