Whittingham, Sitake, Anderson Ranked Among Fellow FBS Coaches Prior To 2021 Season
Jun 30, 2021, 12:08 PM | Updated: Dec 8, 2022, 11:55 am
(Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Sporting News ranked FBS college football head coaches heading into the 2021 season, including Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, BYU’s Kalani Sitake, and Utah State’s Blake Anderson.
Bill Bender of Sporting News published a story in which heΒ rankedΒ FBS head coaches 1-130.
Whittingham, Sitake, and Anderson were each ranked in the top 100 of Bender’s list.
Kyle Whittingham – Utah Utes
Previous Ranking: 18
2021 Ranking: 19
“The Utes were 3-2 last season, which ended a run of back-to-back Pac-12 South championships,” Bender wrote of the Utes’ head coach. “Whittingham still owns a 17-6 record in conference play the last three years, and the Utes have proven they can work into the Playoff conversation.”
Whittingham was the second-highest ranked head coach from the Pac-12 Conference. Only Oregon’s Mario Cristobal (No. 16) had a higher ranking than the Utah head coach.
Since becoming the Utes’ head coach in 2005, Whittingham has a career record of 134-66, including 11-3 in bowl games.
. @UtahCoachWhitt was awarded the Dodd Trophy.
Here's why: https://t.co/zPg9tStEtH pic.twitter.com/G9uoUjr783
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 27, 2019
Kalani Sitake – BYU Cougars
Previous Ranking: 86
2021 Ranking: 46
After leading the Cougars to an 11-1 record in 2020, Sitake made a giant leap up 40 spots in Sporting News’ rankings.
Sitake was hired as BYU’s head coach in 2016. He owns a career record of 38-26, including 3-1 in bowl games as the head coach of the Cougars.
Kalani Sitake and Tom Holmoe settling into their seats at State of the Program.#BYUFootball #BYUMediaDay #GoCougs #BYU pic.twitter.com/HJ6fWL90lZ
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) June 17, 2021
Blake Anderson – Utah State Aggies
Previous Ranking: 91
2021 Ranking: 96
Heading into his first season running the program in Logan, Anderson is ranked as the seventh best coach in the Mountain West Conference.
Anderson was most recently the head coach at Arkansas State. As a head coach, Anderson owns a career record of 51-37, including 2-4 in bowl games.
Welcome to Logan and @USUFootball, @CHbanderson! π #AggiesAllTheWayhttps://t.co/RxrlHEdZq9
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 13, 2020
Top 10 FBS Head Coaches
The following individuals were ranked as the top head coaches in college football prior to the 2021 season:
- Nick Saban (Alabama)
- Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
- Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma)
- Brian Kelly (Notre Dame)
- Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M)
- Ryan Day (Ohio State)
- Kirby Smart (Georgia)
- Dan Mullen (Florida)
- Matt Campbell (Iowa State)
- Mack Brown (North Carolina)
.@BillBender92 ranked every coach in college football π
Full list: https://t.co/PrOQ6ACXlM pic.twitter.com/LyFjSedpxk
— ππ‘π ππ©π¨π«ππ’π§π πππ°π¬ (@sportingnews) June 29, 2021