The season of truth?
Kyle Whittingham begins his fourth season as Utah's head coach in a matter of weeks and the steps he takes this year may prove to be the most important of his career. It's hard to say this isn't Whittingham's strongest team yet and because of that, expectations are justifiably high. Unfortunately for Whittingham and his staff, he now has to live up to them, or once again face the charges he is not fit to lead the Utes.
Fortunately, though, I believe Whittingham is ready to embrace this challenge, as it is my opinion he's progressed as a coach in each of the past three seasons. Though the growth has been excruciatingly slow at times, it's difficult to make a case against Whittingham being a better coach today than he was during the first quarter of his first game in his first season. Because of all this advancement, it's easy to see why many believe the Utes will take the next step and not only contend for the Mountain West, but possibly the BCS as well. No matter what one thinks of Utah's ability to climb high enough in the polls to make the BCS, winning the Mountain West is surely Whittingham's goal, the team's goal and the fans' goal, too. That means it is also the expectation for the 2008 Utah Utes. An expectation that should be met and if it isn't, might signal the program as a whole has reached its ceiling under Whittingham.
To be clear, I am not saying this will happen. In fact, I believe Utah will either share or win the title out right, but this team is too good not to win it. And if they don't win it now, then when? Could it be next year, even with the high turnover on offense? Maybe a year after that? If this were to be the case, Whittingham would be looking at five consecutive seasons without any type of hardware. That's not tolerable, not for a program that five years earlier had won back-to-back titles.
This means, of course, this really is the season of truth. It will show us how far the program has progressed under Whittingham and how high his coaching potential is. I'm not suggesting he needs to go undefeated, or even 11-1, to prove his worth, but anything less than 10-wins and a championship will be a disappointment (obviously, that's if they make it through the season relatively healthy). Ultimately, all Whittingham has worked for throughout his coaching career is building to this moment. The perfect storm is on the horizon and it's up to him to take advantage of it. That is what great coaches do, they seize the moment and use it to their benefit. This is Kyle Whittingham's moment, now hopefully he grabs hold of it and rides it to success.
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Agreed
Whittingham has accomplished enough not to anger the fans, but nothing to rally the fans around him.
Frankly a Bowl win is the low bar for this season. If we get to a bowl as the second or third MWC team and win the realization will start to surface that Whittingham is good enough to keep his job, but not take us back to BCS level. Only a losing season really puts his job in peril.
Nothing less than a BCS win will rally the fans around him with the expectations jacked up so high.
The problem is he appears to be more like McBride than Meyers. McBride rode emotion to its fullest. This works well when things are high, but once that bubble pops the air rushes out and the team deflates and withers away. That is how you demolish UCLA one week and lose to UNLV the next.
Meyers brought discipline to Utah. This is characterized by a lack of penalties, turnovers and by a resilience when the team faces heartbreaking moments, like quickly finding themselves in a 14 point hole.
Until Whittingham is able to demonstrate his proficiencies in these areas he will never lead the team to its full potential. This is not the players fault, it is all on the coach.
by utesfan100 on Aug 15, 2008 4:16 PM MDT 0 recs
Yup
Whittingham seems like a good coach, but not a great one. Yet, anyway. The good thing about coaching is that nothing is set in stone. A coach can struggle early in his career at a program, only to have a breakout season the year after coming off a 7-5 campaign.
Look at Gary Pinkel at Missouri. After 2004, he nearly lost his job, as the Tigers stumbled to a 5-7 season. Even then, in 2005, Pinkel really only kept his job because they managed to beat South Carolina in the Independence Bowl. In 2007, however, he goes from 8-wins to 12 and has his team contending for a championship this year.
So I guess anything can happen with a coach.
Now it’s up to Whittingham to take it to the next level. I believe this is his best chance to do so and if he doesn’t, though it won’t be set in stone, I think he may just be good enough to average 7-8 wins, but never good enough to win championships and contend for the top-25.
by JazzyUte on
Aug 16, 2008 1:08 PM MDT
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Just Like McBride
That would only last until a 5-7 season comes along.
by utesfan100 on Aug 16, 2008 3:03 PM MDT 0 recs
Yeah.
McBride probably would still be here had it not been for the meltdowns during the 2000 and 2002 seasons.
One thing, though, is that generally good coaches bottom out, as McBride did. So if Whittingham just continues to churn out 7-8 win seasons, sooner or later the bottom will fall out and he’ll have a losing campaign.
Of course, if he can bump that up to 9-10 win seasons, this program will be extremely good for years to come.
by JazzyUte on
Aug 16, 2008 5:31 PM MDT
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