Recently Brad Rock a writer for the Deseret News published an article talking about Coach Kyle Whittingham's coaching status for the rest of this year and for the future. It's titled, "Whittingham Should Get One More Year" If you would like to read the whole article please feel free to click on that link. To be honest and being respectful I have to say to Mr. Rock that I do not agree with your analysis of Kyle Whittingham's tenure status at Utah.If Utah doesn't go to a bowl game next year, I will be sad. More sad than I am this year but, I will not be calling for Kyle Whittingham's head even then. If you look at the progress that Utah has shown I don't know how you can call for Kyle's head. There are 3 things I want to point out as reason's why Kyle has 100% of my confidence.
Progress:
Let me show you the strength of schedule and how we competed over the past 3 years:
2011:
Utah played in only a couple big games that year. They played BYU, USC, Arizona State, and Georgia Tech (Sun Bowl). In those games the Utes went 2-2. The rest of the season thy played good teams but nobody else was notable for being all that great.
Total Passing Yards: 2,252
Total Rushing Yards: 1,789
Total Defense: 4,578
Record: 8-5
# of Ranked Teams Played: 1
# of QB's: 2
2012:
Utah played in a couple more bigger games. BYU was better, USC game to town, Utah played #8 Oregon State. Utah was 1-3 in those games.
Total Passing Yards: 2,288
Total Rushing Yards: 1,605
Total Defense: 4,163
Record: 5-8
# of Ranked Teams Played: 3
# of QB's: 4
2013:
Utah played one of the toughest schedules in the nation. Utah has played in quite a few notable games this year. They started playing against a really good Utah State team (with Chuckie Keeton), BYU, UCLA, Stanford, ASU, and Oregon. Utah was 3-3 in these games.
Total Passing Yards: 2,602
Total Rushing Yards: 1,769
Total Defense: 4,451
Record: 5-7
# of Ranked Teams Played: 4# of QB's: 2
*with one more game still yet to be played against Colorado.
Perhaps you didn't catch it but, Utah has played the toughest schedule since Kyle Whittingham has been coach and yet the Utes have been more productive and the defense has roughly been the same. All things considered Utah hasn't had lady luck on their side, fortunately they have had Kyle Whittingham.
Decision Making:
Let's go back to the Utah State game this year. Utah was down 23-17 with 2:24 left to go in the 3rd quarter. Utah went for an onside kick which ended up being the difference in the game.
Coach Whitt also helped make some crucial decisions to help Utah come back against Oregon State and also almost come back against UCLA as well. Kyle hasn't been totally free from mistakes but ultimately I believe it has been the coaching that has made up for the lack of athleticism on the field in some positions.
While playing Oregon State coach Whitt, Erickson, Johnson put together a great come-from-behind last minute drive to tie the ball game and send the game into overtime. A bad zone-read by Travis Wilson forced Utah to kick a field goal. Three plays after Oregon State took over in overtime they threw the game winning touchdown pass.
UCLA game was another onside kick recovery and with 6 interceptions Utah still had a chance to win the game. Once again, it wasn't all the athletes on the field but it was in part the minds of those off the field.
Stanford was a game won because of great coaching. Stanford's head coach David Shaw gave the coaching staff proper recognition for out coaching him and his staff. By the way, did you know this was arguably the largest upset in Utah history?!
Recruiting:
This comes to my next point that ties in coach Whitt's decision making with recruiting. Late into the season Travis Wilson is out with concussion and later we find out he may be out for good. A lot of Utah fans were calling Connor Manning's name and wanting Adam Schulz to sit and let the freshman burn his redshirt and play in the final 2 or 3 games of the season. I have to apologize to anyone who has had to listen to these fans. Clearly they don't understand what playing in these final games could potentially do to either one of these kids and the longevity of the Utes' program. By letting Manning play in 2 games he burns his eligibility to play an entire year. Is Maning good? Sure. Is he great? Don't know and he could be great but he also could be a bust since he would only have 2 games to play. I applaud coach Whitt's decision to keep the redshirts on both Connor Manning and Brandon Cox to save them for a time when they can really make a difference.
Utah has started to see more 4-star and even a couple 5-star recruits come in. They are starting to see more success in key-role players' positions. Even with a losing season Utah should expect to see some good recruits who maybe are getting passed up by the Stanford's and Oregon's. They have seen that Utah can compete with the big boys. It can and will help Utah's cause. Now if Utah had won all those games it would have helped their cause even more.
Coach Whittingham has a good long while to coach and fail before I lose my trust in him. He has been doing a great job with what he has to play with and I think anyone is a fool to think otherwise. Educate yourselves, look at the bigger picture and perhaps you will start to see what I see; a team coming together, playing better even against tougher competition, a great coaching staff who still has room to improve, more talent coming, a better offense, injured players coming back, young team with more experience. To be fully honest, I'm not surprised with everything Utah has faced that they aren't going to a bowl game. They have exceeded expectations for me and next year I expect they will be a lot better and you Mr. Rock and all the other pessimistic Utah fans will be singing praises to coach Whitt and his staff.
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