Is Whittingham retiring? Utes head coach to “evaluate” future plans after season ends.

SALT LAKE CITY – When it comes to the future of the Utah football program, head coach Kyle Whittingham will do what he believes is best for the team.

Whether that means Whittingham believes he is still best equipped to retain his role as the team’s head coach or fully make the transition to head coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley remains a bit of a mystery.

However, Whittingham reiterated Monday that he and his family will take some time after the season ends Friday in Orlando against UCF to “evaluate” his future and then decide what he will do.

“My decision will be based on what is best for the program, not what is best for me,” Whittingham said. “So it will entirely depend on how I think this program can best be used in the future. And yes, there it is.”

But after a poor season in which the Utes failed to qualify for a bowl game for the first time since 2013 and only the third time in Whittingham’s 20-year tenure as head coach, he might just return to try to get into one again Winning season?

While it’s tempting, it’s not the deciding factor, Whittingham said.

“To time it just right so that you go out at exactly the right time, I mean, there’s a very, very small percentage of people who are able to do that,” he said. “And that’s why I don’t say, ‘Well, this was a bad year, so I have to come back and have a better year.’ I mean, everyone wants to have a better year next year, regardless of who the coach is.

“I just continue to emphasize that the program comes first, and whatever the program is – whatever puts the program in the best situation – that is the decision I will make,” he added. “Energy-wise, I feel great. I mean, I don’t have – it’s not like I’m depressed; The season was mentally down, but physically and just in everyday life I have a lot. “There’s still gas in the tank.”

The gas tank may still be full, but is the car ready to endure the ups and downs of another long drive?

Whittingham has long called the 2023 season one of the most difficult years of his coaching tenure, and sometimes it’s best to get out of the game before things spiral. Or there’s a chance he could change course so that Utah could compete for a Big 12 title and a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Regardless of his decision, Scalley will continue to be an important voice in the direction the team is moving. Exactly what that looks like — short of hiring an offensive coordinator or taking on a larger role in recruiting — remains to be seen.

But one thing is certain: Whittingham is laying the foundation for the future without wearing the main headset.

“I can tell you now that Coach Scalley will be involved in future decisions because it is only right that he does because he is the coach in waiting,” Whittingham said. “And when that happens, we need to make sure he has input into key decisions and so it will be a team effort in that regard going forward as far as hiring and recruiting and things like that.”

When it comes to recruiting, Whittingham isn’t afraid to call it quits soon. He and the coaching staff are “already having these conversations with newcomers” and with the players who are already in the squad to share the “succession plan” with them.

“It takes some of the edge off,” he said. “It would be very different if we didn’t have this plan, because if I then – when the time comes, no one would know what’s going to happen and who it’s going to be. But they know exactly what.” That’s the plan. And that, again, was a real reason to set this plan in place a few months ago when it was announced.

In theory, this should help ease an already volatile situation where the transfer portal is constantly changing and the current model for recruiting players – with the biggest impact for many being NIL – continues to influence a player’s decision to commit to one to ensure some consistency or stay in Utah.

The time for a changing of the guard is almost here, but it may take a little longer.

Only Whittingham knows.