Take Lavell Edwards, mix in some Ron McBride and sprinkle in a little Urban Meyer and what have you got?
Perhaps a 600-pound football coach, although a pretty darn good one at that.
You might also get Kyle Whittingham, the first-year University of Utah football coach.
Whittingham, who took over the reins at Utah in December, has learned his craft under three of the best football coaches ever to come out of the state. Now he's taking all that knowledge and experience and looking to make his own mark as he embarks on the daunting task of keeping the Ute football program at its current high level.
The 45-year-old Whittingham fulfilled a long-time dream when he was named Utah's coach on Dec. 8. The announcement came after a two-day tug-of-war with his alma mater BYU, which also desperately wanted him to be its coach.
Four months later as he hits the three-quarter mark of his first spring practice as head man, Whittingham says he's pleased with the progress his team has made so far and feels at ease in his new position.
"Every day is a learning experience," he said. "But I've been around long enough that nothing has transpired that I didn't anticipate."
That's undoubtedly because of the training he has received over the past 25 years.
He played four years under Edwards and served as a graduate assistant to the legendary coach for two years. He coached under McBride for nine years, eight as the defensive coordinator before spending the last two years under Meyer in the same role.
"Those three have had the most influence on how I operate on a day-to-day basis as a head coach," Whittingham said.
From Edwards he said he learned stability, the even-keeled, no-peaks-and-valleys approach to coaching.
"He was a great person and an excellent example," Whittingham said. "He had the ability to hire and surround himself with good people. Then he would delegate and let them do their job."
From McBride, he learned the art of dealing with people.
"He knew how to recruit, how to get in a home and how to interact with his players," Whittingham said. "There's not a coach in America that cares more about his players than coach McBride."
Then there's Meyer, whom Whittingham coached under for two years before Meyer split for Florida.
"With Urban, it was the systematic approach he took to things," he said. "He was so meticulous in his organization and discipline. That's how he operated on a day-to-day basis."
That's not to say Whittingham hasn't always been an organized, even-keeled coach who knows how to deal with people. But the influence of Edwards, McBride and Meyer has been invaluable to Whittingham in tackling his first role as the head guy.
Actually, the biggest influence of all on Whittingham as a coach was his late father, Fred, who passed away suddenly 18 months ago.
"From a pure coaching standpoint, there's no question, it's my father," he said. "It's not even close as far as the hands on, pure football coach. He was a teacher with a great knowledge base of fundamentals and technique. Hands down, he's the best football coach I've ever been around. There's not a day goes by that I don't think of him."
From the time he was a toddler, Kyle Whittingham was destined to a life of football.
His father played in the NFL for four teams and coached for more than 25 years in college and in the pros.
Ted Tollner, who played with Fred at Cal Poly in the early 1960s and later became a coach at USC and San Diego State, recalls when little Kyle, 3 years old at the time, came running up to practice one day. The practice field was nearly a mile from the Whittingham's home, but somehow Kyle made it there without his mother, Nancy, knowing about it.
Fred had to call a mortified Nancy to tell her to come pick up their young son.
"Kyle was very intelligent," says Nancy, able to laugh about it now.
Young Kyle always hung around football fields growing up, whether it was watching his dad playing college or professional football, or himself playing in Little League and high school.
"It was always around me," he recalls. "I remember watching my dad play. I remember going in the Dallas Cowboys locker room with Roger Staubach, Calvin Hill and Bob Lilly. I remember going to Tulane Stadium and seeing Billy Kilmer, Jimmy Taylor and Doug Atkins. Those are some great memories."
Kyle, the oldest of five children, got used to moving away for five months every year while his dad played from September to January for NFL teams Philadelphia, New Orleans, Dallas and New England up until 1972.
After retiring from playing, Fred coached high school football in Alhambra, Calif., for a year before getting an offer from Edwards, who was just starting his career at BYU.
Edwards had heard about Fred from Nancy's aunt and showed up on his doorstep one day, telling him, "I don't want any of your players, but I'd like you to come coach for me."
So the Whittinghams packed up and left California with their four kids in 1973 for Fred's $14,000-a-year assistant coaching job at BYU.
Kyle immediately found fast friends in his Oak Hills neighborhood such as future teammate Craig Garrick, Greg Ballif and Kelly Gardner, not to mention the attractive blonde who lived four houses away, Jamie Daniels. Ten years later she would become his wife.
