Speaker 1: Team, sport known to man where modern day gladiators collide for.
Speaker 2: All the glory on the grid.
Speaker 1: Ie, let's talk some college football on Cougar Sports with Benkred.
Speaker 3: Welcome Factor Sports three nine ninety eight point three esp
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go well. Welcome in College Football Insider, Utah UTESE Insider
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Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in the real
Oh see Sean o'colly. You can hear him every single
day on ESPN seven hundred and their midday show show
and how that car are you?
Speaker 4: Buddy? Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: What a day?
Speaker 4: Huh crazy?
Speaker 3: I mean, we kind of felt like this was happening,
but there is some waffling. I felt like I felt
like there was a little bit of a power struggle
here with you know, maybe maybe Kyle didn't want to
step down, didn't want to retire. All the news coming
out of this, obviously he is stepping down, he's not
officially retiring.
Speaker 4: Sounds like there.
Speaker 3: Was a bit of upheaval, maybe a little bit of
power play going on over the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: With the end of the season coming to an end.
Speaker 1: I don't really know that there was a power play
so much as there was indecision happening, because you know,
this is a man who's a football lifer, who is
trying to convince himself that maybe he doesn't need to
be a football lifer at the University of Utah. I'm
mildly surprised to see what Stuart Mandel is reporting that
he might seek other coaching opportunities. But I mean, coach
Witt has been laying this groundwork for now for really
two and a half three years. He would have stepped
away last season if it hadn't been such a disastrous result.
You know, five wins. He's too competitive to go out
on that note. And obviously a ten win season not
quite right off into the sunset season that he probably
hoped for, which I'm sure incentivized him in some way to, hey,
maybe should I do it again? But this is something
that he's been hinting at now for the better part
of three years, and he's stepping down. If there's an
NFL job out there, he would obviously take it. If
there's a massive like a University of Michigan interest in
somebody like Kyle Whittingham, which seems like, you know, kind
of far fetched at this point. I'm sure he'll take
something like that beyond any of those huge opportunities. I
can't imagine him coaching on a sideline somewhere else, at
least not next year.
Speaker 3: So what's as far as head coaching jobs right now?
Not very many of them available. We're getting towards the
end of the cycle, but there are a few still available.
Do you think he receives calls or do you think
people are viewing college in the twilight of his career
and still doesn't have he doesn't have any energy left.
I mean, this is a good football team. I mean
you're on the cusp of greatness. You lost to your
rival by three on the road. You had Texas Tech
at home, right and you fought to the nail through
three quarters.
Speaker 4: Fourth quarter they pulled away from you. Texas Tech very
well could be a national champion.
Speaker 3: With an influx of cash, maybe some nil, he can
go out and purchase a pretty good staff and a
pretty gosh dang good roster.
Speaker 1: I think if you're if you're an athletic director or
you're a university president, if you're in athletic department, and
you're seeing what Chris com Ronning and Stuart Mandela reporting,
and you're saying, wait, Kyle Whittingham's leaving Utah, but he's
not necessarily retiring. Am I in a position right now
where I want someone for two to three seasons where
I need somebody that kind of writes this ship, gets
us back on a positive path, and then eventually he
steps down. And maybe it's only one season, but a
short If you're looking for a short term fix, which
I don't think very many people are in college football,
to be frank, but if you're somebody out there in
a leadership position who's looking for a relatively short term fix,
there would be no better call to make than Kyle Whittingham.
I don't know who's in that position. I mean, my
imagination can run wild, and I could say, if I'm
Michigan and we just got rocked by some crazy scandal,
who do I want? I want someone who's the opposite
of scandal.
Speaker 2: I want someone.
Speaker 1: Who's as boring and steady and reliable as I can
possibly find. And that's a sixty six year old Kyle
Whittingham who's been married forever. And you know, wants to
be wants to be thought of as one of the
best coaches in the country. I could provide him those
resources that you just hinto that and maybe he can
pass the torch to somebody else. Again, I think that's
incredibly far fetched. But if if he's leaving the glimmer
and the possibility this little window open that he might coach,
it would only be in my mind a place like.
Speaker 3: That, any chance BYU, if their funds they want to
go bring in another analyst, a senior analyst. They're at
Brigham Young University.
