Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham has a busy day today.
No, it’s not orchestrating the Utes’ practice. In fact, Whittingham is going to miss practice to be the main attraction at the ESPN campus in Bristol, Conn.
No. 12 Utah (8-0, 4-0) heads into its bye week with a full head of steam after Saturday’s impressive romp over Colorado State, 49-16.
Now that BYU has fallen out of the spotlight as the Bowl Championship Series-busting Cinderellas, Whittingham’s Utes have taken the Cougars’ place and are now at the forefront of the BCS discussion.
Luckily for Whittingham, the Utes and the fan base, the bye week was the selling point to the fifth-year head coach to make his way to the East Coast for a day filled with assorted ESPN interviews.
“The only reason I’m going is for the program, to represent the program,” Whittingham said. “I debated on whether or not to go, but it’s a great opportunity.”
Although the Utes will train as usual today, Whittingham’s two offensive coordinators will run the practice because of his invitation.
“I’m going to have to miss one practice to do this,” Whittingham said. “If it wasn’t a bye week, it would be a no-brainer. There’s no chance I would have the opportunity to go.”
Whittingham said this would be the first practice he will have missed.
In this day and age of ever-expanding multimedia outlets, this could be one of the best ways for the Utes to get their name out to the national spectrum of college football fans who don’t know a whole lot about the U and its program.
“It should be a way to represent the program, the university,” Whittingham said. “We’re kinda tucked away here in the Rocky Mountains.”
This won’t be the first coach to appear on a plethora of ESPN programs this year. Most recently, Ohio State’s Jim Tressel, Missouri’s Gary Pinkel and Georgia’s Mark Richt are a few notables who have made guest appearances. Whittingham’s season has been impressive to say the least. A perfect record, coinciding with a top-10 defense and an offense that averages close to 40 points a game8212;things couldn’t be any better for his program going into his media day with the most well-known sports network in the country.
“It’s exciting and very good for our players to be recognized,” Whittingham said.
There is no question this will be a memorable experience for the Utah head coach. Perhaps the ability to get his program’s name out will be a ripple effect down the line, both on the current roster and for the future.
“I think this is a football team that knows how to work when it’s time to work,” Whittingham said.
Although he will be accompanying the likes of TV analysts such as College GameDay’s Kirk Herbstreit, the multi-talented Mike Tirico and “SportsCenter” anchor Scott Van Pelt, Whittingham said he feels his appearance will be a one-time deal.
When it comes time to retire the headset, Whittingham said, “I’ll probably be on a lake somewhere.”
Tyler CobbUtah coach Kyle Whittingham will miss his first practice today. Instead of practice Whittingham will be talking about the Utah football program in Bristol Conn. during a number of ESPN interviews.