"I had a good group of friends," he said. "Whatever season it was, we were always playing, whether it was football, baseball or basketball. We were in constant motion.
"Of course, I spent a lot of time down on campus where my dad was coaching, wandering around and making mischief," he said with a laugh.
Whittingham was named all-state in both football and baseball at Provo High School and was recruited by such schools as San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah State and Wyoming as well as some Ivy League schools. But there was little question where he was going to college.
Those were the glory years at BYU, and Kyle relished the opportunity to play for his father, who was the Cougars' defensive coordinator.
Whittingham had a solid career at middle linebacker at BYU, earning first-team all-WAC honors as a senior as well as being named defensive MVP of the 1981 Holiday Bowl and WAC defensive player of the year. The Cougars won four straight WAC titles during Whittingham's career and played in four straight Holiday Bowls.
"That was quite an experience," remembers Nancy of her husband coaching her son. "Fred was always the big boss of the football team. But Kyle would get out on the field and put his hands on his hips and glare at him. Then Fred would say, 'Don't you give me one of those looks.' "
The fact that Kyle was one of the stars of the defense made it easier for his dad to be his coach. It may not have worked if he was a second-stringer. But the coaching relationship didn't extend to the dinner table.
"I never remember them talking football at home," said Nancy. "Whatever had to be said was on the football field."
Like most BYU players, coaches or fans, Whittingham didn't like the U.
"They weren't just the enemy, they were the bitter enemy," he said. "I don't want to call it hatred . . . but it probably was. It was the ultimate rivalry."
Although in those years, it wasn't much of a rivalry. After losing to Utah by one point his freshman season, Whittingham was on the winning side by lopsided scores of 27-0, 56-6 and 56-28 in the next three.
He remembers harboring a negative opinion of Wayne Howard's Utah program back then but acknowledges, "Maybe it was my perspective as a BYU player. I'm sure it was a little skewed."
Whittingham never would have dreamed back then that a little more than a decade later he would find himself in Salt Lake City wearing the dreaded red and white.
After graduating from BYU in 1982, Whittingham continued playing football for three years in the old USFL and in Canada. He thought playing football was out of his system, but after two years as a grad assistant at BYU under Edwards, he found himself playing as a "scab" in the NFL during the 1987 strike season for the Los Angeles Rams. He gave up a job at College of Eastern Utah to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL for his father, who had left BYU five years earlier to become a Rams' assistant.
After playing a handful of games that fall alongside his younger brother, Cary, Kyle lost his job when the main players came off strike. Whittingham still wanted to coach and the next year got a full-time position under Garth Hall at Idaho State, where he coached from 1988 until 1993.
In the meantime, Fred had been hired at Utah by McBride, who was more than happy to add Kyle to his staff as the defensive line coach in 1994.
"I was already mostly converted to the red by that time because my father had been there for three years," Kyle said.
The 1994 season turned out to be one of Utah's best — a 10-2 mark, Freedom Bowl win over Arizona and final No. 8 national ranking — and Whittingham had the privilege of coaching future NFL players Luther Ellis and Bronzell Miller.
When Fred decided to try the NFL again the following year, this time for the Oakland Raiders, Kyle was promoted to his dad's spot as defensive coordinator.
He kept that position for nine years under McBride with several highlights (Las Vegas Bowl wins in 1999 and 2001) as well as lowlights (4-7 mark as MWC favorites in 2000 and a disappointing 5-6 mark in 2002).
However, a strong defense was the one constant during those years as the Utes were always one of the league leaders in most defensive categories, thanks in large part to Whittingham's leadership.
Over the years, Whittingham has had his chances to move out of Utah for other jobs. In 1997 he was contacted by Idaho State, where he had worked as the defensive coordinator, for its head coaching position. However they wanted him to interview during the week of the Utah-BYU game, and he couldn't afford to take time away.
In the spring of 2002, he was offered the defensive coordinator position at Baylor, which offered the prestige of a better conference. However, he wisely passed on that because later that year the whole staff was fired.
While he never was offered an NFL position, Whittingham figured he could have wrangled a job if he needed one.
After all, he is good friends with Philadelphia coach Andy Reid, whom he played with in college, Baltimore coach Brian Billick, who was a graduate assistant at BYU when he played, and Seattle coach Mike Holmgren, who was the quarterback coach at BYU when Whittingham was a grad assistant. He also had contacts in the NFL through his dad.
