Here’s a story about two football men who worked together but who fell apart, two sound football minds who could not hear each other through all the noise, but who could hear clearly enough when it stopped.
And stop it did, for Kyle Whittingham and Troy Taylor, to the benefit of both.
Whittingham as the respected, two-time Pac-12 champion coach at Utah, Taylor as … what’s this, the new coach at Stanford?
That’s right.
“I am thrilled to be the new head coach at Stanford,” Taylor said.
Not so long ago at Utah, Whittingham was the lead dog with his nose turned into the wind, Taylor in the second row, whose nose, like Pinocchio’s, grew longer and longer as he stepped just a bit out of sync but publicly sang his leader’s praises.
The Utah head coach hired Taylor as his offensive coordinator a fistful of years ago, his ninth new OC in 11 seasons. And just like the coordinators who came directly before him, it didn’t last. It couldn’t last. It wouldn’t last.
Whittingham was Whittingham and Taylor was … expendable.
Banished to become the head coach at Sacramento State, a job that paid him considerably less than what he’d been making at Utah. But he had to go. Taylor had thoughts about offensive football that were … uh, offensive to Whittingham, and vice versa. That last bit could be a slight overstatement.
In 2018, the former was encouraged to go elsewhere. The latter was going nowhere. Everyone on the inside tried to make it seem to everyone on the outside like it was all hunky-dory. Grins and chuckles all around. But they whispered that it wasn’t. Taylor wanted to run the offense, but he didn’t want the offense to run.
Not like Whittingham did.
Taylor had said in the weeks leading up to his exit that Utah was the place for him and that Whittingham was the mentor for him, all of which was poppycock.
“Kyle is a guy who just wants production (true),” said Taylor. “He doesn’t really care how you get it done (false). … I’d be crazy not to take advantage of that kind of mind (true). He gives input and it’s always good input (um …). He just wants to be successful, like all high achievers (true). He lets me do my thing (false).”
Taylor added: “I really like driving this offense (false). I like watching guys improve (true). I want to stay here (true, kind of). I love this place (true). I love the people (true). I love working for coach Whit (false).”
Coaches say what they have to say.
The problem was, Whittingham was narrow, Taylor wide. Whittingham was compact, Taylor expansive. Whittingham wanted to ground and pound, Taylor wanted to cook and create.
Thing is, neither of them was wrong. Both had a vision, together it just turned into double vision. The combo-pack wasn’t horrible … no, it was good. it just might have been better.
And it got better for both coaches when Taylor left, Andy Ludwig returned, and Whittingham was more at peace, while Taylor put the pieces together.
The subsequent years made both of them right. They couldn’t have been more right. And they grew more and more like one another.
Whittingham continued to qualify for Pac-12 title games, winning the last two, gaining nice shiny trophies and making consecutive Rose Bowls.
Taylor coached at Sac State, won championships there, gained acclaim, qualified for FCS playoffs, was named FCS coach of the year, and, as of Saturday, was replacing the esteemed-but-unfortunate-of-late David Shaw.
Interestingly enough, this past season, during which Sacramento State went 12-1, it was almost perfectly balanced in approach to offensive football. The Hornets gained 3,162 rushing yards, 3,335 passing yards. Just as interesting, Utah also was balanced, with 2,863 rushing yards, 3,282 passing — with the Rose Bowl yet to play.
The split at Utah, then, was the best thing that could have happened for he who was fired and he who — let’s say it all plain here — did the firing.
Don’t you love it when the story ends with a smile?
Except it hasn’t really ended yet, maybe it’s getting closer for Whittingham, but not for Taylor. We’ll see what the 54-year-old can do at Stanford. But it’s his book to write. He’s been elevated to the lead position. It’s his nose out front. He’s the guy who wants production. Like all high achievers, he wants to be successful.
Only now, he can do it his way, whatever that way might have evolved to be.
