SALT LAKE CITY – In the summer of 2014, a college football website listed 14 coaches on the hot seat, those most in danger of losing their jobs.
Kyle Whittingham – still transitioning Utah from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 – was No. 14, and probably for good reason. Just five years removed from a 13-0 season, Utah had missed a bowl game two years in a row. In three years of Pac-12 competition, the Utes were 9-18 in conference action.
The locals started to wonder if it were time for a change.
"Coach Whittingham had had a ton of success in the Mountain West and then they had the undefeated season, so the level of expectation was really high, and probably too high when Utah entered the Pac-12,'' said Frank Dolce, the team's radio analyst and a former Utah quarterback.