When McBride was let go in 2003, Whittingham was passed over for the Ute head job in favor of Meyer. However, he was impressed with Meyer, who likewise was impressed with Whittingham, and he stayed on as defensive coordinator.
It turned out to be another correct decision.
Tuesday, Dec. 7, a day that will live in infamy for the Whittingham family, was one of the worst as well as one of the best days of Kyle's life.
That was the day he had to make the decision between staying at Utah and accepting the head coaching job at a school he'd worked at for 11 years or moving to Provo and taking over at his alma mater, BYU, which had just suffered through its third losing season and was looking for a savior.
Meyer had made it official three days earlier that he was going to Florida, three days after Gary Crowton had been fired at BYU. Whether or not Whittingham was the No. 1 choice at either Utah or BYU, by that Tuesday both schools were hot on his trail, trying to wrap up his services.
Whittingham spent part of the day in Salt Lake City with his wife and children and part of it in Provo at his mother's house along with some of his siblings. He was torn between the two choices. "I couldn't lose," he says now.
But still he had a difficult choice to make.
"It was an absolutely gut-wrenching day," he said.
Looking back four months later, Whittingham calls it "all a blur." He remembers how "several deadlines came and went" from noon until 9 p.m. Utah athletic director Chris Hill was desperate to keep Whittingham with apparently no one else as a backup after offensive coordinator Mike Sanford had earlier accepted the head job at UNLV.
BYU had two coaches, Bronco Mendenhall, who eventually got the job, and Lance Reynolds as backups but really wanted Whittingham. Acting athletic director Tom Holmoe had been a teammate of Whittingham's at BYU for four years — the two are still close — and tried his best to persuade him to come back to Provo. At the time there was no guarantee that Holmoe would keep the AD job, which was a concern to Whittingham.
It also didn't help BYU's cause that Holmoe and most BYU administrators happened to be in New York that day attending the Hall of Fame induction of Edwards.
Whittingham's immediate family favored Utah, while his mother and siblings favored BYU, where they had attended school.
His siblings reminded Kyle about the advantages of BYU and how he'd have followers all over the country because of the LDS Church. They also thought it would be great to have Kyle closer to them in Utah County where his mother and two brothers and a sister live and how their kids could see each other more often.
"Not many people wouldn't want to return to their alma mater to coach," Kyle said. "I'm only 40 miles away from my family, but there I would have been only four miles away. That's what made it so tough."
On the other hand, his wife, Jamie, and four kids, while supporting whatever decision Kyle made, favored the U.
"All they've ever known is Utah," said Jamie, herself a graduate of BYU nursing school and whose father was a professor at the Y. "People don't understand that it's not just the football team, it's our life. We support the other teams and know the other coaches and players."
Finally after mulling over the options all day, Whittingham returned home from Provo at about 11 that night with his decision and called some of his players at Utah to let them know. A couple dozen Ute players had come over to his house two nights earlier to lobby for him to stay, and of course they were thrilled at his decision along with scores of Ute fans.
"I remember I was in bed when he called and said, 'I am a Utah man, sir,' " recalls Ute free safety Morgan Scalley. "My wife and I just started hollering."
While Utah had reportedly kept upping the ante all day long until a six-year, $675,000-per year contract was put on his table, Whittingham
insists it was not a big factor in the decision.
In fact, Whittingham bristles at the suggestion that the reason for choosing Utah over BYU was based on money that more than quadrupled his previous salary. He said Utah's offering of one more year than BYU was much more of a factor than any money amount, but not a main one.
"Anybody that knows me knows that money is not really even in the equation," he said. "It may sound ridiculous, but it was not an issue with me."
Whittingham points out his clothes — his "Utah-issue" coaching outfit that he wears every day, the white, long-sleeved mock turtle shirt with black shorts — and his used GMC truck as examples of lack of pretense. He never buys clothes for himself — he claims not to have set foot in a mall in 20 years — and the only store he shops at is Costco.
"I'm the lowest maintenance guy on the planet," Kyle says.
"He's still the same as he's always been — he doesn't like to waste money," said Jamie.
The Whittinghams have no plans to move from their modest 2,800-square-foot home in Sandy in the near future, and if they do it will only be to get one with a bigger room to be able to host recruits and occasional team functions.
"We love our neighbors," says Jamie. "We have plenty."
So where is all that new salary going?
"I don't know," says Jamie. "Maybe savings. I haven't changed my spending habits one bit."
"I have a financial guy that sticks it somewhere," Whittingham says with a shrug.
