Will Morgan Scalley be the answer to Utah making the CFP?

SALT LAKE CITY — When Kyle Whittingham first hired Morgan Scalley to Utah’s coaching staff, he asked Scalley to outline his career goals.

A former Utah star defensive back who had finished playing a few years earlier, Scalley didn’t hesitate about what he wanted to do and where he wanted to do it. He said he wanted to be a defensive coordinator within five years and a head coach by Year 10. Left unsaid: Scalley wanted those jobs at his alma mater.

“[Whittingham’s] like, ‘Oh, that’s very aspirational,’ but that was my goal,” Scalley told ESPN. “Looking back at it, yeah, it was probably aspirational, because I had so much to learn and so much growing to do, but I knew I wanted to be here, and I wanted to take this place to the highest level possible.”

Scalley didn’t meet his self-appointed deadlines. After joining Utah’s staff as an administrative assistant in 2006, he spent a decade before becoming Whittingham’s defensive coordinator. He twice was named Whittingham’s designated successor (the coach-in-waiting title was rescinded in 2020 after it was learned he used a racial slur in a text message about recruits) but got the top job in December only when Whittingham stepped down before heading to Michigan.

The wait took a bit longer for Scalley, 46, but his desire to be at Utah has only deepened over time. And his quest to elevate the Utes is just beginning.

Scalley enters his first season leading a Utah program with an obvious next step, albeit a difficult one. Whittingham seemingly did it all during 21 seasons as the Utes’ head coach (after 11 as an assistant). He won three total titles in two different conferences, had an undefeated season and a No. 2 finish in 2008, appeared in three of the most decorated bowl games (Rose, Sugar, Fiesta) and won 10 or more games eight times. But he never made the BCS title game or the College Football Playoff.

Since the CFP launched in 2014, only 12 Power 4 teams have won 103 games or more. Of those, Utah and Iowa are the only squads still seeking their first playoff appearances.

“The next step for this program is to make the playoffs,” Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said.

Scalley’s primary task is to take Utah somewhere it has never been before. His pathway to do so, though, is rooted in local knowledge.

AFTER YEARS DOWN the hall, Scalley now occupies the spacious corner office at Utah’s Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center.

The Utah program he inherited from Whittingham was much like a nice house, one where things work. The thought of gutting the place makes no sense. Besides, plenty of Whittingham’s wisdom rubbed off on his protégé.

“We have the same mentality of what it takes to win,” Scalley said. “You’ve got to be physical, you’ve got to own the line of scrimmage, you can’t shortcut things, you have to practice hard.”

Utah has its nonnegotiables. Scalley also understands that a carbon-copy approach isn’t best. He and his players have been open about the need to unite the team more than perhaps it was in the past. Scalley is big on building “top-down culture, speaking the same language.”

“It’s not just like offense versus defense anymore,” running back Wayshawn Parker said. “It’s one big team coming at you, not just two separate teams.”

Safety Jackson Bennee said Utah’s offense and defense previously had “different ways of doing things,” adding that, “We feel more like a team.”

Utes defenders under Scalley already knew the acronym RSNB: Relentless, Smart, Nasty, Ballhawks. Now it is a teamwide credo. The Utes’ defense, shaped by Scalley in some form since 2008, has been the team’s defining unit, which is reflected in performance. Utah ranked 12th in fewest yards per game allowed and 13th nationally in fewest points allowed during Scalley’s tenure as defensive coordinator.

The offense produced some good seasons and moments under Whittingham but also went through more turbulence. From 2009 to 2018, Utah had seven different offensive coordinators. Only Andy Ludwig, who had two stints as Whittingham’s OC, lasted more than two seasons in the role, and he stepped down midway through a disappointing 2024 season. Utah ranked 34th in scoring and 64th in yards per game during Whittingham’s tenure — respectable but not incredible — and produced a good number of NFL draft picks, but no quarterbacks.

The hope is that Utah can take a step offensively with new leadership, and without drifting too far from its identity.

“I’ve never shied away from saying you can win a national championship here,” Scalley said. “It’s a great recruiting hotbed. To be a championship team, you have to have a quarterback, you have to have offensive linemen, defensive linemen, period. We can get those here.”

