Kyle Whittingham, the longest-tenured coach in the Pac-12 Conference and the third-longest tenured head coach at the same school in the NCAA FBS, is in his 17th season at the helm at Utah in 2021, where he boasts a 134-66 record. Including 11 seasons as a Ute assistant coach, he has contributed to more victories (219) than any coach in program history, and has coached in 326 games as either an assistant or head coach. Whittingham is the second-winningest head coach at Utah, entering 2021 just seven victories behind Ike Armstrong (141-55-15), and led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 South titles in 2018 and '19.

His many accomplishments include three National Coach of the Year recognitions—two in 2008 and one in 2019—and Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2019. Whittingham was the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coach of the Year and Bear Bryant Award winner in 2008—when Utah was declared the national champion by an NCAA major selector while finishing No. 2 in the Associated Press poll—and the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Year in 2019. In addition to his 2019 Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor, he earned AFCA Regional Coach of the Year while being named a finalist for the AFCA Coach of the Year and Bear Bryant Award in leading Utah to its second consecutive Pac-12 South title and reaching as high as fifth in the CFP rankings.

Legendary for his postseason success, Whittingham's 11 bowl wins (11-3) ties him for third among active coaches and ranks in the top-10 all-time (including ties), while his .786 bowl winning percentage is second-highest among active coaches with at least 10 games. His glossy bowl record includes a 2-0 mark in bowls currently part of the College Football Playoff New Year's Six, with wins over Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl as co-head coach and Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

The Utes appeared in every weekly CFP ranking for the first three years of the system (2014-16) and are tied for the seventh-most appearances of any school with 30 total. Utah has finished in the CFP top-25 in five seasons: No. 22 in 2014 and 2015, No. 19 in 2016, No. 17 in 2018 and program-best No. 11 in 2019. The Utes have made the final AP top-25 six times and the final Coaches' poll seven times under Whittingham. Those final AP rankings include No. 2 (2008), No. 18 (2009), No. 21 (2014), No. 17 (2015), No. 23 (2016) and No. 16 (2019). Utah was No. 23 in the final 2010 Coaches' poll.

Now in his 28th year overall at Utah, Whittingham began his Ute career as the defensive line coach in 1994. He served as the defensive coordinator from 1995-2004 and became the school's 20th head coach on December 8, 2004. His first victory came three weeks later as the co-coach (with Urban Meyer) in Utah's 2005 Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh. His first regular-season victory came against Arizona in the 2005 season opener.

In 2008, Whittingham engineered the best season in Utah football history. The Utes went 13-0—concluding the season with a 31-17 Sugar Bowl rout of Alabama, a team that had spent five weeks at No. 1. Utah was declared the national champion that season by major selector Anderson/Hester and was ranked No. 2 in the final AP poll. Whittingham's success has continued in the Pac-12 Conference where Utah won the South Division title outright in 2018 and 2019, and shared it with USC in 2015. Whittingham has coached 25 All-Americans, including seven consensus picks. He has coached the only major national award winners in Utah football history with three Ray Guy Award winners (2014-16), a Lou Groza Award winner (2017) and a Ted Hendricks Award winner to his credit. The Utes boasted a school-record five All-Americans in 2019.

Whittingham's players have won a total of 93 first-team all-conference awards, including 42 in Utah's 10 seasons of Pac-12 membership. Utah led the Pac-12 in first-team all-conference players in 2018 with nine selected, and added eight more in 2019.

One reason behind his success is Whittingham's reputation for developing NFL talent. Seven Utes were drafted in 2020 -- most in the Pac-12 and tied for fifth-most in the nation -- and the Utes' 21 selections in the four drafts from 2017-20 lead all Pac-12 schools. That period began with a school-record eight NFL draft picks from Utah in 2017, which led the Pac-12 and tied for third in the country.

Utah has also excelled academically under Whittingham. Since he became head coach in 2005, his players have earned four Academic All-America citations and 269 academic all-conference awards. Utah football received public recognition from the NCAA for posting a multi-year Academic Progress Report (APR) in the top 10 percent of all athletic teams in the country from 2015-19, including a perfect single-year APR score of 1000 in 2017-18.

Whittingham began his coaching career in 1985-86 as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Brigham Young. He spent one season as the defensive coordinator at the College of Eastern Utah in 1987, before a six-year stint at Idaho State from 1988-93.

A linebacker for BYU from 1978-81, Whittingham earned first-team all-WAC and WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1981. Whittingham graduated from BYU in 1984 and added a master's degree from the school in 1987. Born Nov. 21, 1959, he was raised in Provo, Utah. He is married to the former Jamie Daniels. They have four children: Tyler, Melissa, Alex and Kylie, and four grandchildren. Tyler and Alex both played for the Utes.