Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham Thinks Spring Football Season Is ‘Doable’

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham is trying to look ahead to a potential spring football season.

Whittingham spoke with the media for the first time since the Pac-12 announced that they postponed fall sports. He gave some ideas as to how a spring season could work.

“I think it’s doable. Is it likely? I think right now, it’s probably 50/50,” Whittingham said. “At best we can pull something like that off, in my opinion, I don’t have any inside information other than just my own thoughts. It would have to be an abbreviated season in order to be able to not impact the ’21 fall season because that’s really critical that fall of 21 goes off as normal. That’s that’s pretty much got to happen”

Listen to the full interview with Kyle Whittingham, below:

What A Spring, Fall Season Would Look Like

When asked about the possibility of a spring season along with another full 12-game slate in the fall of 2021, Whittingham thought it was “doable.” What would that look like?

“I would see maybe a spring ball type of a routine given to the Pac-12 teams that would that would be somewhere in late September, October, early November, somewhere in there and then a fall camp, I guess you could call it equivalent starting in early January, and then maybe start games that towards the end of January or early February,” Whittingham mentioned. “Five, six, seven-game schedule that would put you towards the end of March.

“Maybe you have a playoff game or a championship game between the North and the South. I know there’s even some discussions about maybe bowls jumping on board and being available for something in the spring,” Whittingham added. “But, again, that’s just all in the infancy stages and you know a lot of ground needs to be covered before we get to that. We’ll just see what happens. But it’s plausible. We’ll see how, you know, I think it would be a clearer picture in the ensuing you know, three or four weeks.”

"Eight would have to be the absolute maximum number of games in order to not impact the fall season. I would think something closer to 5, 6 or 7."
– @UtahCoachWhitt on how many games is realistic if a spring season were to take place.

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) August 25, 2020

The Crimson Corner came up with a plan last week of how a season in the spring and fall of the same calendar year can be played.

No Utah Players Have Desire To Transfer

Since the Pac-12 and Big Ten have decided to not play football in the fall. Players from the Pac-12 have already seen players transferring. Arizona had two players enter the transfer portal in linebacker Colin Schooler and his brother Brenden. Both have said they want to play for a school that is playing in the fall.

As of right now, the other three Power-5 conferences (Big 12, SEC and ACC) have said they are moving forward with the season in the fall. Whittingham was asked if any of his players have expressed any interest in transferring to a school that is playing in the fall.

"Zero conversations with anybody on this football team about transferring. The odds are most likely against that. Nobody has come to me, nobody has approached me."
– @UtahCoachWhitt on whether any Utah players are intending on transferring to conferences that are still playing.

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) August 25, 2020

“Zero conversations with anybody on our football team about transferring,” stated Whittingham. “That’s not to say that might not be in their mind or in, you know, at the forefront of their mind. But, it would have to happen pretty quick now, we’re into this pretty deeply. I would say the odds are most likely against that. Although, you know, it’s still conceivable, but I’ve heard nothing. No one’s come to me, no one’s approached me. I’ve heard no secondhand information about anybody that is thinking along those lines.”

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.