Utah Football Makes Unusual Move by Tabbing Coach in Waiting

Conference realignment has made July 1 a significant day in college football. The SEC officially welcomed Texas and Oklahoma on Monday, the same day the ACC brought in Cal, Stanford, and SMU. Utah and a few other Pac-12 programs must wait until Aug. 1 to officially transition into new leagues, but that didn’t stop the Utes from making news about their football program’s future.

Utah athletic director Mark Harlan shared that defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley received a promotion in November, tabbing him as the successor to Kyle Whittingham.

That’s a little weird, right? They made this move in November, but are just now letting us know. That’s odd. Secondly, when was the last time you heard someone use the phrase “head coach in waiting?”

Formalizing succession plans is a key theme in Game of Thrones, but it hasn’t been around college football in a decade for a myriad of reasons. First and foremost, these plans rarely work. Jimbo Fisher followed Bobby Bowden and brought a National Championship to Florida State within four years. Outside of that, there are more failures than success stories.

Mack Brown tabbed Will Muschamp as the head coach in waiting at Texas, only for Muschamp to bolt for Florida before Brown stepped down. Oklahoma’s pursuit of offensive coordinator Joker Phillips persuaded Mitch Barnhart to make him the coach in waiting behind Rich Brooks. It only took three years for Kentucky to spiral into a 2-win team.

The coach in waiting phenomenon was not eliminated by Joker’s shortcomings. The NCAA changed a rule that effectively ended the practice. In 2010 the NCAA placed the same recruiting restrictions on a head coach in waiting that it does for a head coach, limiting the number of allowed off-campus recruiting visits.

Now there’s a loophole that doesn’t handicap a coaching staff’s recruiting department. Last week the NCAA passed the “unlimited coach rule.” It primarily gives more freedom to quality control coaches, but there was something else tagged onto it. These “off-the-field assistants” can be designated as recruiters. This ensures Utah will not be behind the 8-ball, even though Scalley will be limited in his recruiting capacity.

About Utah Head Coach in Waiting Morgan Scalley

This is an odd choice for the Big 12 bound program, but things run a little differently in Utah.

Kyle Whittingham has been a part of the Utah football program since 1994 and the head coach since 2004. Scalley was Mountain West Co-Defensive Player of the Year for the Utes in 2004. He never really left Salt Lake City. He was hired by Whittingham in 2006 and has been there ever since.

Scalley has served as the Utes’ defensive coordinator for the last nine seasons. For comparison’s sake, Brad White is one of the longest-tenured DCs in the SEC and he is entering his sixth season this fall. Whittingham’s assistants average 7.4 seasons with the program. Things are a little different in Utah.