Kyle Whittingham Position: Head Coach Experience: 5th Year Alma Mater: Brigham Young (1984)

Year at Utah: 5th
Career Record: 37-14 (4 years)
Bowl Record: 4-0

In four years as Utah's head coach, Kyle Whittingham has won 73-percent of his games, gone 4-0 in bowl games, led Utah to its best season in 115 years of football, engineered the biggest win in school history and been named the National Coach of the Year.

The best news is that Whittingham will be following his own act. On Dec. 29, 2008, five days before Utah soundly beat Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, he signed a five-year contract extension with the Utes.

For his role in Utah's 13-0 record and No. 2 national ranking, Whittingham was honored by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards committee as the 2008 National Coach of the Year. The 2008 Utes--the only FBS team to go the entire season without a loss--received 16 first-place votes and 1,519 total points in the AP poll, trailing only Florida, which won the BCS National Championship game. It was the best ranking in school history, as was Utah's No. 4 final USA Today finish. Utah capped its remarkable year with a 31-17 Sugar Bowl rout over an Alabama team that had spent five weeks at No. 1.

In the first 13-win season in school history, Utah beat four top 25 opponents, among them two that finished in the top 10. An undefeated league record helped Whittingham win Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year honors.

His 37-14 career ledger includes a 7-3 advantage over BCS schools and bowl wins against Georgia Tech (2005), Tulsa (2006), Navy (2007) and Alabama (2009/2008 season).

Utah's Sugar Bowl upset marked the second time the school earned a BCS bowl invitation and came away with a convincing victory. Whittingham was transitioning from defensive coordinator to head coach when the 2004 Utes trounced Pittsburgh 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl.

Utah owns the longest current bowl win streak in the nation at eight games and Whittingham has had a hand in all of them. Prior to assuming the head coaching duties in 2005, Whittingham was the Ute defensive coordinator for bowl wins over Fresno State (1999), USC (2001) and Southern Miss (2003), and the co-head coach in Utah's BCS-busting 2005 Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh.

He came to Utah as the defensive line coach in 1994 and was promoted to defensive coordinator a year later. In his 15-year tenure, Utah has logged a 123-55 record and played in nine bowl games (winning eight). Since 1994, Utah has been ranked 50 weeks in the AP poll and boasts three top-10 finishes (No. 10 in 1994, No. 4 in 2004 and No. 2 in 2008).

On an individual level, Whittingham has coached four All-Americans, including three consensus first-team selections: defensive lineman Luther Elliss (1994), defensive back Eric Weddle (2006) and place kicker Louie Sakoda (2008). Sakoda, the only unanimous Consensus All-American in Utah football history, is also the only Ute ever to win major first-team All-America honors at two different positions. He was a first-team punter in 2007 (FWAA) and a first-team kicker in 2008 (Consensus). Morgan Scalley was a second-team All-America defensive back in 2004.

Whittingham has seen his players win conference Player of the Year honors on defense, special teams and offense. A Ute won MWC Defensive Player of the Year three years running in Scalley (2004) and Weddle (2005-06), while Sakoda was a three-time MWC Special Teams Player of the Year (2006-08). Quarterback Brian Johnson was named the 2008 MWC Offensive Player of the Year. Whittingham has mentored 36 first-team all-conference players as either a defensive coach or head coach at Utah.

In addition, a Ute has won the MVP award in all four bowl games with Whittingham at the helm. In 2005, Weddle was named Defensive MVP and Travis LaTendresse Offensive MVP of the Emerald Bowl; in 2006, Sakoda was the Armed Forces Bowl MVP; in 2007, Brian Johnson was the Offensive MVP and Joe Dale the Defensive MVP of the Poinsettia Bowl; and Johnson repeated a year later, winning MVP honors at the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

Whittingham has sent 27 players to the NFL--16 as draft picks and 11 as free agents. Whittingham protégés on active NFL rosters are Freddie Brown, Martail Burnett, Jonathan Fanene, Quinton Ganther, Bradon Godfrey, Ma'ake Kemoeatu, Paul Kruger, John Madsen, Brice McCain, Sione Pouha, Brett Ratliff, Josh Savage, Sean Smith, Paul Soliai, Kelly Talavou and Weddle.

