One year ago, Kyle Whittingham walked off the muddy field in Orlando, Florida, officially ending the hardest season of his career.
“Pleasure to coach, even if we’re far from where we wanted to be,” Whittingam said after that game. “Way different season than we had hoped for.”
Twelve months later — following a 31-21 victory over Kansas and a 10-2 finish to the regular season — the Utes head coach ended his 21st regular season wearing a grin and flashing the “U” toward a crowd of Utah fans, as he strolled to the tunnel.
The No. 13 Utes now have a bowl game of some sort to look forward to, unlike in 2024. And if you ask the program’s winningest head coach, the ship has been righted.
“It’s huge. And I thought about maybe last year being the last go around, but I couldn’t — as I’ve said many times — I just couldn’t stomach ending on that,“ Whittingham said postgame on Friday.
Utah rediscovered its offensive identity after finishing second-to-last in total offense in the Big 12 last season.
(Charlie Riedel | AP) Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham watches during the first half of his team's game against Kansas on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Lawrence, Kan.
The Utes now rank second in their 16-team league in total offense after Whittingham hired new offensive coordinator Jason Beck in the offseason. Utah also averages 478.6 yards per game, good for the sixth-best average nationally.
A year ago, star quarterback Cam Rising quietly left the program and medically retired from football after missing most of the season with injuries. Now, the Utes have two potential starting quarterbacks on their roster with remaining eligibility in freshman Byrd Ficklin and Devon Dampier.
Things are certainly better in Salt Lake City.
“It’s huge,” Dampier said following Utah’s win on Friday. “When I got here in January, we were not happy with how last year went. A turnaround needed to happen. We demanded it. Every day, coaches demanded out of us. The players, we demanded it, and captains and all that stuff.”
Heading into December, there’s still one question that remains:
Who will be the program’s head coach in 2026?
Whittingham could either opt to retire after this season or return for another campaign in 2026. The former would make defensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley the program’s next head man.
Whittingham has until Dec. 5, per the terms of his contract, to notify the Utah Board of Trustees of his decision. But retirement was the last thing on his mind after Utah’s 10th regular-season win.
“Right now is not the time to really comment on that or even think about it yet,” Whittingham said. “But yeah, everyone knows that’s out there, and we’ll see what happens. But right now, I’m having a heck of a time coaching this team. Was a fun year and not quite over yet. Got a little more football left to coach.”
During Saturday’s slate of games, Utah head coach laughed and said he was “gonna be spread eagle on the couch laying there just watching college football and seeing what happens — maybe clothed, maybe not" and take some time to “decompress and to reflect.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham celebrates the Utes win over the Kansas State Wildcats in Big-2 Football action at Rice-Eccles Stadium, on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025.
Regardless of when and how Whittingham makes his announcement, the Utes are still headed in the right direction.
“We needed to ... get things headed back in the right direction,” Whittingham said, “and I believe we’ve certainly done that this year.”