Did Kyle Whittingham attend BYU? Looking at Utah HC's early career
Kyle Whittingham started his football journey in Utah, just not at the University of Utah. Whittingham played at BYU between 1978 and 1981, playing as a running back in his first season and a linebacker the other three.
He went undrafted in the 1982 NFL Draft but managed to get on the Denver Broncos team in the off-season. He never made it to the NFL but played for the Denver Gold and the New Orleans Breakers (1983 and 1984, respectively) in the USFL and was a member of the Los Angeles Rams replacement squad in 1987.
Kyle Whittingham's coaching career coincidentally also started at BYU, where he was a graduate assistant between 1985 and 1986. It wasn't until 1994, after jobs at Eastern Utah and Idaho State, that he took his first gig with the Utah Utes as a defensive line coach. By 1995, he was already their defensive coordinator.
The Holy War rivalry is of great importance to both Utah schools. With the move to the Big 12, it is expected to increase in importance even more with the schools now facing each other every year. However, Whittingham disagrees that this will be a permanent development.
“Well first of all, you use the word permanently, and I can say it’s far from that. I think in 2-3, maybe 5 years on the outside, everything is gonna change again," Whittingham said last year in August [via SI].
"And so this may be just a quick couple years of the game returning, and then everything is blown up again and people go their separate ways.”
What has Kyle Whittingham achieved at Utah? Looking at the Utah Utes coaching record
With the Utah Utes, Whittingham won two Pac-12 titles (2021 and 2022) and a MWC one (2008). His greatest achievement would be the disputed national title claim of 2008, when the Anderson & Hester system declared the Utes national champions. That year, he also won the Paul Bear Bryant Award.
Whittingham followed Urban Meyer's progress at Utah in 2005 as head coach, establishing the Utes as a top national program. It's so far been his only head coaching gig and probably will be his only one, with him having already announced he will retire after the job.