Kc said:
Don't think Bama would ever hire an ex Aubrun player as head coach.
Normally, I'd agree with you, but Whit's story is pretty interesting and, quite frankly, typical of the rivalry between Utah and BYU.
It actually goes back to Kyle's dad, Fred Whittingham. After 7 years as a linebacker in the NFL (he played in the 1968 Pro Bowl), Fred retired from playing and became a coach at BYU. He coached there 1973-1981, which was during some of the years that Kyle played down at BYU: Kyle played on BYU's 1984 championship team as a senior after serving a 2-year mission.
But, as happens often in this rivalry, Fred came back to coaching college football in 1992, under Ron McBride, as Utah's DC. In 1994, he hired Kyle from Idaho State as the defensive line coach, and Kyle eventually became the DC in 1995 (Fred didn't really have the temperment to be the DC and was demoted to LB coach under Kyle, but they worked that out just fine). Since 1995, Utah's defense has perenially been in the top 10, so after 11 years at Utah, it actually made sense when he became the HC in 2005.
One unique factor in the Utah/BYU rivalry is how intertwined it is. The Whittingham family situation actually isn't very unique, and in fact is more the norm since the schools are only about 40 miles apart. Utah's president is a BYU graduate, and BYU's president is a Utah graduate. Many of the LDS church's top officials are Utah graduates. Utah's new DC played at BYU. Utah's QB and one of BYU's starting receivers are cousins. Families are more often than not split at Thanksgiving.
On top of all of these factors, you have the factor that BYU is a religious institution, whereas Utah is a state school. This means that not only are the fans of the respective institutions at odds on the field, but there are a lot of cultural values and belief systems at odds as well.
All in all, it makes for some very interesting moments.
Kc said:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the Ute's as well!!!
You too.
Go Utes!
U-Ute
PS: Hopefully this works because someone has a bug in their preview PHP script.
is that both of these teams have had unexpected, incredible, and amazing years, and we're all lucky to be fans of such great programs. 