As a first-year head coach in 2005, Whittingham inherited a team missing many of the biggest stars off the 12-0 2004 team, including five draft picks (among them No. 1 NFL draft pick and Heisman Trophy finalist Alex Smith). Nonetheless Utah went on to beat No. 24 ranked Georgia Tech in the Emerald Bowl. A year later, his 2006 team capped an 8-5 season with a win over Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl. In 2007, Utah (9-4) overcame numerous injuries to win eight of its last nine games and beat Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Whittingham's Utah legacy began in 1994, when he coached the defensive line for a team that led the league in every defensive category.

In 1995, he became the defensive coordinator, replacing his father Fred, who left for a job in the NFL. Utah led the conference in total defense three times under his direction (2000, 2001 and 2002). In 2002, Utah ranked No. 1 in the MWC in total defense, scoring defense and rushing defense. Utah led the league in scoring defense four times from 1999-2005 (ranking No. 2 in 2003, 2004 and 2005). The Ute defense recorded 14 top-20 statistical rankings from 1995-2004.

Whittingham began his coaching career in 1985-86 as a graduate assistant at Brigham Young. He went from there to the College of Eastern Utah as the defensive coordinator in 1987. Next came Idaho State, where he spent six years (1988-93), his last two as the defensive coordinator.

A linebacker for Brigham Young from 1978-81, Whittingham earned first-team all-WAC and WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1981. He played in the Hula and Japan Bowls, then launched a professional career that included stints with the Denver Broncos (1982 training camp) and the U.S. Football League (USFL) Denver Gold (1983) and New Orleans Breakers (1984). He played on the Los Angeles Rams' replacement squad in 1987.

Whittingham graduated from BYU in 1984 and received his master's in 1987. Born Nov. 21, 1959, he was raised in Provo, Utah. He is married to the former Jamie Daniels. They have four children: Tyler, Melissa, Alex and Kylie.

WHITTINGHAM'S HEAD COACHING CAREER

Year	School	Overall Record	MWC Record	Bowl Game
2005	Utah	7-5	4-4	Emerald (Georgia Tech)
2006	Utah	8-5	5-3	Armed Forces (Tulsa)
2007	Utah	9-4	5-3	Poinsettia (Navy)
2008	Utah	13-0	8-0	Sugar (Alabama)
Totals	Utah	37-14	22-10	4-0

WHITTINGHAM'S COACHING CHRONOLOGY

*Co-head coach at the 2005 Fiesta Bowl

FROM WHITT TO THE NFL

Player	NFL Team	Position
Jesse Boone	Cincinnati (free agent), Oakland	Offensive Line
Andre Dyson	Tennessee (2nd round), Seattle, NY Jets	Defensive Back
Luther Elliss	Detroit (1st round), Denver	Defensive Line
Jonathan Fanene	Cincinnati (7th round)	Defensive Line
Steve Fifita	Miami (free agent)	Defensive Line
John Frank	Philadelphia (6th round), N.Y. Giants	Defensive Line
Quinton Ganther	Tennessee (7th round)	Running Back
Phil Glover	Tennessee (7th round), Indianapolis	Linebacker
Bradon Godfrey	Atlanta (free agent)	Wide Receiver
Ma'ake Kemoeatu	Baltimore, Carolina (free agent)	Defensive Line
John Madsen	Oakland (free agent)	Wide Receiver
Arnold Parker	Seattle (free agent), San Francisco	Defensive Back
Sione Pouha	N.Y. Jets (3rd round)	Defensive Line
Antwoine Sanders	Baltimore (7th round)	Defensive Back
Lauvale Sape	Buffalo (6th round)	Defensive Line
Josh Savage	Tampa Bay (free agent), Tennessee	Defensive Line
Richard Seals	N.Y. Jets (free agent), New Orleans, Buffalo	Defensive Line
Paul Soliai	Miami (4th round)	Defensive Line
Pene Talamaivao	Buffalo (free agent), San Diego	Defensive Line
Kelly Talavou	Atlanta (free agent)	Defensive Line
Spencer Toone	Tennessee (7th round)	Linebacker
Eric Weddle	San Diego (2nd round)	Defensive Back

WHITTINGHAM vs ALL OPPONENTS

Air Force	3-1
Alabama	1-0
Arizona	1-0
Boise State	0-1
Brigham Young	2-2
Colorado State	3-1
Georgia Tech	1-0
Louisville	1-0
Michigan	1-0
Navy	1-0
New Mexioc	2-2
North Carolina	0-1
Northern Arizona	1-0
Oregon State	1-1
San Diego State	3-1
TCU	3-1
Tulsa	1-0
UCLA	1-1
UNLV	3-1
Utah State	4-0
Weber State	1-0
Wyoming	3-1
TOTALS	37-14