Head Coach Kyle Whittingham

Kyle Whittingham, the longest-tenured coach in the Pac-12 Conference and the second-longest tenured head coach at the same school in the NCAA FBS, is in his 18th season at the helm at Utah in 2022, where he boasts a 144-70 record as the all-time wins leader. • Including 11 seasons as a Ute assistant coach, he has contributed to more victories (229) than any coach in program history. • He has coached in 339 games at Utah and 214 as the head coach. • His 144 career wins, which passed Ike

Armstrong (141-55-15 in 211 games from 1925-49) for the all-time wins number, ranks third among active FBS coaches at the same school and in the top-15 among active FBS coaches overall (most in the Pac-12). • Utah has finished with a winning record in 15 of his 17 years as head coach, including in eight straight.

Whittingham has led the Utes to at least a share of the Pac-12 South title in three of the last four seasons (2021, 2019, 2018) and four times overall since joining the league (won a share in 2015). • He has won three National Coach of the Year recognitions – two in 2008 and one in 2019.

He was the AFCA Coach of the Year and Bear

Bryant Award winner in 2008, and the Dodd

Trophy Coach of the Year in 2019. • In 2019 he also won AFCA Regional Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the AFCA

Coach of the Year and Bear Bryant Award. • He has also won Pac-12 Coach of the Year twice in the last four seasons (2019, 2021). • In 2021, Whittingham was a finalist for the

Bear Bryant Award and the Eddie Robinson

Coach of the Year award.

Legendary for his postseason success, his 11 bowl wins (11-4) ties him for second among active coaches and ranks in the top-10 all-time. His postseason record includes a 2-1 mark in College Football Playoff New Year’s Six bowls with wins over Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl (co-head coach) and Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

The Utes appeared in every weekly CFP top-25 for the first three years of the system (2014-16) and have tied for the seventh-most appearances of any school with 35 total. • Utah has finished in the CFP top-25 in six seasons: No. 22 in 2014 and 2015, No. 19 in 2016, No. 17 in 2018, No. 11 in 2019 and No. 11 in 2021. • The Utes have also made the final AP top-25 six times and the final Coaches’ poll seven times under Whittingham. • Whittingham’s teams have also performed well against AP top-25 teams, recording 19 wins against ranked opponents, including victories over No. 4 Alabama (2009), No. 5 Stanford (2013), No. 8 UCLA (2014), No. 4

Oregon in the regular season in 2021 and again when the Ducks were ranked No. 10 in the Pac-12 Championship game. • Whittingham also has a winning record against the ACC (7-1), Big Ten (4-2), Big 12 (5-4) and the SEC (1-0).

Individually, Whittingham has had 30 players make All-America teams, including 17 that have made major All-America first-teams (those determining NCAA’s consensus team). • The first-team All-Americans are Luther

Elliss, DL (1994, consensus); Eric Weddle,

DB (2006 consensus); Louie Sakoda, P (2007, 2008 unanimous); Zane Beadles, OL (2009); Shaky Smithson, PR (2010); Star

Lotulelei, DT (2012); Reggie Dunn, KR (2012);

Nate Orchard, DE (2014); Kaelin Clay, RS (2014); Tom Hackett, P (2014 consensus, 2015 unanimous); Mitch Wishnowsky, P (2016 unanimous); Matt Gay, PK (2017 consensus);

Bradlee Anae, DE (2019 consensus); Julian

Blackmon, S (2019); Leki Fotu, DT (2019);

Jaylon Johnson, CB (2019), Zack Moss, RB (2019), Britain Covey, RS (2021); Devin Lloyd,

LB (2021 consensus). • He also coached major national award winners in the Ray Guy Award (2014, 2015

Tom Hackett; 2016 Mitch Wishnowsky), the

Lou Groza Award (2017 Matt Gay) and the Ted

Hendricks Award (2014 Nate Orchard). • Utah boasted a school-record five All-

American in 2019.

Whittingham’s players have also won a total of 99 first-team all-conference awards, including 48 in Utah’s 11 seasons of Pac-12 membership. • Utah has had 27 first-team selections since 2018, leading the Pac-12 in first-teamers in 2018 and 2021. • Three of his players have been three-time

COACHING EXPERIENCE

1994-present Utah 2005- Head Coach 2001-04 Defensive Coordinator Linebackers 1998-2000 Defensive Coordinator Safeties 1997 Defensive Coordinator Linebackers 1995-96 Defensive Coordinator Safeties 1994 Defensive Line 1988-93 Idaho State 1992-93 Defensive Coordinator 1988-91 Linebackers/Special Teams 1987 College of Eastern Utah Defensive Coordinator 1985-86 Brigham Young Graduate Assistant

first-team All-Pac-12 honorees: Hackett from 2013-15, Wishnowky from 2016-18 and Covey from 2015-21. • The Utes have also captured the Morris

Trophy six times, which recognizes the Pac12’s best lineman, offensive and defensive, as voted on by the starting linemen on the other teams (DT Lotulelei in 2011, DE Orchard in 2014, OL Isaac Asiata in 2016, Anae in 2019,

OL Nick Ford in 2021, DE Mika Tafua in 2021). • Utah has also been honored with Pac-12 yearly awards in recent years: Zack Moss,

Offensive POY, 2019; Ty Jordan, Offensive

Freshman OY, 2020; Devin Lloyd, Pat Tillman

Defensive POY, 2021; Junior Tafuna, Defensive

Freshman OY, 2021.

