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Inside Cougar Report: Utes trying to lock up Whittingham |
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Dick Harmon | Friday, December 13, 2002, 9:58 am
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Kyle Whittingham used to live right down the street from Merrill Bateman in east Provo.
There are tons of former Provo High Bulldogs who want Kyle to move back home, give up the red, return to the place of his roots and give his parents greater access to their grandchildren as a Cougar.
But Utah is working hard to keep Whittingham today, a coach they rejected as a possible head coach when they turned to Bowling Green coach Urban Meyer this week. The move by Chris Hill continued a pattern in his hiring that he will not hire an active member of the LDS Church, a move now apparent to Whittingham and something BYU's women's coach Jeff Judkins has taken note of.
Gary Crowton's visit with Whittingham last Tuesday was very productive. It opened to door for a relationship and possible job. But on Thursday, Meyer met with Whittingham for a long, long time and today Whittingham is meeting with AD Chris Hill to discover what it will take to get him to stay on as the defensive coordinator at Utah.
If Crowton is to hire Whittingham, and most indications are that his first choice will be Bronco Mendenhall (in on Saturday for a visit), then the wiggle room to make that move is closing down fast. If Mendenhall rejects Crowton's offer, if offered, Whittingham could be the guy.
A key here is if Whittingham leaves his meetings today with Utah and postpones any contract extension through the weekend, possibly until next Tuesday or Wednesday.
If Mendenhall, however, is the hot commodity Crowton wants, it will be over. All of this may not seem like much news, but I did talk to Kyle last night while driving back from the Utah Jazz-New Orleans game and had a good talk with him. Some of what he said was off the record.
Whittingham has a pretty impressive resume. Crowton went over it with a fine comb.
Later... |
