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"I played against Dickerson in the Holiday Bowl," Whittingham recalls. "I look back now and what a time to be on the sideline, as a kid and even as a young adult. I realize now that what I was watching, I was learning from. And the coaches I learned from, that's who I have become as a coach."
That list includes his father, but also stone-faced offensive guru LaVell Edwards, Whittingham's head coach at BYU, the Kragthorpe family of coaches, Ron McBride, the man who laid the foundation at Utah, and McBride's successor, Meyer.
"Not one of the coaches I have learned from, worked for, or still lean on now for advice, has ever used 'Well, we don't have this history' or 'Well, we don't have as much money as they do' or anything of that nature as an excuse," Whittingham says, clenching his fist a little as it sits atop his desk.
"Everyone on my list built something pretty great where it had only been good before. Or, in some cases, it had always been bad. Whether I was a player, an assistant, or a head coach, I have always felt that when we walk on that field and face each other, history doesn't matter. Not in that moment. Not in that game. My goal is to beat you right then and there. We'll talk about the history of that later."
It is an intense statement spoken during an intense weekday while preparing for an intense, potentially historic football game for Utah.
For Whittingham, it's just another autumn Monday.
"People ask me all the time, 'Hey, is he an a--h..." Burgess catches himself and starts laughing. "They want to know, 'How intense is he, really?' The answer is that, no, he isn't that word I almost said. But yes, he's intense. It's a good intense. He will definitely get on you if you make a mistake, but he's teaching you. He has a plan and we believe in that plan. Why wouldn't we? Look at the results."
"I think about the player that I was when I got here and the player I am now," says Moss, who started the season by hanging 187 rushing yards and a TD on BYU. "I think about what this team was when I got here four years ago and what it is now. Those are the results. We love him. We love what this team can do this year. That's why we're all still here."
That's why Whittingham is still here. He admits that "I've had plenty of other offers, and for more money," but over the winter he signed yet another contract extension. He even turned down his alma mater, but only after consulting with BYU's leadership to ensure that it was the school and not the church that was calling him back home.
"Utah is my home," he says, proudly adding that his four children all attended school in the same district their entire lives, a near impossibility in the coaching profession. "Home is where you are comfortable, but it's also a place you never stop working to improve. Every day I work to improve this place."
Kyle Whittingham brings the conversation back around to those preseason polls, the current AP poll and the talk of his 2019 Utes being the team that finally knocks off USC on the road and returns the Pac-12 to the College Football Playoff conversation.
"If I'm being honest, it's not how we like to do things around here," he says. "I've been here 20 years and we've made a pretty nice living sneaking up on people and proving we belong. You can call it a chip on your shoulder or whatever you want. We just call it our way of life. Work. Taking care of your business one step at a time until you've built something people have to appreciate."
Coach Whitt points to the mountain range behind him, where those pioneers and their handcarts rolled through 172 years ago.
"Around here, you never stop climbing."
https://www.espn.com/college-footba...ittingham-building-unlikely-pac-12-power-utah
"I played against Dickerson in the Holiday Bowl," Whittingham recalls. "I look back now and what a time to be on the sideline, as a kid and even as a young adult. I realize now that what I was watching, I was learning from. And the coaches I learned from, that's who I have become as a coach."
That list includes his father, but also stone-faced offensive guru LaVell Edwards, Whittingham's head coach at BYU, the Kragthorpe family of coaches, Ron McBride, the man who laid the foundation at Utah, and McBride's successor, Meyer.
"Not one of the coaches I have learned from, worked for, or still lean on now for advice, has ever used 'Well, we don't have this history' or 'Well, we don't have as much money as they do' or anything of that nature as an excuse," Whittingham says, clenching his fist a little as it sits atop his desk.
"Everyone on my list built something pretty great where it had only been good before. Or, in some cases, it had always been bad. Whether I was a player, an assistant, or a head coach, I have always felt that when we walk on that field and face each other, history doesn't matter. Not in that moment. Not in that game. My goal is to beat you right then and there. We'll talk about the history of that later."
It is an intense statement spoken during an intense weekday while preparing for an intense, potentially historic football game for Utah.
For Whittingham, it's just another autumn Monday.
"People ask me all the time, 'Hey, is he an a--h..." Burgess catches himself and starts laughing. "They want to know, 'How intense is he, really?' The answer is that, no, he isn't that word I almost said. But yes, he's intense. It's a good intense. He will definitely get on you if you make a mistake, but he's teaching you. He has a plan and we believe in that plan. Why wouldn't we? Look at the results."
"I think about the player that I was when I got here and the player I am now," says Moss, who started the season by hanging 187 rushing yards and a TD on BYU. "I think about what this team was when I got here four years ago and what it is now. Those are the results. We love him. We love what this team can do this year. That's why we're all still here."
That's why Whittingham is still here. He admits that "I've had plenty of other offers, and for more money," but over the winter he signed yet another contract extension. He even turned down his alma mater, but only after consulting with BYU's leadership to ensure that it was the school and not the church that was calling him back home.
"Utah is my home," he says, proudly adding that his four children all attended school in the same district their entire lives, a near impossibility in the coaching profession. "Home is where you are comfortable, but it's also a place you never stop working to improve. Every day I work to improve this place."
Kyle Whittingham brings the conversation back around to those preseason polls, the current AP poll and the talk of his 2019 Utes being the team that finally knocks off USC on the road and returns the Pac-12 to the College Football Playoff conversation.
"If I'm being honest, it's not how we like to do things around here," he says. "I've been here 20 years and we've made a pretty nice living sneaking up on people and proving we belong. You can call it a chip on your shoulder or whatever you want. We just call it our way of life. Work. Taking care of your business one step at a time until you've built something people have to appreciate."
Coach Whitt points to the mountain range behind him, where those pioneers and their handcarts rolled through 172 years ago.
"Around here, you never stop climbing."
https://www.espn.com/college-footba...ittingham-building-unlikely-pac-12-power-utah
