'I'm back': Kyle Whittingham staying put, announces return as head coach for 21st season

SALT LAKE CITY — As Kyle Whittingham roamed the sidelines at FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando in the closing minutes of the game — the team's last contest of a tough 2024 season — a small chorus of Utah fans near the sideline broke out into a Whittingham chant.

The belief was Whittingham had coached his last game — or so was the prevailing thought given his recent comments about needing to include head coach in-waiting Morgan Scalley more in the team's operations, among other reasons — and the fans wanted to do their small part to honor the man who had called the shots for the last 20 years as head coach.

Minutes after the game, Whittingham declined to talk about his future plans in a postgame press conference, simply saying that he wanted the focus to be on the players and the season-ending win.

But days after the 2024 season officially came to a close, Whittingham formally announced his return for another season at Utah.

The longtime Utah coach will enter his 21st season as the man in charge, and the 32nd year coaching at the university he's made home for nearly half his life.

Whittingham said before the 2024 season started that he was taking his decision to stay at Utah on a "day-by-day" basis, leaving the option always on the table. He added that as long as he was still having "fun," he'd still consider coaching at Utah.

"As far as energy, I feel great," Whittingham told media ahead of the UCF game. "I mean, I don't have any — it's not like I'm beat down; the season's been a beat down mentally, but physically and just day-to-day, got plenty of gas left in the tank."

But how long he continues to coach remains the biggest question, with no clear immediate answer.

For Whittingham, though, the hope is to have another run at a conference title before he calls it quits. That was expected to be the 2024 season when Utah was picked to win the Big 12 in the school's first season in a new conference. But the team ended the season with a 5-7 record amid another injury-laden year.

Whittingham previously described the 2024 season as one of the most difficult of his tenure.

Everything changed for Utah after veteran quarterback Cam Rising suffered an injury to his throwing hand midway through the second quarter of the school's second game of the season. Rising eventually returned weeks later, but suffered another season-ending injury just minutes into the game.

It all led to an inept offense that struggled to put points on the board despite arguably one of Whittingham's best overall offensive rosters. Longtime offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig eventually resigned from his position midway through the season in hopes to give the team a "new voice."

Nearly a week after Utah closed out its season, Whittingham hired former BYU quarterback Jason Beck to be the team's newest offensive coordinator, with hopes that his RPO-based offense would provide a spark for the upcoming season.

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