Whittingham Not Likely to Volunteer(s)

I’ve said it before and I’m sticking by it: Kyle Whittingham to a Pac-10 school, some day, is a possibility.

Whittingham to a job across the country isn’t so likely.

Whittingham’s name is now cropping up on lists of potential successors to Lane Kiffin at Tennessee. That’s the good news for Ute fans. The reason is, he’s off the list of USC possibilities.

The turnover started this week when Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll left to join the Seattle Seahawks. That in turn left the USC job open. It’s a job Whittingham would have to consider. After all, he recruits Southern California heavily. It’s a short flight to Salt Lake when he wants to see relatives; he could even keep his family in Salt Lake if he wanted.

With his contacts in Utah, I imagine he could recruit a lot of top prep players from Salt Lake and surrounding areas, too, were he the Trojan coach.

But when Kiffin took the job at USC, that eliminated any talk of Whittingham.

But what about filling the spot at Tennessee?

Not likely. It’s in a part of the country where his recruiting ties aren’t strong and he has no close family.

A lot of fans take comfort in the fact Whittingham has been at Utah many years, and that he’s a “Utah guy.” I’m more inclined to call him a “Western guy” — a guy who fits better in the West.

But as hot as Whittingham is as a coaching candidate, he’s not as big a deal this year, having finished third in the Mountain West. Boise State’s Chris Petersen and TCU’s Gary Patterson are probably ahead of Whittingham on the pecking order.

I figure Ute fans can probably relax – at least for another year.