After leading his team to a perfect season and national acclaim, University of Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham has been recognized as one of the top coaches in the country.
A lifelong Church member, Coach Whittingham received the Paul "Bear" Bryant College Coach of the Year Award on Jan. 15. Earlier he won the American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year Award, an honor bestowed by his peers in the college football coaching ranks.
Coach Whittingham told the Associated Press he was honored to receive an award bearing the name of Bear Bryant, the legendary Alabama coach. "I'm young enough where I didn't have a chance to ever meet or be associated with him, but he's the icon of college football coaching."
The honors follow a remarkable season for the 2008 Utah gridders. The team — which includes several returned missionaries and fellow Church members — capped a perfect 13-0 season with a 31-17 victory over Alabama in the Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl.
In that game, Coach Whittingham and the Utes honored the memory of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve by placing a decal bearing the late apostle's initials — JBW — on their helmets.
A graduate of and former player at Brigham Young University, Coach Whittingham has been the head coach at Utah since 2005.