Scalley’s involvement in the offense increased even before he became the head coach. After the 2024 season, Whittingham consulted him about coordinator options, and Scalley endorsed New Mexico’s Jason Beck, while adding that Utah also should pursue Lobos quarterback Devon Dampier. Utah landed both and had the nation’s No. 4 offense in 2025.

When Beck followed Whittingham to Michigan, Scalley went to Dampier’s apartment with a clear message: “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve any of this.”

“That was the conversation that made me commit fully,” said Dampier, who is back to lead Utah’s offense under new play-caller Kevin McGiven. “You could say I was already committed here, but just to hear that, it was a real one-on-one conversation that we had, and very much touched my heart. … We just kind of connected on a new level.

“I’m not the one who needs to hear a reasoning for everything, but Coach Scalley gave that to me, just for reassurance, and that meant a lot.”

Utah not only kept Dampier for another year but also retained talented backup Byrd Ficklin, a dual threat who showed explosive playmaking ability in limited work last fall and could be starting somewhere else. If Ficklin continues to develop, Utah’s quarterback lineup might be set for the first part of Scalley’s tenure.

There are other areas to maintain, including an offensive line that lost two NFL first-round draft picks (Spencer Fano, Caleb Lomu) and must replace all five starters. Scalley brought in his former Utes teammate Jordan Gross, who became an All-America tackle and an NFL Pro Bowl pick, to lead the group. Gross coached Utah freshman Kelvin Obot, a top-50 national recruit, in high school in Idaho.

“It’s not like Morgan has been sitting around waiting,” Harlan said. “He’s been doing so much studying, it’s amazing how many people he knows and talks to. Our brand will be similar in that we’re still going to hit you in the mouth, as we always have, but I think we’ll see a more refined culture around the whole program that will benefit as well.”

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Scalley and Whittingham might be felt more outside of the football building than within those walls.

“Kyle and I, very different personalities,” Scalley said. “I’m much more: dance, sing, fun. He’s more wanting to be viewed as stoic and hard rock. Same mentality, just different personalities.”

When it comes to external outreach, though, Scalley might be more like one of the men who coached him at Utah, Urban Meyer, who won 22 of 24 games in two seasons before handing things off to Whittingham. Scalley remembered Meyer riding the TRAX light rail around the Salt Lake City area, often with a player or the team’s mascot beside him, promoting the program. He was “masterful” in selling Utah, Scalley said, visiting malls or wherever people gathered, and encouraging them to come to games.

In 2003, Utah hosted Cal, led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, in front of a Rice-Eccles Stadium record crowd of 46,768.

“[Meyer] ended up breaking the fire code,” Scalley recalled. “We’ve got people standing, and people were pissed at the university, but sold everything out. From then on, [Utah] became a football school.”

Scalley doesn’t need to ride the rails to introduce Utes football any more, but the Salt Lake City native is naturally drawn toward efforts to grow resources and interest in the city and region.

“There’s a lot of untapped wealth here,” Scalley said. “It’s just a matter of being able to go and sell it. A great football team, a great football season, the money that brings into the community, it’s unbelievable. All of a sudden, the attraction to the university, the enrollment goes up the next year. So it’s just getting in front of people to sell that vision, to create relationships that matter. That you’re not gifting; you’re investing in what this is going to become.”

Scalley’s enthusiasm to seek growth opportunities comes at an important time. In June, Utah became the first college program to finalize its own private equity agreement, through the group Otro Capital. The new entity, Crimson Brand Partners, will manage branding, licensing and other commercial operations for Utah’s athletic department.

Harlan and Scalley have discussed an aggressive approach to future nonconference schedules, which already include marquee opponents such as Miami, Wisconsin and LSU. According to Harlan, Scalley “wants to play them all.”

“We’ve got to be more forward-facing as a program, so we’re looking at every possible thing,” Harlan said. “He went to school here, he grew up here, was a legend a few blocks from here at Highland High School. He’s going to have a lot of community support.”