So why did Whittingham choose Utah over BYU if it wasn't the money?
Whittingham says "there were probably 25 different factors that went into the process."
"From a career standpoint, it would have been safer move to go (to BYU)," he said. "Shoot, you go 7-4 down there next year and they elect you mayor.
"Conversely, up here we went 12-0 and you're following a coach who everyone was fond of and did a great job. From a career move, it would have been a no-brainer to go down there with fewer expectations. If I was to base the decision strictly from a common-sense standpoint, I'd probably be down in Provo."
In the end, his decision to stay at Utah came down to loyalty and integrity, two of Whittingham's greatest attributes, according to both his wife and his mother.
"I would not have been able to coach (my players) in the bowl game and would have taken a couple of coaches with me. It would not have been right to leave them high and dry," he said.
"I've been here 11 years, my family loves Salt Lake City and the kids love their schools," he said. "The bottom line is I love the players and the relationships I have with them. That was really the overriding factor, my attachment to the University of Utah and my players."
While Whittingham knows you can't equate the two-year success of Urban Meyer with the 30-year legacy of LaVell Edwards, he said it's tough following a successful coach.
"It's always tougher to follow the guy (Edwards/Meyer) than to follow the guy (Crowton) that follows the guy (Edwards/Meyer)," he said. "Where do you go from (12-0)? You drop a few games, and everyone is screaming for your head."
Whittingham doesn't anticipate that happening, but he is a bit worried about unrealistic expectations of Ute fans. He has to be careful not to make excuses and sound like your typical golfer on the No. 1 tee.
"I'm not trying to cry the blues or to lower our expectations for this fall," he said. "I'm just trying to point out the reality of the situation. We do have good young players, but they're young and inexperienced. We lost 15 starters counting our kicker and punter, and we'll have 10 guys in NFL camps this fall. In the past we've had only four or five."
But Whittingham praises his team for its work ethic and doing what it's supposed to this spring.
"The guys we have right now are working their tails off," he said. He feels like his defense will have the best players in the Mountain West Conference at several positions.
"We have the best defensive lineman in Steve Fifita, the best linebacker in Spencer Toone, the best safety in Eric Weddle and the best corner in Ryan Smith," he said. "That's a good nucleus to build on."
On offense he's happy with 18-year-old quarterback Brian Johnson, who should be a senior in high school but is "exceeding expectations right now." He's excited to have Travis LaTendresse back at receiver where he joins John Madsen and says redshirt freshman Brent Casteel is opening some eyes at the H-back position. He also says Quinton Ganther should be a solid running back, operating behind three returning offensive line starters.
His biggest concern is the overall depth at several positions, particularly at quarterback.
As for his decision to stay at Utah, Whittingham said it didn't change the attitude of his BYU friends or family members.
"I think the people that really understand football understand it was a great move," he said. "My relationships with family and friends haven't changed. It's not really an issue."
As far as Kyle Whittingham is concerned, relationships are what life is all about. To him, family is the most important thing in his life, followed by his faith and then football.
The main reason he chose to stay at Utah and what will be the key to his success in the coming years will be the players he can recruit and the relationships he can forge with them.
Whittingham sincerely believes that football is all about players and not coaches.
"We're here at the University of Utah because there are players here," he said. "The players aren't here because the coaches are here. Some coaches lose sight of that. To me it's all about the players. The players drive the bus. Players, hands down, more than any other factor will determine your success."
Ask players such as Scalley and Sione Pouha, graduated seniors who played for him for four years, and they'll tell you how much Whittingham cares for his players.
"I loved playing for coach Whittingham," said Scalley. "He doesn't like to baby-sit you, but he rewards your hard work. Everyone who plays for coach Whittingham loves him because he helps get the best out of you, more than you ever thought you could."
Like all coaches, Whittingham wants talented players, but first he looks for intelligent players with character.
"That's the first consideration on hiring my staff and my first consideration in recruiting players," he said. "You can't underestimate the importance it has on your program."
Whittingham has had to make some adjustments to being head coach and says he misses the hands-on coaching aspect more than anything. But he seems comfortable in his new role as a head coach.
While he can't guarantee that he'll still be coaching at Utah 20 years from now when he's 65, Whittingham says he won't be running off to another job in a couple of years. He's here for the long haul.
"This is a great situation," he said. "It's one of the best jobs in the whole country. I couldn't be happier than where I am."
E-mail: sor@desnews.com