7 Utah College Sports Predictions

Here are 7 random predictions for college football in Utah as of 11/27/2012. All of them can't come true since some contradict each other or are dependent on something else happening, but I might as well list them on the off chance I get 1 or 2 right.

1) Utah hires a QB coach to relieve Brian Johnson of the responsibility. I originally heard this idea floated by Hans Olson on ESPN 700 and it made a ton of sense. He is young and inexperienced enough that he needs to limit his focus for the next few years. If would probably need to be someone non threatening to Johnson but with enough experience to perhaps help Johnson gameplan. Johnson's age makes it hard to find someone to fit that bill so they probably will bring in a QB that is only a few years himself from playing college ball and looking to break into coaching.

Perhaps these two could be working together again soon?

That being said, a good option would have been Jordan Wynn. He was already fulfilling that position to a degree after his career ending injury but Norm Chow hired him as the QB coach at Hawaii. A good backup option could be Jon Hays for a lot of the same reasons as Wynn. Hays knows the league, knows the personnel and fits the part of being from the Kyle Whittingham tree. Not an exciting hire but one that could free up Johnson to learn how to call plays that don't involve a sweep, double reverse or sideways pass.

2) Utah State offensive coordinator Matt Wells interviews for the OC position at a lower end BCS school. He probably wouldn't get the job but major schools are always on the lookup for good young coaches and he is proving be just that.

I am actually very interested in what happens with him because it isn't very often that Utah State has a good young coach like Wells. If Gary Andersen leaves for a new job (see #3), I could easily see Wells following him. If #4 happens, I could easily see him staying on with an eye towards a long term fit with Utah State (he is a Utah State Alum). Utah State would be very wise to invest in keeping him around.

Matt Wells appears to be mimicking the motion required to turn a school bus. Perhaps that is where Wells sees #2's future going if he doesn't play better.

3) Utah State head coach Gary Andersen leaves to take a head coaching position at a BCS school. His name seems to be floating around because of not only this season's success (first 10 win season in Utah State history) but because he built the team from the ground up in 5 years. College football is not a patient institution, but he has the potential to win now with a talented roster OR build up a poor program through recruiting and coaching.

Colorado may make sense from a recruiting standpoint, but I don't like the fit. They fired the last coach 2 years into a rebuilding effort. Would Andersen really want to walk into that? I wouldn't, not with other options out there. I love Andersen at Cal but after letting Tedford go, they might want a bigger name hire. Andersen could fit well though because of recruiting and a lesser pricetag than most other major candidates. I hope Cal happens.

Due to a limited budget, Coach Andersen is forced to supplement his income by working the drive thru window at a local food chain.

A more likely scenario is Andersen being the 4th or 5th choice on the opening round of head coaching vacancies. After those positions are filled, he would become the 1st or 2nd choice for the 2nd round of openings. A team like Cincinnati could be a great fit for Andersen since they have a history of hiring coaches from lower leagues (Brian Kelly in 2006 and Butch Jones in 2009, both from Central Michigan). This job could also appeal to Andersen because it is a BCS job and has proven to be a great jumping off point for the 3 prior coaches (Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly and Butch Jones). This is obviously based on the assumption that Butch Jones leaves, which he is heavily rumored to.

4) Utah State names Mike Sanford head coach after Anderson leaves. While this could potentially cause large amounts of groaning in Logan, it would make sense. Sanford knows the program, has head coaching experience (albeit a miserable record at UNLV), is familiar with the area for recruiting and would not be very expensive.

While the hire would not excite the fanbase like the hiring of Andersen did, it could allow Utah State to maintain a fairly competitive team for several years into the future. Given the volatile nature of college football alignment, that could be enough to get Utah State into a BCS league....especially if everyone races to 16 team leagues.

Mike Sanford pointing the way to the exits for all the fans who would leave as soon as they heard this hire.

This would also give Matt Wells incentive to stick around and continue to develop. As a Utah State Alum, he would be well positioned to take the reigns from Sanford 3-4 years from now. A move to hire Sanford would hopefully be with an eye towards the eventual promotion of Matt Wells.

5) BYU "re-assigns" Brandon Doman to a new position or brings in a co-offensive coordinator. BYU's offensive has yet to find an identity in 2 years under Doman's watch. After mangling the management of Jake Heaps, BYU cannot afford to mess up the development of their next batch of QB recruits.

I really just wanted to mention Jake Heaps so I could post this picture. I really disliked him.

My only suggestion for his replacement would be Andy Reid. While Reid hasn't officially been fired, he is almost certain to be let go by the Eagles once the season concludes. It could seem like an odd career choice for Reid but it could be the one that makes the most sense.

