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SALT LAKE CITY — Expect Kyle Whittingham’s coaching tree to add another branch in a few years, with Morgan Scalley joining the list as a head coach.
The difference this time, unlike the other three, is Scalley likely won’t have to move in pursuit of his own program. The former star Utah safety and current defensive coordinator is in line to become the head coach at his alma mater, joining former Whittingham assistants Jay Hill (Weber State), Kalani Sitake (BYU) and Gary Andersen (currently at Utah State).
Last week, to ward off programs interested in hiring the rising coach away from Utah, athletic director Mark Harlan and Whittingham announced an amendment to Scalley’s contract, which already pays him more than $800,000. In addition to more years and money, Scalley may have received some type of assurance of being promoted upon Whittingham’s retirement.
When I asked if he had any discussions with the Utah administration about being the head coach-in-waiting, Scalley repeated twice: “Not going to discuss that.”
Sometimes, the words of a sentence have deeper meaning than the literal statement.
With deep ties to his home state, Scalley obviously would love to stay put for his first head coaching job. The former Highland High star has only coached at Utah since being named the Mountain West Conference co-defensive player of the year during the undefeated 2004 season.
Starting as an administrative assistant in 2006, the father of three children worked his way up the ladder as a graduate assistant before becoming a full-time coach in 2008. While retaining the position of safeties coach, he became the coordinator in 2016.
Nobody in the history of Utah athletics is more Red than Scalley.
“I love this place. I love this university. I love my family,” he said after a recent practice.
“I see something special in this program, where we can head. There’s really no reason to leave this program right now.”
Actually, the program is in great shape, having won the Pac-12 South Division the last two consecutive seasons. This year’s team is 11-2 ranked No. 11 bound for the Alamo Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
Up to seven players on Utah’s defense are legitimate prospects to play in the NFL next season. The personable Scalley is also known as an outstanding recruiter.
“He’s a guy that’s obviously a hot commodity and had many options (and the contract amendment) put everything to rest,” Whittingham said. “Recruits know that he’s going to be here for the long term, which is huge for us.”
Having turned 60 last month, Whittingham has publicly stated a desire to leave coaching before hitting his mid-60s. He has a 10-year contract awaiting basically as an ambassador to the athletic department upon his retirement from Utah.
Scalley recently turned 40, meaning he could become the coach at about the same age as Whittingham was when he succeeded Urban Meyer after the 2004 season.
In his second year as athletic director, Harlan gave Scalley a strong endorsement during an interview on my sports radio show on The Zone Sports Network. He called Scalley “an incredible option” to replace Whittingham.
“It’s all about ‘A’ people and having ‘A’ people in the organization in all spots that you can, and he’s one of those ‘A’ people,” Harlan said. “When you have one, you keep people off of him. Whitt and I came together on that one really quick. Really excited we’re keeping the band together, so to speak.”
As an outsider with no connection to Utah until he took over after Chris Hill retired, Harlan admitted being aware of the thought that Scalley was merely gravy-training off of Whittingham’s reputation as an outstanding defensive coach. But Harlan quickly dismissed that notion as he witnessed Scalley’s acumen.
To keep a coordinator from bypassing an opportunity to become a head coach, Harlan likely had an interesting conversation with Scalley.
“It goes back to Morgan and what he represents and, frankly, how good he is,” Harlan said. “I’ve just been so impressed with him from the moment I got here.
“Just being very candid, maybe the narrative coming in here is that it was Whitt’s defense. So maybe that was my impression coming in. Certainly, Whitt’s philosophies are all over, but I saw clearly that Morgan is running that show.”