Speaker 1: I think that would be one job that he would
absolutely not take.
Speaker 4: He doesn't want that.
Speaker 3: He let's say, as far away from probo as possible.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean also, he's not the type that wants
to stir up somebody else's punch bowl. You know, like
Kyle and Klane are friends. Kyle has repeatedly acknowledged with
a great job Kilinie's doing down there. He's got relationships
with a bunch of the guys on that staff, And
as soon as you throw somebody like that in, it
just upsets the power balance and creates rumors and like
all these insane situations and drama that Kyle Whittingham is
allergic to.
Speaker 2: So no shot of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, there are only head coaching opportunities out there
in a Michigan, Missouri state, in Washington state. But I
imagine like there's if you have a senior analyst role
open and a and a checkbook that's fairly open as well,
you could probably pay him now. But I thought he
had a sweetheart deal as an associate ad making him
million dollars a year if he if he stays at
the University of you thought.
Speaker 2: He can.
Speaker 1: I think it's a two or three year deal where
he can be like a special advisor to the athletic department,
that little golden parachute type job.
Speaker 2: But I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think that that's the type of thing that
interests Whittingham to a great deal, you know what I mean,
Because what is he dealing with in that he's shaking
hands and kissing babies and now he's talking to private
equity people potentially. I mean, it's just like this man
is either going to be coaching football or he's going
to be skiing, golfing and hanging out with his grandkids.
I imagine they'll pull him out of the bullpen for
big time Crimson Club events whenever he gets bored. But
that advisory role, to me was always written as something
that's like not a particularly like day to day type gig,
So I don't know what it's actually going to be.
But again, Kyle Whittingham is not the type of dude
that is going to be wanting to sit at a desk,
you know, and putting a tie on every day, So
I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the real o c Shot o'condle here on ESPN
the Fan. How would you describe the last few years
under Kyle And do you think it was the right
time for him to step down or do you think
there were still some Jews left?
Speaker 1: Well, I think there is juice left. But I think
that the right thing to do in any sports capacity
is to be done with the sport before the sport
is done with you. And I think that Kyle Whittingham
is acknowledging that, you know, he has been grudgingly accepted
the changes and adapted to the changes in college football.
He has begrudgingly participated in the recruit your own players
every three months and make sure you pay these kids
sometimes way more than their worth with nil stuff, and
he's adapted as much as an old dog can learn
those new tricks. I think he deserves a lot of
respect for the way that he has adapted when some
of his peers, at least age wise and experience wise,
were less able or not able to do. But again,
this is a guy that is just you know, he's
in the twilight years of a professional career, much less
a football coaching career, and for him to walk away
at this time where he finished on a ten win season, yes.
Speaker 2: Just short of those stated goals that he talked about.
Speaker 1: With you know, college football playoff invitation Big twelve championship.
I think that would have made him the only Division
one coach to win conference championships in three different conferences.
If he had been able to pull that off, all
that would have been really really great to see him,
to see him do. But it feels like the right
time for him to step away because you know, Morgan
is ready to take over. And Morgan is a guy
that he helped mold and I mean he coached as
a player, as you're well aware, and has helped mold
who Morgan is as a coach. And I think that
Kyle Whittingham he always said he wants to be not
just the coach but also the steward of this program.
He wants to leave it in good hands. He wants
to know when the right time to walk away is.
And you know, Morgan might not be waiting patiently for
another season or two, and maybe he would take an
opportunity in order to get out from under the shadow
or get out from under that Kylewoodyham umbrella. And I
think that all plays into it, and Coach Wit realizes
that this is the time, so, you know, go out
on a high note if he can. And ten and
two is a high note. It's not quite as high
a note as some of us hope for this year,
but it's the hell of the season.
Speaker 3: Let me ask you this, what other dominoes could fall
between the two schools with this move?
Speaker 4: Do you think any other dominoes could fall?
Speaker 3: I does j Hill get a call from Morgan Scaley
say hey, you want to be assistant head coach and
the DC as I move up to the head coaching world.
Speaker 4: Do you think that's a possibility.
