Whenever Kyle Whittingham decides to retire, the University of Utah has its next football coach picked out.
Utah announced defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley as the successor to head coach Kyle Whittingham on Monday morning.
“Utah Football and Utah Athletics have always been home to me and my family, and I am honored to receive this distinction,” Scalley said. “... I remain committed to my continued growth as a coach and person, and as a member of the amazing University of Utah community. Our staff is excited to start a new era of Utah Football in the Big 12 this fall under Coach Whittingham and to continue the traditions that have become a part of our proud history.”
The contract will be a five-year agreement with a base salary of at least $5 million per season. The figure maxes out at $5.4 million on or after a potential Whittingham departure date of Jan. 16, 2028.
“Coach Whittingham has built Utah Football into one of the nation’s elite programs through a strong culture, tradition and exceptional student-athletes, and he has been clear about his intentions of continuing to lead this incredible Utah Football program as we move into the Big 12 Conference and into the new expanded College Football Playoff,” Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said in a statement.
“However, we must plan for the future, and Coach Whittingham and I both strongly believe that that future lies with Morgan Scalley. Morgan has played a critical role in our success through his embodiment of our core values and his leadership, and I have witnessed first hand his growth as a coach and as a person over the last several years. He is an elite coach who has been trained by the best — Coach Whittingham — and whenever it is time for Morgan to take the helm, I have no doubt that our program will continue to have success.”
While this announcement makes Whittingham’s successor clear, there is no timetable for when Utah’s head coach, who has been with the program since 1994, will retire. He has been on the record about not wanting to coach past 65 years old in the past, but Whittingham has softened on that stance with his 65th birthday approaching in November.
Despite Scalley’s announcement, Utah’s head coach is under contract with the Utes until 2027, where he would earn a base salary of $6.5 million. Whittingham is also guaranteed the right to become a “special assistant to the athletics director” when he decides to retire.
That position would be part of a five-year agreement that will pay $995,000 for each year.
“Morgan Scalley is an exceptional football coach and his naming as the head coach in waiting at the University of Utah is a testament to that,” Whittingham. “It is a distinction he has earned not only because of his outstanding coaching abilities, but also because of his selfless dedication to the program as well as to the Utah Athletics family. … When the time comes for a transition in the leadership of our program, we know that Morgan will carry on those traditions the Utah Football way.”
Scalley will begin his ninth season as Utah’s defensive coordinator, where he has led Utah’s defenses to top-half finishes in the Pac 12 for seven consecutive seasons. He has also coached 29 players into the NFL since taking over as defensive coordinator.
This is not the first time Scalley has been named the Utes’ coach in waiting. Scalley had the title stripped from him when he was suspended from the program in 2020 after a text message surfaced of him using a racial slur in 2013.
“In 2013 I made a terrible mistake,” Scalley said in a statement released by the school in 2020. “I used a racial slur in a text message. This language is offensive and hurtful to not only the African-American community, but to all. Immediately after sending it, I apologized to the recipient and his family. I am also heartbroken over the potential breach of trust with my fellow coaches, and with the young men in our program, both past and present.”