By returning to his Alma mater, he could be given duties that don't require active recruiting except for during on campus recruiting trips. That could free up more time for him to spend with his family and recharge his batteries. He could also have a young coordinator to groom in Doman that could greatly benefit from having someone of Reid's experience around. Focusing simply on the offense could allow Reid to re-discover his offensive touch and land him a NFL job in a few years.

I don't think it would happen because after a few bad games fans would ask for Reid to replace Mendenhall, but it would be a fun situation if it happened.

6) Kilana Sitake becomes head coach of San Jose St  or Fresno State when their current head coach leaves for a BCS coaching job. This may not seem likely but Sitake is a good young HC prospect that may appeal to schools in a similar recruiting base as Utah. He is a defensive minded coach that has strong ties to the region. While his background in defense may seem to be an afterthought, schools may see it as a reason he sticks around longer. Offensive minded coaches are a much more popular hire for big schools than ones with a defensive background.

This is a picture of Mr. Sitake but my favorite part of this photo is that Morgan Scalley is rocking a sweet Under Armour fishing hat in the background.

From Sitake's point of view, it is a win/win scenario. It allows him to remain in his recruiting comfort zone while continuing to develop his coaching abilities. Best case scenario: Sitake uses the job as a jumping off point to a HC gig in a big school in 3-4 years. Worse case scenario: Sitake gets fired and is forced to become a defensive coordinator again. It is a win/win for Sitake.

7) Morgan Scalley is named defensive coordinator for the University of Utah.  Kyle Whittingham has already demonstrated a strong desire (some would say weakness) to promote from within his current staff. Scalley has been with the program for quite some time and is already well known within the community. He knows the defensive players and is already known to recruits.

He looks much more dignified without the fishing hat, though not as fun.

His actual ability to lead a defensive scheme is unknown, but with a defensive minded coach like Whittingham overseeing things (like he did with Sitake), it is much less worrisome then when an inexperienced OC was put into place.

While it isn't entirely relevant, it does speak to his potential when Urban Meyer tried to get him to follow him to Florida as a graduate assistant. If Meyer likes you, it isn't a bad thing.

One Year

Life is hard. Not exactly a ground breaking observation but an honest one. It is because of this simple reality that I have embraced the One Year philosophy, which simply means that I think every fan deserves at least one year of ultimate success during their fandom.

Over the course of time, sports have undeniably evolved into a major part of our culture by allowing us to escape real life. This escape allows us a way to emotionally invest large amounts of ourselves into a seemingly trivial event and thus artificially create additional life value and worth.

It doesn’t really have to make a ton of sense, it just had to be recognized. In other words, sports matter to fans much more than is logical because many fans assign some of their own personal worth based on how a particular sports team or event unfolds.

This wouldn’t be terrible if fans actually had a significant impact on a team’s performance, management or results. Unfortunately that is not the case. The overwhelming majority of all sporting outcome are completely out of the fans’ hands. Fans are a merely a passenger on a team’s season, unable to impact it in almost anyway. This fandom and obsession is an unfortunate reality, not a logical decision.  

This is why I cling to my philosophy. Life is hard enough without something as random as sports making it worse.

People will disagree with my hope and philosophy for a myriad of reasons. Frankly, I don’t care. No matter what factors led to one team being more successful than another, I still typically want the longest suffering fanbase to win. I do not blame the Charlotte Bobcats’ fans for the poor management style of Michael Jordan anymore than I applaud the fans of San Antonio for the amazing “discovery” and development of Tim Duncan.

To understand the true value sports can create in one’s life, talk to a diehard BYU football fan and see how long it takes for 1984 to crop up. Strike up a conversation with a Mets fan and you will probably end up discussing the Amazing ’69 Mets. Even bring up 2004 or 2008 to me and I will talk for hours about the University of Utah football team and how the BCS screwed an entire fanbase out of a chance for even a split national championship. Sports fans love talking about these times when life is good and they absolutely cling to these times when life is bad.

My One Year philosophy isn’t perfect. Every year I root for my University of Utah football team to go undefeated and my Utah Jazz to win the NBA title. Assuming that ever actually happened, I would root for it to happen again and again. That is the nature of being a fan. I just hope that when if/when my Utes and Jazz lose, they lose to a team that is on its way up rather than to a team that never seems to go down.

If society is going to falsely assign even the smallest amount of self value based on a sports team, then I want everyone to have at least a single sports team or season to use to boost themselves up. It may sound dumb, but life is hard enough. Every little bit helps.