‘What’s best for the program, not what’s best for me’: Kyle Whittingham has a decision to make about his future

As Utah’s season draws to a close Friday in Orlando, Florida, there’s big decisions to be made that will affect the program’s future.
The most pivotal decision will come from coach Kyle Whittingham, who recently celebrated his 65th birthday; he will assess his future with the program following the season finale at UCF on Friday.
“I’ll evaluate after the season, I believe those kind of type of decisions and that type of mulling over and thinking about things of that nature are after the season,” Whittingham said last week.
“When you’re in season, you’re in a completely different mode. You don’t have a lot of perspective in season, and so those type of decisions are made after the season ends, when you have a little bit of time to decompress, weigh things out and decide, ultimately, what’s best.”
In his weekly press conference Monday, Whittingham expounded on his future, saying that he will do what’s best for the program.
“My decision will be made on what’s best for the program, not what’s best for me,” Whittingham said. “So it’ll be completely determined on how I feel this program is best served going forward.”
Despite a lengthy losing streak, Whittingham, who is about to complete his 20th season as Utah’s head coach, still has plenty of energy.
“As far as energy, I feel great. I don’t have any, it’s not like I’m beat down. The season’s been a beatdown mentally, but physically and just day-to-day I’ve got plenty of gas left in the tank,” he said.
If Whittingham does indeed retire after this season, it would end the career of one of the greatest to ever coach in the state of Utah on a very low note. The Utes are in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, which could possibly extend to eight Friday, and are already assured of a losing season, just the third in the 20-year Whittingham era.
Very few coaches get to ride into the sunset on a positive note, however, and Whittingham understands that.
“Like I said, it’s what’s best for the program that … my decision will be dictated based on. To time it just right so you go out at just the right time, I mean, there’s a very, very small percentage of people that are able to do that,” Whittingham said. “And so again, I’m not saying, ‘Well this was a bad year so for me I got 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.”
Utah is in the process of hiring an offensive coordinator, and whether it’s Whittingham or defensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley at the helm next season, Scalley will be very involved in the process. The Utes are hoping to get an offensive coordinator in place by the time the transfer portal opens Dec. 9.
“I can tell you right now that coach Scalley will be involved in decisions going forward because it’s only right that he does that because he’s the coach in waiting and when that time comes we need to make sure that he’s had input on big decisions,” Whittingham said. “It’ll be a team effort in that respect going forward as far as hiring and recruiting and that type of thing.”
Luke Bottari will start at quarterback against UCF after Isaac Wilson suffered an injury during last week’s loss to Iowa State, Whittingham said.
Bottari entered the game with 3:23 left in the third quarter after Wilson went down. Wilson scrambled for a 4-yard gain before Iowa State defensive end Joey Petersen grabbed hold of the Utah quarterback’s left leg and rolled over on it.
Wilson will recover in time to participate in spring football, Whittingham thinks.
After injuries to Wilson, Cam Rising, Brandon Rose and Sam Huard, the Utes are down to two quarterbacks — Bottari and Dallen Engemann.
Bottari led the Utes to their only offensive touchdown Saturday, rushing for 56 total yards on a 10-play, 91-yard drive that gave the Utes a 28-24 lead with 5:51 remaining.
“For a guy that started the season as the fifth-string guy and really didn’t have a whole lot of chance to play, just continued to keep himself ready every single week in case,” Whittingham said. “And last week was the week that he got his opportunity and really did some good things. He came in and really provided the spark for us. And so that was good to see Luke do that.”
Two players that didn’t get a chance to play for the vast majority of the season due to injury will likely return to Utah for the 2025 season.
Indications are that linebacker Levani Damuni, who suffered a season-ending injury in spring camp, and Kenan Johnson, who suffered a season-ending injury on the first defensive series of Utah’s first game, will return.
“They both have indicated that they would love to come back for another year at least as of our last conversation, which has been a while with those two guys,” Whittingham said.
Damuni would be able to participate in spring camp, but Johnson’s recovery could extend up to fall camp.
Damuni transferred from Stanford to Utah ahead of the 2023 season. Essentially LB3, he took on an increased role after Lander Barton’s season-ending injury and finished the season with a team-leading 87 tackles.
Johnson won a starting outside cornerback spot after transferring from Georgia Tech, where he was one of the best defensive players for the Yellow Jackets, but had his season cut short in the first game of the year.
Quarterback Cam Rising, who was on the sidelines for Utah’s home finale against Iowa State, is still yet to make a decision about his future, though it should be coming soon.
“I talked to Cam after the game Saturday and we are going to visit this week and catch up and touch on that as well, what his plans are. I have no inside scoop or anything right now as to what he’s thinking,” Whittingham said.
“Just try to give him some space and let him sort things out and decide which direction he wants to go and so have a better answer after this week. But again, that’s on Cam’s timeline and obviously we’ve got to at some point make our own decisions on what’s going to happen if there’s still indecisiveness, but I think that should be cleared up in the next week to 10 days.”