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Anyone who had been paying attention knew this was coming.

Not just from last year, but from more than a decade ago.

Morgan Scalley as defensive coordinator at Utah.

It's an obvious move for the Utes, as Scalley had been a DC-in-waiting from his playing days, accelerated more when Kalani Sitake was running the defense and Scalley, as safeties coach, was collecting scraps of information, jamming them into the near and far reaches of his mind, preparing exactly for his day of ascension.

That day came on Monday, when John Pease, who had coached for 50 years, retired and Kyle Whittingham turned his baby over to, as Whittingham so naturally would say it, "the next man up."

Scalley is that man.

He paid tribute to Whittingham, Sitake and Pease after the announcement, thanking them for educating him and giving him this new opportunity. When Sitake left for Oregon State before last season, there were some — including Scalley — who thought he might immediately be promoted to the top defensive spot. Instead, Pease came out of retirement to run the defense for one more turn, all as Scalley watched a little longer, learned a little more.

Then, Pease decided it was time to duck out down a back alley — he had retired and returned twice before — for a final time and let the eager Scalley take the helm. Maybe the best quote ever uttered about Pease came from his wife, Chris, when she said: "Living with John when he doesn't have enough to do is like being in a phone booth with a full-grown golden retriever."

Well. The big dog is back in the booth.

And Scalley will run free off the leash, at least as free as the defensive overlord — Whittingham — will allow. But Scalley, who not only played under Whittingham, when the head coach was the Utes' coordinator, but also coached on his staff for 10 years, knows the drill at Utah. Stop the run first, then let the speed in the back do the rest. That's been the mantra at Utah since Fred Whittingham Sr. was giving the orders, and it hasn't changed.

Still, Scalley will utilize his acumen and charisma and powers of observation and persuasion not only to give the defense a few new twists, but to ensure his players implement them properly. He utilized both as a player when Ron McBride was the head coach and, thereafter, when Urban Meyer took over.

Scalley was one of a good number of players who were upset when McBride was sacked, even starting a petition to save the coach's job. He was that kind of active and had that kind of influence on his teammates. When the new guy took over, Meyer — nobody's fool — recognized Scalley's intelligence and leadership qualities and empowered him all the more. Smart move. Scalley became a captain, the defensive quarterback from his safety position on that great 2004 Ute team, reading and recognizing and barking out signals to his guys before plays, having learned enough about the defense to know what every player on that side should be doing and where they should slot themselves to do it.

When Scalley first arrived at Utah, in 1998, he wanted to be a running back. After an LDS mission, coaches pulled him in different directions. One wanted him at wide receiver, another at defensive back. Secondary coach Bill Busch said back then: "He's a leader on our team because of a combination of his effort level, his physical talents, and his intelligence. You draw something up for him on the board just one time, and he gets it. That's rare."

He was an academic All-American. Teammate Dave Revill called Scalley "the hardest worker on the team." Along with the intelligence and the diligence was fortitude. Scalley had enough of it to overcome severe migraines that blurred his vision and caused him to feel as though "someone was digging a knife into [my] skull." Overcome them, he did.

His morphing into a coach, if he didn't choose something more important, was … inevitable.

Ten seasons later, he's where he figured he would be, already having coached the safeties, led the Ute recruiting efforts and mentored special teams. If he succeeds as defensive coordinator, the next natural step will be … let's not get ahead of ourselves.

On top of Scalley's abilities is his specific, crazy devotion to Utah football. When he was tearing apart prep defenses as a running back at Highland High School, he had zeroed in on playing at one school — you know where. And that's where he's remained. In modern big-money college football, that may not mean much, but it means something to Scalley. And it could affect, under the most promising of circumstances, his future coaching path and plans.

Either way, Morgan Scalley will thrive as Utah's defensive coordinator. A blind man could have seen that in 2004.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.