Kyle Whittingham
Kyle Whittingham (born November 21, 1959 in San Luis Obispo ) is a former American football player and since 2005 head coach of the Utah Utes , the college football team of the University of Utah . He won the Fiesta Bowl with the team in 2005 and the Sugar Bowl in 2009 , and was named Trainer of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association and the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in 2008 .
Life
Kyle Whittingham was in 1959 in California's San Luis Obispo in the State of California and grew up in Provo in the US state of Utah on. He played college football for the BYU Cougars of Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1978 to 1981, the first year as running back and then as linebacker . He then worked in the professional field in 1983 for the Denver Gold and 1984 for the New Orleans Breakers in the United States Football League . He graduated from BYU in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in educational psychology, and three years later he also received a master's degree in sports administration.
Kyle Whittingham began his coaching career in 1985/1986 as an assistant to head coach LaVell Edwards at BYU. In 1987 he was on the substitute team for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL) before he was defensive coordinator of the football team of the College of Eastern Utah in the same year . From 1988 to 1993 he then worked at Idaho State University . During this time he acted from 1988 to 1991 as an assistant coach for the linebackers and the special teams and then as a defensive coordinator .
He then moved to the University of Utah , where he was initially responsible for the defensive line of the Utah Utes in 1994 under his father Fred Whittingham as an assistant coach . A year later he took over from his father, who got a job as an assistant coach with the Oakland Raiders in the NFL, the position of defensive coordinator . He held this position until 2002 under head coach Ron McBride and then under Urban Meyer .
After the change of Urban Meyer to the Florida Gators of the University of Florida Kyle Whittingham was appointed Utes in 2005 for football head coach of Utah. At the same time, his alma mater had also offered him the head coach position. His decision in favor of the University of Utah was made against the background of the longstanding sporting rivalry between the two universities and his own playing career with the BYU Cougars .
Kyle Whittingham is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He is married and has two sons and two daughters. His older son Tyler played football for the Utah Utes between 2009 and 2011.
Sporting successes and awards
Kyle Whittingham won the WAC Conference Championship four times as an active player with the BYU Cougars between 1978 and 1981 and the Holiday Bowl in the postseason in 1980 and 1981 . In addition, he was elected to the All-Conference Team in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 1981 and was named Defensive Player of the Year . In 2008 he was inducted into the Holiday Bowl Hall of Fame .
As head coach, he won with the Utah Utes in January 2005 the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) counting Fiesta Bowl , for which the team had qualified after an undefeated 2004 season. Since the coaching change from Urban Meyer to Kyle Whittingham took place after the end of the regular season and before the bowl game, both are considered to be co-head coaches for the Fiesta Bowl. After another unbeaten season in 2008 and winning the championship of the Mountain West Conference , Kyle Whittingham won with the team in January 2009 in the Sugar Bowl , which is also part of the BCS, against the favored team of the Alabama Crimson Tide from the University of Alabama . The Utah Utes thus ended the 2008/2009 season with the best placement in their history, a second place behind the Florida Gators as national champions.
For this achievement, Kyle Whittingham was named Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association and the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in 2008 when they received the Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards .
literature
- Head Coach Kyle Whittingham. In: 2011 Utah Football Media Guide. University of Utah, Salt Lake City 2011, pp. 66/67
- Fred and Kyle Whittingham. In: Patrick Sheltra: 100 Things Utes Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Triumph Books, Chicago 2011, ISBN 1-60-078597-2 , pp. 63-65
Web links
- Kyle Whittingham Profile - The Official Athletic Site of the University of Utah (English, with picture)
- College Football Data Warehouse: All-Time Coaching Records Season Statistics as Head Coach
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Whittingham, Kyle |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American college football coach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 21, 1959 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | San Luis Obispo |