Scalley pushed for the hire of director of alumni relations Bo Nagahi, his former teammate and fellow defensive back, to strengthen connections with former players. The support matters as Utah fans are still processing the contentious end to Whittingham’s tenure. After negotiations reportedly broke down for Whittingham to potentially return in 2026, the sides agreed to a $13.5 million separation bonus, but Utah later took issue with Whittingham bringing Beck and other staff members with him to Michigan. Last month, Utah sued Freddie Whittingham, Kyle’s brother and an assistant coach with him, for breach of contract, alleging he didn’t go through the proper protocols in leaving Utah for Michigan.

Coaching exits are rarely smooth, but Utah fans at least don’t have to become acquainted with Whittingham’s successor.

“It was whiplash for our fans to have the all-time greatest step down, and then also the all-time greatest is at Michigan,” Harlan said. “But the fact that it’s Morgan, it made people really happy, because they watched him grow. In my interactions with people, they don’t want to diminish anything that Whit did, nor do any of us, but they’re just really excited that Morgan has this opportunity.”

THE CHALLENGE OF lifting a very good program to the next rung is not easy, nor does it have a lot of recent comparisons.

In 2022, TCU’s Sonny Dykes replaced longtime coach Gary Patterson, a 2026 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, and helped the Horned Frogs to their first CFP appearance and a national runner-up finish in his debut season. Texas A&M won eight or nine games 11 times between 2006 and 2024, but had never made the CFP until second-year coach Mike Elko took the Aggies there last season.

Most of the time, though, it goes the other way. Wisconsin averaged 9.9 wins per year between 2004 and 2021 (excluding the shortened 2020 season), but never made the BCS title game or CFP. Hoping to make the jump, the team hired coach Luke Fickell, who had guided Cincinnati to the four-team CFP, but Wisconsin is just 17-22 under him.

Oklahoma State’s Eric Morris is in a somewhat similar spot to Scalley, as he replaces Mike Gundy, the team’s all-time winningest coach, but the Cowboys program fell apart the past two seasons. Utah, meanwhile, won 11 games in 2025.

“One might say, ‘Utah, boy, a Hall of Fame coach moved on, how do you not take a step back?'” Harlan said. “The naysayers are there, because data would suggest at most places, that’s what happens. Because of the uniqueness of Morgan, his knowledge of this place, being tutored by that same legend, we have a real opportunity to not worry about that and actually take another step and build on what Whit did.”

Scalley could have been a head coach elsewhere by now. Harlan received calls “almost every year” from schools interested in hiring him, either as DC or head coach. Scalley ultimately waited for the job he wanted.

He acknowledges he doesn’t have all the answers. As defensive coordinator, he constantly assessed deficiencies and how to become more innovative. He has expanded that approach to all areas of Utah’s program.

“We have to put our ego aside and say: Is there a better way?” Scalley said.

Just because he prepared for the opportunity, though, doesn’t mean there won’t be growing pains. Most first-time coaches have them.

“He’s so loved, and he’ll probably get a lot of benefit of the doubt, maybe more than a stranger would,” Harlan said. “But conversely, people are serious about Utah football. The first time someone drops an intercepted pass, they’ll be yelling at his replacement. I think there will be fair patience, but no matter who you are, we’ve seen this time and time again, people want to win.

“But no one’s going to want to win more than Morgan.”

Scalley has been part of Utah’s greatest teams, either as a player or coach. He played in 2004 when Utah became the first “BCS buster,” earning a Fiesta Bowl berth, and victory, as a team from a non-automatic-qualifying conference. He was a young coach in 2008 when Utah produced another undefeated season and a No. 2 finish after stunning Nick Saban’s Alabama squad in the Sugar Bowl. He was there in 2019, when the Utes entered the Pac-12 title game with a chance to secure a CFP spot. Instead, Oregon held Utah scoreless in three of four quarters and won 37-15.

The Utes have been close, even last season, when their only two losses came against the Big 12 championship game participants (Texas Tech and BYU). Scalley is determined to get Utah over the hump.

“Let’s get to the playoff,” he said. “I believe in this place. I believe in being able to do this thing on the highest stage possible.”