This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
John Pease said Monday that when Kyle Whittingham asked him if he'd be interested in becoming Utah's defensive coordinator, he didn't hesitate.
He certainly would.
But why didn't that conversation happen until Saturday night? Wednesday, Whittingham spoke for the first time about his coaching search and offered some — if not abundant — detail.
"It's tough to recruit and try to fill a staff out at the same time," said Whittingham, who watched Kalani Sitake and Ilaisa Tuiaki leave for Oregon State and then Dave Christensen accept a job at Texas A&M over the holidays.
Safeties coach Morgan Scalley was a tempting candidate, Whittingham said.
But, "when I had a chance to catch up with Coach Pease and talk to him and gauge his interest — which turned out to be very, very strong — I felt that that was the best thing for us at this point."
Scalley was rewarded for his service by being named special teams coordinator, assuming duties that the rankings suggest Whittingham himself excelled at this season. Scalley may remain recruiting coordinator — "He can multi-task," Whittingham said — but that job may fall to whomever Whittingham hires to become Utah's new tight ends coach. He hopes to have that position filled within two weeks, he said.
Whittingham was also asked about the wisdom of promoting both Aaron Roderick and Jim Harding to be offensive co-coordinators. That doesn't always work out, said the reporter.
"Yeah, it doesn't everywhere, but the single coordinator thing doesn't work all the time, either," Whittingham said.
He felt compelled, he said, to hire somebody who could continue the scheme implemented by Christensen last spring — a scheme the players are comfortable with — and that led him in-house.
Past co-coordinator iterations have not lasted. In 2010, Roderick teamed with current Fresno State offensive coordinator Dave Schramm, only to give way to Norm Chow, and in 2013, Dennis Erickson and Brian Johnson shared duties before Johnson left and Whittingham hired Christensen.
But Whittingham — like Harding and Christensen — doesn't foresee any particular problems. Roderick will be up in the box during the games and call plays, taking charge of the passing game, and Harding will roam the sidelines leading the run game and pass protections.
Roderick will remain quarterbacks coach, naturally, and Harding will still coach Utah's offensive line.
— Matthew Piper
Twitter: @matthew_piper