Now in his 29th year overall at Utah, he is coming off one of the most historic seasons in Utah Football history in 2021. After starting the season 1-2 and having two student-athletes pass away less than 10 months apart from each other, “family on 3” truly came to life as Whittingham rallied the team together to win nine of its final 11 games of the season with the program’s first-ever Pac-12 Championship game win and a trip to the Rose Bowl. • Utah was awarded the 2021 Capital One

Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award in 2021 after enduring the loss of two teammates

while continuing on in one of the most successful seasons in program history. • The Utes ended the season ranked No. 11 in the final CFP Poll, tying for its highest season finish in program history. • Utah also finished the season ranked No. 12 in both the final AP and Coaches polls, its highest finish since 2008 (No. 2 in AP, No. 4 in Coaches). • Utah defeated three AP Top 25 opponents in 2021 (No. 18 Arizona State, No. 4 Oregon,

No. 10 Oregon), the most in a single-season since Utah’s Sugar Bowl run in 2008. • Utah’s 8-1 Pac-12 record in 2021 tied for the single-season best for the Utes (also finished 8-1 in 2019).

The 2021 season was compared to Utah’s Sugar Bowl year multiple times after Whittingham engineered one of the best seasons in Utah Football history. The Utes went 13-0 in 2008, concluding the season with a 3117 Sugar Bowl rout of Alabama, a team that had spent five weeks at No. 1. • Utah was declared the national champion that season by major selector Anderson/

Hester and was ranked No. 2 in the final

AP poll. • Utah was the only undefeated FBS team in 2008, beating four top-25 teams, including

two that finished in the top 10. • Whittingham was recognized as the National

Coach of the Year by the AFCA and the Bear

Bryant Award winner, also earning Mountain

West Coach of the Year.

In addition to Utah’s in-season success, Whittingham also has a reputation for developing NFL talent on a yearly basis. Utah has had 21 selections in the five drafts from 2017-21, which ranks second among all Pac-12 schools. • Seven Utes were drafted in 2020, the most in the Pac-12 and tied for fifth-most in the nation. • Utah had a school-record eight NFL draft picks in 2017, which led the Pac-12 and tied for third in the country. • As an assistant or a head coach, 99 of Whittingham’s players have signed contracts with NFL teams (57 draft picks, including 14 first or second round selections, and 42 undrafted free agents).

Utah has also excelled academically under Whittingham. Since he became head coach in 2005, his players have earned five Academic All-America citations and 339 academic all-conference/academic honor roll awards. • Britain Covey became Utah’s first-ever Pac12 Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2021 after being a two-time Academic All-American. • Utah Football received public recognition from the NCAA for posting multi-year

Academic Progress Report (APR) in the top 10 percent of all athletic teams in the country from 2016-20, including a perfect single-year APR score of 1000 in 2017-18.

Whittingham began his coaching career in 1985-86 as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Brigham Young. He spent one season as the defensive coordinator at the College of Eastern Utah in 1987, before a six-year stint at Idaho State from 1988-93.

A linebacker for BYU from 1978-81, Whittingham earned first-team all-WAC and WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1981. He played in the first four Holiday Bowls and was named Defensive MVP of the 1981 game.

Whittingham graduated from BYU in 1984 and added a master’s degree from the school in 1987. Born Nov. 21, 1959, he was raised in Provo, Utah. He is married to the former Jamie Daniels. They have four children: Tyler, Melissa, Alex and Kylie, and six grandchildren. Tyler and Alex both played for the Utes.

Year School Overall Conference Bowl Game Bowl Result 2004* Utah 1-0 0-0 MWC Fiesta (Pittsburgh) W 2005 Utah 7-5 4-4 MWC Emerald (Georgia Tech) W 2006 Utah 8-5 5-3 MWC Armed Forces (Tulsa) W 2007 Utah 9-4 5-3 MWC Poinsettia (Navy) W 2008 Utah 13-0 8-0 MWC Sugar (Alabama) W 2009 Utah 10-3 6-2 MWC Poinsettia (California) W 2010 Utah 10-3 7-1 MWC Las Vegas (Boise State) L 2011 Utah 8-5 4-5 Pac-12 Sun (Georgia Tech) W 2012 Utah 5-7 3-6 Pac-12 2013 Utah 5-7 2-7 Pac-12 2014 Utah 9-4 5-4 Pac-12 Las Vegas (Colorado State) W 2015 Utah 10-3 6-3 Pac-12 Las Vegas (BYU) W 2016 Utah 9-4 5-4 Pac-12 Foster Farms (Indiana) W 2017 Utah 7-6 3-6 Pac-12 Heart of Dallas (West Virginia) W 2018 Utah 9-5 6-3 Pac-12 Holiday (Northwestern) L 2019 Utah 11-3 8-1 Pac-12 Alamo (Texas) L 2020 Utah 3-2 3-2 Pac-12 2021 Utah 10-4 8-1 Pac-12 Rose (Ohio State) L Utah Career Record: 144-70 Pac-12 Record: 53-42 Conference Record: 91-57 Bowl Record: 11-4 *Co-head coach in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl