Even if her precocious 7-year-old daughter kind of likes the idea of being "famous," Jamie Whittingham might be the last person to seek out the limelight. She's not about to follow in the footsteps of Shelley Meyer, who never met a camera she didn't like.
The wife of first-year Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham would just as soon stay in the background and let her husband get all the attention. She calls herself "basically a shy person," not at all like the wife of the previous Ute coach, Urban Meyer.
You remember Shelley on TV, getting as much face time as her husband, wildly cheering on the Utes with a "U" logo painted on her face. She seemed to be everywhere, mingling with the fans, coaches and media after the games. Even if she didn't seek out attention, she certainly got it.
"I really liked Shelley — she was great," Jamie says. "But I couldn't make myself be that way. I'm more reserved. (The TV cameras) can look at the nice-looking assistant coaches' wives."
If she could, Jamie Whittingham would just as soon slink into the shadows and not have her face on TV or her name in the newspapers. She's admittedly having a bit of a hard time with all of the attention that's been foisted upon her family over the past several weeks since her husband was named Utah's head coach.
In fact, she can't figure out why in the world the Deseret Morning News would want to do a story about her and her children.
During an interview with her and her three children at their Cottonwood Heights home, she said, "I don't know what you're going to write about that will take up more than two paragraphs.
Sorry, we've already surpassed that, thank you.
Jamie Whittingham likes to think of hers as just another typical family, with baseball games, cheerleader practices and carpools to juggle. The Whittinghams love to go boating in the summer, and family outings can be anything from bike rides around the neighborhood to pickup baseball games in the park to shopping expeditions to Costco.
"I haven't done anything personally," Jamie says, deflecting attention away from herself. "I'm just supportive of Kyle."
Jamie and her four children (Tyler, 19; Melissa, 17; Alex, 13; and Kylie, 7) were thrust into the spotlight last December when Kyle was named the University of Utah's head football coach after nearly accepting a similar position at BYU.
Before, when Kyle was an assistant coach, Jamie said only die-hard football fans used to recognize her husband out in public. But nowadays, complete strangers will approach and want to talk football.
Melissa, who also goes by Missy, has noticed the change. "People ask, 'So, is Kyle Whittingham your dad?' "
Alex doesn't seem to mind, saying, "It's cool now that he's the main guy — everybody always asks you about him."
Missy teases her little sister, saying Kylie "likes to tell people that we're famous," to which young Kylie quickly protests "No, I don't!"
Jamie says her husband is actually a lot like her — on the shy side — but has accepted the fact that his position requires him to interact with the public and talk to the media on a regular basis.
"Kyle does not thrive on attention either, but he's kind of gotten used to it," she said. "It certainly isn't something he goes after."
Indeed, reporters covering the Utes have noticed over the years how coach Whittingham often tries to sneak away from practices before reporters can corner him. While he was always more than accommodating when caught, he'd just as soon not be bothered with interviews, unlike some coaches who relish them.
Since becoming head coach, Kyle may not be any more enthused about interviews, but he knows it's his duty. So he can make full use of his precious time, he'll invite reporters to interview him while he works out on a stair-stepper in the Ute weight room.
Jamie Daniels grew up as the middle child of five children in Provo, where her father was a professor at BYU. She loved animals and used to enjoy riding her horse in the hills above Provo. She skied in the winter and water-skied in the summer.
She and Kyle met when both were 14-year-olds and in the eighth grade at Farrer Junior High School. Kyle and his family had just moved from California because Kyle's dad, Fred, had become an assistant coach under LaVell Edwards.
The two lived just four doors apart from each other and their birthdays are just 20 days apart. Though it may not have been love at first sight, the two formed a solid friendship and began dating a couple of years later while attending Provo High.
Kyle and Jamie dated throughout high school and college at BYU, though not exclusively, and finally tied the knot in 1983 after Jamie had graduated from nursing school and Kyle was done with his college career and was playing in the USFL. So what took them so long?
"I did not want to get married until I was through with college," Kyle said, not explaining why he wanted to be different from half of the BYU players who were married.
Soon after their marriage, the Whittinghams went to New Orleans, where Kyle was playing for the USFL team.
Their first child, Tyler, was born in 1985. Melissa came along two years later, followed by Alex and Kylie.
The family lived in Idaho for a few years while Kyle was an assistant at Idaho State, then settled in Salt Lake in 1994 when he got an assistant coach's job under Ron McBride.
Nearly a decade ago, they bought their modest, stucco and stone split-level house in Cottonwood Heights, where they still live. They have no immediate plans to move, despite Kyle's multimillion-dollar contract.
They came close to moving to Provo last December when Kyle was considering the BYU job, but that idea didn't go over well with the family at all, especially Missy, who cried at the thought.
"She was beside herself," Kyle said. "She's planted solidly in the Utah camp, as were all my kids. That's all they've ever known."
While Kyle says that wasn't the prime reason for choosing to stay at Utah, he said it was a big one. "Their well-being has always been No. 1 on my list," he said. "They've always been first and foremost with me."
The Whittinghams' four children are like many families, with many shared traits, yet various differences.
Tyler, who left on an LDS mission to Brazil six months ago, is probably the most outgoing of the entire Whittingham clan.
"He's a people person, very charismatic," Kyle says. "He reminds me of my little brother, Brady, the entrepreneur."
Tyler was a football player at Brighton, who bulked up to 210 pounds to play linebacker like his father. He also played for the Highland rugby team and is an expert wakeboarder.
Missy, who will be a senior this fall at Brighton High, is more reserved like her mom. But that hasn't stopped her from performing in front of large crowds as a cheerleader the past couple of years as well as this coming year. She was involved in gymnastics when she was younger, enjoys cooking and likes to work out with her mom.
Alex, an eighth-grader, likes sports and video games and is also quiet. His dad calls him a "deep thinker." He has played dozens of baseball games already this year as part of a "superleague" with tournaments from Idaho to St. George. He's also a linebacker and tight end on his Ute Conference football team and wants to pursue baseball and football in high school.
Kyle calls Kylie a "pistol," who is "in constant motion." She played on a softball team this year and also enjoys gymnastics, swimming, ice skating and jumping on the trampoline. She's the kind of energetic soul who sets up lemonade stands and plays mail carrier, delivering "letters" to the neighbors.
In the living room of their home, which has a doormat that reads, "Welcome Ute fans," the Whittinghams have a couple dozen photographs of the family lining the wall. There's a picture of Kyle and Jamie as teenagers with their bell-bottom pants. There are a few of Kyle from his playing days and the two boys in football gear. There are shots of the girls out on the family boat.
On the living room table is Tyler's daily journal, which he sends home on a regular basis. The family looks forward to receiving the journal pages as well as the weekly e-mails from Tyler.
The Whittinghams don't wear their religion on their sleeve, but they are active members of the LDS Church. With Kyle's busy schedule, particularly on weekends, it's been difficult for him to hold busy church positions. Most recently, he served as a Sunday school teacher for high school age kids.
Although he never served a mission himself, Kyle calls it "one of the biggest thrills of my life" that his older son is serving a mission.
Tyler was originally scheduled to leave Dec. 27, a few days before the Utes played Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. The Whittinghams never asked for any favors, but someone got the date pushed back a week so Tyler could accompany the team to Arizona and experience the biggest victory in Utah history.
A typical day for Jamie begins at 5 a.m. when she goes to work out at a local gym, often with Missy. She mostly does cardio work to stay in shape, but Kyle, who still looks like he could be a contestant in the Mr. Olympia competition, invariably asks her if she lifted weights that day.
She volunteered weekly at Kylie's elementary school this year and relaxes by gardening when the weather is good. Much of her day is taken up with household duties, and the fact that Kyle spends a full 12 hours in the office almost every day leaves Jamie with more than her share of jobs around the house. And it has only gotten worse.
"He's probably gone a little bit more now," Jamie says. "He's always been gone a lot during the recruiting season anyway and during the season."
Kyle says "there aren't enough hours in the day" for him to accomplish all of his duties as a head football coach. The fact that he's an "anal" person who's extremely meticulous in his work makes it difficult for him to take time off.
Next week, the coach is involved with a football camp involving 700 young players, and then he supposedly gets about a month off, starting in late June.
"We're looking forward to that," says Jamie.
In the past, when Kyle has been on vacation, the family has gone boating at Lake Powell or Flaming Gorge or somewhere locally. They also like to go on bike rides, play tennis, attend Alex's baseball games together or just play their own pickup baseball games as a family.
Shhh, don't tell the family, but this year's vacation is going to be a short one.
"This is the first time through for our staff, so we'll be pretty busy this summer," Kyle says. "It's very different being the head coach and I'm too paranoid. But I'll try to get a couple of days off."
Fall camp begins Aug. 8 and the season kicks off Sept. 2 when Arizona comes to Rice-Eccles Stadium.
You can bet that Jamie Whittingham and her kids will all be there cheering on their husband and father when he makes his debut as head coach, as well as throughout the rest of the season.
Just don't expect to see Jamie every time the Utes are on TV this fall. She'll undoubtedly be doing her best to blend into the crowd as much as possible.
E-mail: sor@desnews.com