Kyle Whittingham’s Coaching Influence On Full Display This Weekend

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Kyle Whittingham is the longest-tenured coach in the Pac-12 Conference and an elite defensive mind. A mind that came from a long line of brilliance and has been passed on to many notable coaches in the state of Utah.

Coach Whittingham boasts the best bowl win percentage (11-2, 84%) in NCAA history.

Although impressive, it is easy to understand why when you take a look at the Whittingham coaching tree.

Lavell Edwards & Ron McBride ⏩ Kyle Whittingham ⏩ Kalani Sitake & Gary Andersen & Jay Hill

This legendary coaching tree will be on full display this weekend 🏈@kalanifsitake@UtahCoachWhitt

📹 @HemaHeimuliJr pic.twitter.com/GE6JLD6rZi

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 31, 2019

After his time as a linebacker at BYU under legendary coach LaVell Edwards, Whittingham was a graduate assistant from 1985-86.

In 1994 Whittingham made it to Utah as a defensive line coach working with his father Fred Whittingham. The following year he replaced his father and became defensive coordinator under another legendary coach Ron McBride.

Whittingham’s impressive resume continued under Urban Meyer and the Utes’ magical BCS busting year before grabbing the reigns as the Utes head coach.

Being a grandpa looks good on @UtahCoachWhitt, via @TomCantHackett.
👴🏈https://t.co/yUv3baDuye

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 29, 2019

The Utes leader’s own legendary status will only continue to grow, as he hopes to lead this year’s power-packed Utah team to a Pac-12 Championship title and hopefully a College Football Playoff appearance.

The Coaching Tree

Whittingham is a great coach. The proof is in the pudding, or in Whit’s case, the head-to-head matchups this weekend among the branches of his coaching tree.

BYU Head Coach Kalani Sitake (Utah defensive coordinator from 2009-11) travels to Maverick Stadium to take on fellow Whit-pupil Gary Andersen (Utah defensive coordinator from 2005-08) and his Utah State Aggies.

In the BigSky Conference, Weber State Head Coach Jay Hill (Utah special teams coordinator from 2005-13) takes on Sacramento State under Head Coach Troy Taylor (Utah offensive coordinator from 2017-18) in a top 2 FCS battle.

Both football games happening this weekend while Whittingham leads the Utes to Seattle against Chris Petersen, another legendary football coach, in a rematch of the 2018 Pac-12 Championship with both North Division and South Division repercussions.

A local rivalry for @USUFootball and @BYUfootball. An important one for @Utah_Football… and you can catch them all #GoUtes #GoCougs #AggiesAllTheWayhttps://t.co/vwUECY6HQd

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 31, 2019

Whittingham, without a doubt, is a legendary coach – with the coaching pedigree to back it up. He knows what needs to be done to get the proverbial statue built at Rice-Eccles Stadium: win big games.

This Saturday, the team standing in the way, is the Huskies.