Fox Sports writer Stewart Mandel released a ranking of the top 20 coaches in c illegal football for the 2016 season, and he had Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham at No. 17. Whittingham was one of only three Pac-12 coaches to make the list along with Stanford head coach David Shaw (No. 7) and Washington head coach Chris Petersen (No. 12). The top five coaches were Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, TCU head coach Gary Patterson, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio, and Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Whittingham has faced off against several other top coaches.