This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Stop us if you've heard some of this before:

• The Utes have hired a new offensive coordinator.

• That new offensive coordinator says he's been given full freedom to install the attack he wants, which includes using the forward pass.

• The new offense will be aggressive, targeting all parts of the field.

That all sounds good for Utah football, a program that has proved it can be competitive in the Pac-12, and has not proved it can win it. However, it's not as though none of these things have been said previously, through the march to what has become a ridiculous trend of nine offensive leadership setups in 10 seasons. The offensive coordinator position at Utah has become the punch line to a worn joke about the weather: If you don't like the OC at Utah, wait five minutes and it will change.

If somewhere there is rock-steady stability in the college coaching business, it's not running Kyle Whittingham's offense.

In the run-up to last season, Whittingham, after overseeing less-than-progressive offenses of the past, was asked if he was anti-passing. His answer: "I'm not anti-passing, I'm anti-losing."

And like other years, the offensive coordinator of the day said what he always said: "We want to be a balanced offense. Balance to me is that the defense has to respect your ability to use the whole field. So, we've got to spread the field vertically and horizontally. … We might throw it out to the guy in the flat. We might throw it deep. We're going to hit crossing routes over the middle. If we can do that, we can really loosen things up. We can definitely be more aggressive. We know we have to be able to throw it."

Those words were spoken by the guy who just got fired.

And the guy who got hired on Monday told The Tribune: "We try to be aggressive and attack all parts of the field. It's a little different than what some people are used to."

Troy Taylor may well be given the latitude to do what he does, what he did at Folsom High School near Sacramento, what he did for one season at Eastern Washington, namely, pump oxygen into whatever fire burns where he's at. At EWU, the fire was already raging. At Utah, there are mere ambers glowing. He'll want to go up-tempo and try to go throttle-up with the Utes, throwing the ball all over creation.

Taylor says he'll do it, and maybe he really will.

If he does, it will have been a long time coming.

And if he does, Whittingham will have to sign off on it, buy into it, butt out of it. He has to let go, let it be, come what may. That sounds funny to say, considering Whittingham's the boss and all, but he has to more than leave Taylor to his own devices, he has to clear the air, change the attitude, and pretty much remove himself from the process.

Either that or he has to transform the way he's thought for most of his time as a head coach.

No longer can there be the ominous, ever-present bearing of a defense-first, defense-protecting dark overlord. Whittingham has to go out of his way to encourage a more enlightened approach, even when it's 3rd-and-12 from his own 15-yard line. He has to back off the deeply carved line about not turning the ball over. If you put the ball in the air as often as Taylor likes to do that, there are going to be at least some turnovers. If Whittingham's head rotates on the sideline, projectile vomit flying, he'll undermine the reward-risk of what a fully opened offense offers.

Even this past season, when Whittingham attempted to take a more open-minded stance toward adding horsepower to his offense, he said: "That's what we lacked last year, was explosive plays. We're constantly trying to get to the point where we're getting more of those. Overall we'd like to be 50-50. If we can establish a 50-50 ratio with the run-pass, that's the ultimate."

Last year, Eastern Washington threw the ball 620 times. It ran the ball 442. It gained 5,614 yards through the air. It gained 1,800 on the ground. It scored 54 touchdowns passing. It scored 24 touchdowns rushing.

That last one is big, considering Utah's struggles in the red zone. The Utes scored 15 touchdowns via the pass, 26 via the run.

The hiring of Taylor, then, is either a revolutionary move by Whittingham, one that signals an authentic change of heart, or it is a move that will be wasted and watered down by traditions that die hard.

Novembers past argue in favor of the former. Whittingham is a smart man. He knows his defensive approach can make him and his teams respectable. It can't win him and them a Pac-12 title.

He's secure enough as a head coach to reach beyond the safety of finishing with eight or nine wins, of not embarrassing himself, but not winning a title and playing in some bowl game nobody cares about.

It is time for the Utes to channel more of Bill Walsh and less of Woody Hayes.

So, when Whittingham says, " … We are fortunate that Troy was interested in bringing [his] style of offense here to Utah," this time, for the first time in a long time, it's not so hard to believe him.

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