"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
The DC hire was a bad move from the beginning. I don't know why people thought we were hiring Gary Pinkel instead of a washed up asshole from Wyoming. We need offensive stability, dynamic hires for the coaching staff, and improved recruiting. KW is not the guy for that. I'm elated that DC is gone, and hopeful that we'll get past the fear of change and turn the page on a new chapter in Utah football with a new head coach.
Last edited by jrj84105; 12-26-2014 at 10:31 AM.
My guess (dream) on the coaching staff:
HC - Dan Mullen
OC - Billy Gonzales
QB - BJ
RB - Erickson
OL - Harding
DC - Ed Orgeron
DL - Steve Fifita
LB - Orgeron
CB - Shah
S - Scalley
Seems like this little episode should have been seen as a red flag:
Dave Christensen whispering sweet nothings to Troy Calhoun
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Tom cella is a buddy of mine. He is saying that whitt will meet with dr hill tomorow and dans name has come up. Sooooo yeah.
Agree,
but I am still waiting for someone to say why Chris Hill would do this--football team won 9 games, a bowl & is ranked. New facility in place.
BB team is ranked & new facility is being built.
Hill is closing in on retirement.
Why would he need this type of grief----?
Because Hill thinks he can cement his legacy. Two top 25 programs. The football team was a QB away from PAC-12 title game. He got Urban here before. Why not bring his offense back? Go out with a bang.
Whitt hasn't exactly lit the world on fire with all his OC's.
Worst case scenario? We have recruiting classes in the 50's and go 5-7.
It does seem out of character for Dr. Hill.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I think we have Arod and Scalley as coordinators next year, and I'm fine with that. They'll both do a nice job, and the promote from within thing will be good for us long term.
Utah football has taken another step toward mike tyson status in that anything i read is not surprising. Kyrylo fesenko could be hired today and i would just shrug my shoulders.
Kyle Whittingham was HC at Utah for a full decade. Nobody will think he was run off unfairly after burning through 8 OC's and landing a bottom tier P5 recruiting class. A bad hire could put us down to 3-4 wins, but is that really much worse than 5 wins? Now that realignment has settled in, we can only fall so far, so the risk is already largely mitigated. Hill has the opportunity to be more risk tolerant, and he's not going to get that out of a very risk averse KW. I think the general trend is away from the old-school risk averse style of football that KW embodies toward a risk heavy, offense-first, explosive style of football. The college football game at the P5 level has simply changed, and although KW got more wins this year, he didn't show that he was capable of changing his approach to match the new environment, which is what his employers really wanted to see.
I will. It makes no sense to drop a guy after such a successful season. Kyle was in the running for COY until the Arizona game. He has been courted by a top national program. You don't let something like that go just so you can bring a new offensive scheme and become the new Cal, Wazzu, or Colorado. I still prefer winning over running an air raid.
No possible replacement brings what Kyle brings. I guess Anderson, Wells, Frost or Mullen are closest, but they aren't Kyle.
Yup. We have to be careful what we wish for here. In Whit you have a proven commodity (say what you will, the guy has won 80 games here). If you try to bring in the hot coordinator, you'd better be ready for the football version of Giac or Boylen. That's not a reason to not make the move, but I think the smart play here first and foremost is for Whit and Hill to sit down and work out their differences (if there be any) before we just start looking at moving on.
Obviously if somehow a "name" is interested in the job, that would change the equation a little bit, but I would still lean on the side of doing what you can to work it out with Kyle, unless he has decided that he just doesn't want to be here and he is forcing your hand, which I have a hard-ish time believing.
“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
Here is me for throwing my hat in the ring that all of these Whittingham getting tossed rumors as horsecrap, at least it better be.
What are we trying to do? If losing an OC (and a DC that we've been speculating since the beginning of the season was going to walk) trumps a 9 win season in the second toughest division in college football; winning against people like UCLA, USC, Michigan etc; consistently selling out the stadium; commanding one of the best special teams units in the nation; and overseeing one of the best defenses in the nation... well that is just messed up.
I will be beyond pissed if Whittingham doesn't get to coach the group he has put together.
You may as well send in your resume for OC. You will be at least on par with the skill level of Whitt's other hires.
Malaise Forever!
My fondest wish is that Kyle stays at the U. and takes the program to the promised land. So that's where i am.
(Speculation warning.) Having said that, it might just be that the powers that be are thinking very long-term and are focusing not on the next season, or even on the next 5 seasons. Maybe there's a play under way for a statement-making hire. Mullen would be such a hire, IMO. That would explain the apparent indifference to Sitake et al. leaving.
This is just me, based on what I've seen on the Internet and what I have heard Hill say on other contexts about the U's long-term plans.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I agree. This would be a huge nail in the coffin for the fine Dr. Hill. You could argue very easily that this was Whit's best team. You could argue that this was the U's best team of all freaking time (maybe 2004 beats them, but It would be a damn close game). This is Whit's f'ing D and it always has been. He can replace Sitake (recruiting is another thing). As far as O is concerned, we all knew DC was gone (and wanted him gone) 6 weeks ago. It's funny how him actually going somehow changes the perception.
If Hill is pushing Whit out (and he doesn't have Mullen actually signed) he has jumped the shark and needs to retire.
This is the only thing giving me pause at this moment- that this would blow up in Hill's face if he doesn't have a solid replacement in the wings (and even if he does, a lot of fans are going to be upset). Anyone can see how Hill and Boosters got fed up with Kyle's hiring blunders, but this is a really dangerous move that could be wildly unpopular.
I agree 100% with sancho. After watching programs run through head coaches like we go through OC's, what makes us think that the next guy is going to do better than Whit? Everyone agrees that we are one player away from having a tremendous football team. Just hire an assistant coach that has a track record of recruiting good QBs and let Whit work his magic with the rest of the team.
Last edited by Sullyute; 12-26-2014 at 01:51 PM.
You guys are nuts.
Mississippi State will have had 19 bowl appearances and 11 bowl victories in the history of the program. Mullen will have had five of those appearances (in 6 years) and four of the victories if he wins this year. He has dominated their instate rival and led MSU to it's only #1 AP poll appearance in the history of the program. If you don't think Mullen is doing great things at a historically disadvantaged program in the only division in the country better than the PAC South, you're deluded.