Speaking for the first time since announcing his decision to return, Utah coach shared part of the reason why he decided to come back to Utah.
Speaking publicly for the first time since announcing his decision to return for his 21st season at the helm of the Utah football program, Kyle Whittingham shared part of the reason why he decided to come back.
Whittingham has long maintained, as recently as a couple weeks ago, that as long as he has energy and passion to coach, that he will continue on with his career.
But he admitted to ESPN’s Pete Thamel that if Utah’s 2024 season went differently, that he might have called it a career.
The Utes entered the 2024 season projected to win the Big 12 behind quarterback Cam Rising. But after Rising suffered multiple injuries and missed the majority of the season, the year fell apart — especially offensively.
At one point, Utah lost seven straight games, and finished at 5-7 — just the third losing season of the Whittingham era. Any Big 12 championship hopes went up in smoke when Rising was injured for the second time in Utah’s 27-19 loss to Arizona State in early October.
“I mean, it was something that we didn’t do a good enough job of overcoming and so it motivated me very much so to get ready for this season and get a team ready that is going to be extremely competitive and we’ve got a lot of things going for us,” Whittingham said. “We haven’t played anybody yet, but I’m excited to watch these guys play on August 30th.”
There would be no ride into the sunset for Whittingham after that season.
“I couldn’t step away on that note. It was too frustrating and too disappointing.” He added: “Had we won the championship last year, I might not be sitting here,” he told Thamel.
In a scrum with reporters later in the day, the longtime Ute coach repeated that he couldn’t end his storied career on a losing season.
“I couldn’t stomach going out on that, with that season, as frustrating as it was, and as discouraging as it was,” Whittingham said.
“It just didn’t sit well with anybody, but most of all me and so I thought, ‘Hey, that’s not going to be the final act of my deal. I got to come back and try to get the ship right and get back on track.”
It’s a crucial season for the Utes, who are trying to avoid back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2012-13 and get back on a winning track.
To get the program back to the historical winner it has been under Whittingham, the Utes underwent a complete offensive rebuild, bringing in New Mexico offensive coordinator Jason Beck and quarterback Devon Dampier, plus Washington State running back Wayshawn Parker and a whole new cast of wide receivers to go alongside a veteran returning offensive line.
Will that be enough to get Utah to the conference mountaintop, or at least back to a bowl game? We’ll find out, starting in less than two months.
“Win the Big 12. I mean that’s our objective. When we were in the Pac-12 it was win the Pac-12, when we were in the Mountain West, it was win the Mountain West, so that doesn’t change from year to year,” Whittingham said.
“You can’t get to the playoffs or whatever else there is unless you take care of business at your own conference. So that’s always the first objective is to win the conference.”
Category: General Sports
