The Underrated Career of Kyle Whittingham & Why I'm Bullish on The 2025 Utah Utes
Coming off a rare losing campaign, Kyle Whittingham should oversee a considerable rebound in what may be his final season at Utah.
Each spring I contribute to the Lindy’s Sports College Football Preview, and every year, there’s a team I come away from the process especially high on. This year, I’m anticipating a return to form for the Utah Utes in what might well be the swan song for one of the modern era’s greatest head coaches, Kyle Whittingham.
The University of Utah athletic department officially naming defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley as the Utes’ head coach-in-waiting last summer fueled already rampant speculation about Whittingham’s impending retirement. Personally, I’m glad Whittingham is returning for at least one more season—partly because he deserves a more fitting finale than Utah’s disappointing 5-7 finish to the 2024 campaign.
It marked the program’s first sub-.500 finish in more than a decade and was just the third such campaign since Whittingham became head coach in 2005. The other two came during Utah’s transitional seasons from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 in 2012 and 2013. In the 11 years between, Utah won at least eight games every year but one, and nine or more games in all but two seasons.
Perhaps more than in any other sport, in college football you're often judged only by your most recent performance. To that end, I wasn’t necessarily surprised when someone shared with me a graphic showing a major outlet’s1 ranking of the best coaches of the 21st century, and Whittingham appeared near the bottom of the top 25.
Kyle Whittingham is among the most consistently successful coaches of the 21st century, sporting a career winning percentage of 66 percent heading into 2025. That stat effectively guarantees his first-ballot induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, which requires coaching candidates to end their careers with winning percentages of 60 percent or higher.
Winning percentage alone, however, only conveys a fraction of Whittingham’s excellence in two decades leading Utah. Fully appreciating his accomplishments requires understanding the context of his 167 wins.
Several noteworthy contemporaries have similar or higher percentages than Whittingham — including some featured in that same coaching ranking. Les Miles’ disastrous stint at Kansas dropped his career mark to 66 percent, but even before going 3-18 in fewer than two full seasons with the Jayhawks, he was forced out at LSU following a roughly four-year run of underachievement and puzzling game management.
Jimbo Fisher, once rumored to be a potential successor to Miles at LSU, has won 72.7 percent of the 176 games he’s coached. However, his tenures at both Florida State and Texas A&M were marked by diminishing returns over time.
I cite Miles and Fisher not to discredit their successes, as both won national championships. Like Whittingham, each of them flourished in the usually unenviable position of immediately following a legendary predecessor: Miles took over for Nick Saban at LSU, Fisher succeeded Bobby Bowden at Florida State, and Whittingham followed Urban Meyer at Utah 20 years ago.
Fisher and Miles encountered a challenge faced by countless coaches across most sports: maintaining a high standard of winning over an extended period. Precedent suggests it’s even more difficult to reverse course during downturns, which in college football are often driven by unique factors.
Roster turnover inherent to college sports takes a toll, thus making recruiting a central pillar in evaluating a coach’s effectiveness. Others have been flashier than Whittingham on the recruiting trail throughout his career, but a vital component of Utah’s successful course-correction has been the program’s ability to identify recruits who fit its system.
Make no mistake: talent is an undeniable factor in recruiting success. Once Utah began turning the corner after a rocky start in the Pac-12, Whittingham acknowledged that his staff was attracting a more talented caliber of recruit than it had during the program’s wildly successful run in the Mountain West.
Talent alone doesn’t determine success, though. Utah routinely outperformed its recruiting class rankings. Whittingham’s highest-rated signing classes hovered around No. 30 nationally, per recruiting services like 247Sportsm, yet those classes often delivered top-10 results on the field.
While certain Pac-12 counterparts made more noise in February, Utah became a regular fixture in December’s conference championship game. The Utes qualified for four straight Pac-12 Championship Games and won the latter two, culminating in a performance that stands out as one of the two most quintessential Utah-under-Whittingham games.
A 47-24 rout of USC in the 2022 Pac-12 Championship — which frankly felt more lopsided than the score indicates — nicely characterized Kyle Whittingham’s 20 years at the helm in 60 minutes of football.
USC arrived in Las Vegas with exponentially more hype: first-year head coach Lincoln Riley, Heisman-bound quarterback Caleb Williams, and the Trojans favored heavily in the rematch of their only regular-season loss.
A 43-42 Utah win at Rice-Eccles Stadium could have been dismissed as a fluke —especially after USC jumped to a 14-3 first-quarter lead. Instead, Whittingham and his staff responded with a masterclass in in-game adjustments, dominating the Trojans over the final three quarters.
Bookending the blowout were the aforementioned one-point win earlier in 2022 and a 34-32 victory at USC in 2023, capping Whittingham’s 3-0 record against Lincoln Riley before the dissolution of the Pac-12.
Still, it’s that 2022 Pac-12 Championship Game that best exemplifies Whittingham’s ability to close perceived talent gaps and lead a staff capable of elite strategic adjustments under pressure. The only game that rivals it is the 2009 Sugar Bowl.
Along with being the crowning achievement among Whittingham’s 167 wins, Utah’s 31-17 victory over Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide to cap a perfect season fundamentally changed college football.
Among my more unflappable opinions about the sport is that Associated Press voters committed a grave disservice by not awarding the 2008 Utes the national championship. But even without an official title, Utah’s masterful performance against Alabama prompted lawmakers to threaten antitrust action against the Bowl Championship Series.
Sure, another catalyst might eventually have sparked the move to a playoff. But it was Utah that occupied the pivotal role in launching one of the sport’s most significant evolutions.
Whittingham and the Utes have since knocked on the door of qualifying for the postseason system they helped bring about, but the Playoff remains the final milestone missing from Whittingham’s Hall of Fame resume.
Given his track record for bouncing back—and considering some key offseason adjustments—I like Utah to win the Big 12 in 2025 and earn its first Playoff berth. Morgan Scalley and Whittingham are two of the most savvy defensive minds in the game, and Utah returns a wealth of experience to continue its tradition of stingy defense.
But the hire of Jason Beck as offensive coordinator, along with the transfer of his standout protégé, quarterback Devon Dampier, from New Mexico, signals meaningful and necessary change on offense.
Dampier rushed for 19 touchdowns and nearly 1,200 yards last season. With a veteran offensive line in front of him, he could emerge as a national sensation at Utah—perhaps in the mold of 2019 Utes quarterback Tyler Huntley.
Plenty of factors could derail Utah’s pursuit, but heading into 2025, there’s every reason to be optimistic about the Utes’ outlook. A conference title and a Playoff appearance would be a fitting punctuation mark to Kyle Whittingham’s remarkable career if this is indeed his final season.
The specific publication doesn’t matter, and given the subjective nature of such rankings, I opted not to name it lest the greater point be deemed a criticism of the piece. Rather, it provides a valuable jumping-off point illustrating Kyle Whittingham’s success as routinely undervalued among national college football punditry.