Speaker 1: I think it's a strong possibility. I think it's a
conversation that you know, should at least be entertained on
both sides. I don't know that Jay would be willing
to do that. I don't know that Morgan would be
willing to go back to Jay instead of you know,
promoting a Colton Swan or Sharif Shaw or Lewis Powell
or the guys that have you know, stayed at Utah
and been a huge part of his own success, of
Morgan's own success.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, why wouldn't he go to J Hill.
Speaker 1: J is one of the best assistant coaches in the
country period. So there's also, you know, the possibility of
Gary Anderson. Gary Anderson was the defensive coordinator, a position coach.
I guess he was the d line coach when Morgan
was there, and then he was the defensive coordinator who
took over right after Morgan left, and so he coached
again under Gary when he was just a grad assistant
in climbing the ladder.
Speaker 2: So they've got a great relationship.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if Morgan is calling a couple
of different guys that are on that YU staff and saying, hey,
is there any interest in you coming back? Because I
assume that there's going to be some shuffling of the deck.
When the defensive coordinator moves up, one of his position
coaches probably becomes a decordinator or Jay becomes a defensive coordinator,
and that's going to change some things. Also, who knows
if BYU is calling Jason Beck or anyone who is
involved in Utah's offensive success this year. So as as
always the case with these two programs, it goes both ways.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's competitive comparative enmity here the private equity deal.
I haven't been able to tune into your show, but
I imagine you've delved deep into this. Your reaction, You're
thoughts the positive and the potential negative here from your perspective, Well.
Speaker 1: The positive is that you presumably have an influx of
funds that help you to stay competitive with schools in
your own conference and beyond, especially in the Western United
States where a lot of your recruiting footprint is where
you know you can offer the same kind of things
that Oregon and USC and Texas Tech and b YU
are offering to recruits and to assistant coaches and to
families that want to be part of your department or whatever.
So that's that's the positive. That's the obvious positive and
the pretty obvious negative is that now you've you've partnered
with an industry that is notoriously soulless and sucks the
life out of a lot of the things that they
end up partnering with because all they care about is
the almighty dollar. Now, that's far from ideal from a
sports fan perspective, but it's the reality of where college
sports have headed, and it does provide some exciting, you know,
new possibilities in the realm of you know, setting president
for the rest of college football and for the rest
of college athletics where maybe maybe it is time to
invite return on investment type partners into your athletic department.
I don't know how it's going to work out. I've
talked about this, you know, every which way I can
possibly imagine, and I can see it going both ways.
Massive risk, massive reward, and UTAH was the first one
to take the lead.
Speaker 3: Sean best way to support you what you do, how
you do it. For all of our listeners.
Speaker 1: Today, obviously take a listen on ESPN seven hundred eleven
to two ninety two to one FM. Also, I'm on
Twitter at reloc sports and if you're looking for something
to watch this weekend. ESPN plus PFL two world title
fights this weekend from Lyon, France. That'll be ten am tomorrow,
first fight ten am tomorrow local Utah times. So you know,
tune in around your lunchtime out and watch some people
beating each other up.
Speaker 4: Wait, are you going to be flying to France too?
Speaker 2: I'm in France right now.
Speaker 4: You're in friends right now? Holy cow, Holy cow.
Speaker 1: It's eleven thirty pm in Lyon, France.
Speaker 3: Man, I freaking love it, dude, have fun, man, Just
have a blast.
Speaker 4: Are you solo? Do you have the fam out there?
Speaker 2: Nope? Just me, just me.
Speaker 1: I got three little kids so it's hard to fly
twelve hours of France with them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that is tough. It is tough. Well, glory to you.
Have a great time, man, I'll check it out on
an ESPN plus. Get some sleep.
Speaker 3: Man. Appreciate you joining us, Love your content, love your commentary.
Speaker 4: Always a pleasure talking ball with you.
Speaker 2: All right, man, thanks for having me, Ben, Appreciate you.
Speaker 4: There you go.
Speaker 3: That's the real O. C Shat O'Connell. That segment was
brought to you by Dental Pros of Utah. Dentalprosof Utah
dot com. If you've been told you need a filling,
a crown, a rooking oal, all I'm asking you to
do is get a second opinion at Dental Pros of
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Utah dot com. Today, let's take a brief time out.
Don't go anywhere. Still plenty to get you on a
beautiful Friday issue of Cougar Sports. Here on one of
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