Kyle Whittingham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kyle Whittingham | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Title | Head Coach | |
| College | Utah | |
| Sport | Football | |
| Born | November 21, 1959 | |
| Place of birth | San Luis Obispo, California | |
| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 24-14 (14-10 MWC) | |
| Bowls | 3-0 | |
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Playing career | ||
| 1978-1981 | Brigham Young University | |
| Position | Linebacker | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 2005-Present 1995-2005 1994 1992-1993 1988-1991 |
University of Utah University of Utah, Defensive Coordinator University of Utah, Defensive Line Coach Idaho State University, Defensive Coordinator Idaho State University, Assistant Coach |
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Kyle Whittingham (b. November 21, 1959 in San Luis Obispo, California) is the head football coach of the University of Utah Utes. Prior to becoming the head coach at Utah, Whittingham served as Utah's defensive coordinator for 10 seasons. He was named head coach of Utah after Urban Meyer left for the University of Florida in 2004.
Whittingham graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1984 and went on to play linebacker for the New Orleans Breakers of the old USFL and the Calgary Stampede of the CFL. Whittingham also became a Graduate Assistant for BYU during the 1985 and 1986 seasons. In 1987 Whittingham was named defensive coordinator at the College of Eastern Utah. He coached there for a season before taking a job at Idaho State. After two seasons with Idaho State, Whittingham joined the Utah staff and coached under his father, Fred Whittingham. In the 1995 season, Whittingham replaced his father as the defensive coordinator, where he would stay until being named head coach in 2004. Whittingham is married to the former Jamie Daniels and the two have four children: Tyler, Melissa, Alex and Kylie.
Whittingham is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[1]
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[edit] Head coaching career
Whittingham replaced celebrated coach Urban Meyer after Meyer led Utah to a 11-0 season in 2004. That season ended with Utah becoming the first non-BCS conference team to make a BCS bowl game, the Fiesta Bowl. After winning the Fiesta Bowl, the Utes' overall record improved to 12-0. After the 2004 season, the Utes lost junior starting quarterback Alex Smith to the NFL when he was drafted #1 by the San Francisco 49ers.
Whittingham's first season was an up and down ride for Utah as the team not only adjusted to a new coaching staff, including Andy Ludwig, but also a new offense led by quarterback Brian Johnson. Utah struggled early on, going 3-4 in their first 7 games, however a strong finish -- with a win over their rival BYU -- gave Utah their third straight bowl invite.
In the 2005 Emerald Bowl the Utes faced the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Utah beat Georgia Tech 38-10, the Yellow Jackets' worst bowl loss by point margin in school history. Whittingham finished his first year at Utah with a 7-5 record.
In 2006, Whittingham's team faced great adversity. Starting quarterback Brett Ratliff struggled through parts of the year, and so did the Utes. Yet, like the year before, the Utes rebounded toward the end of the season, but lost to rival BYU at home by a score of 33-31. The Utes, however, became bowl eligible for the fourth straight year, a school record. Whittingham led the Utes to a 25-13 victory over the University of Tulsa in the 2006 Armed Forces Bowl, running his record to 15-10 (.600) with Utah.
2007 would provide even more adversity. In Johnson's first start since 2005, he broke his collarbone against Oregon State and heralded junior college running back Matt Asiata broke his leg as Utah lost 24-7 to the Beavers. The following week, all-conference wide receiver Brent Casteel was lost for the season in a 20-12 loss to the Air Force Academy, a game that ended with Asiata's replacement and 2006 starter Daryl Poston missing a wide-open hole and getting stuffed at the 1-yard line.
Utah looked as if it righted the ship the following week with a 44-6 rout of No. 9 UCLA, the highest-ranked team ever defeated by the Utes. But the following week represented the worst week of Whittingham's head coaching career -- a 27-0 loss to perennial cellar-dweller UNLV that had many wondering if Whittingham could survive as a head coach at Utah.
But like past seasons, the Utes regrouped and won seven consecutive games, using a stingy, big-play defense and the sledgehammer running attack of Darrell Mack (253 carries, 1,204 yards and 16 total touchdowns), who had been scheduled to redshirt in what was going to be his junior season. Held out of the end zone for 58 minutes, Utah finally broke through on Mack's short TD run to take a 10-9 lead against Holy War rival Brigham Young. But BYU completed a long pass on 4th-and-18 and used two debated penalties to get into the red zone, where it scored a TD to ultimately win, 17-10.
Whittingham and Utah overcame that disappointment to beat Navy, 35-32, in the Poinsettia Bowl, the Utes' seventh consecutive bowl victory, a streak that has them tied with Boston College for the longest such active streak.
[edit] Head Coaching Record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl Game | Bowl Opponent | Outcome | Rank# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utah Utes (Mountain West Conference) (2005 — Present) | ||||||||
| 2005 | Utah | 7-5 | 4-4 | 4-T | Emerald Bowl | Georgia Tech | W 38-10 | |
| 2006 | Utah | 8-5 | 5-3 | 3-T | Armed Forces Bowl | Tulsa | W 25-13 | |
| 2007 | Utah | 9-4 | 5-3 | 3-T | Poinsettia Bowl | Navy | W 35-32 | |
| At Utah: | 24-14 | 14-10 | ||||||
| Career: | 24-14 | |||||||
| National Championship Conference Title | ||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. | ||||||||
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Urban Meyer |
University of Utah Head Football Coach 2005– |
Succeeded by Current |
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