-
Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, 65, said Monday that he will decide after the season whether to return for his 21st year at the helm.
“My decision will be made on what’s best for the program, not what’s best for me,” Whittingham said. “So, it’ll be completely determined on how I feel this program is best served going forward.”
Utah started the season as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12, but after winning their first four games, they’ve lost seven straight and will finish the season Friday at UCF.
During the summer, the school announced defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley would be Whittingham’s successor whenever he decides to retire.
“[I’ll] sit down and evaluate everything,” Whittingham said. “I can tell you right now that Coach Scalley will be involved in decisions going forward because it’s only right that he does that because he’s the coach in waiting and when that time comes we need to make sure that he’s had input on big decisions. So it’ll be a team effort in that respect going forward as far as hiring and recruiting and that type of thing.”
Whittingham is tied for the second-longest tenured coach in FBS, behind only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, having been hired to replace Urban Meyer at Utah at the end of the 2004 season.
Utah should also have news soon regarding the future of quarterback Cam Rising, who missed the 2023 season due to a major knee injury and was sidelined by injury again early this season. Whittingham said last month that Rising could seek a medical waiver to play in 2025.
“I have no inside scoop or anything right now as to what he’s thinking,” Whittingham said. “Try to give him some space and let him sort things out and decide which direction he wants to go.
“That’s on Cam’s timeline and obviously we’ve got to at some point make our own decisions on what’s going to happen if there is still indecisiveness, but I think that should be cleared up in the next week to 10 days.”