Hours after Kyle Whittingham took the job to become the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines on a five-year contract, the head coach has made a decision on coaching Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Whittingham will not coach Utah in their bowl game, instead electing to get to work with the Wolverines. That means coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley will take over the Utes in the bowl game next week.
Whittingham stepped aside as the Utah head coach earlier this month, giving way to his replacement-in-waiting Morgan Scalley to take over, but that was set to begin at the start of the 2026 season. But at the time, it was clear this was not exclusively Whittingham’s decision, as he, and those around him, were not calling it a flat-out retirement. Scalley joined the staff in 2007 and has served as DC for the past 10 seasons.
Utah finished the season 10-2 and third in the Big 12, with those two losses against Texas Tech (34-10) and in-state rival BYU (24-21). In 21 seasons, Whittingham went 177-88 at Utah (9-9 in the Big 12).
Utah will take on Nebraska in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl on December 31st, with kick off set for 2:30 p.m. CT. The Utes are a heavy 14-point favorite over the Huskers.
