Utah Hires Brian Johnson to be Offensive Coordinator

[LA Ute]

Also, if his argument were valid then why aren't there more minority coaches?

But really the issue is what you brought up and this should be disturbing to Ute fans. This school just hired Norm Chow, one of the greatest OCs in college football history. And then he left and you can't hire anyone better than Brian Johnson? The divide between these two offensive coordinators can't be any greater. I wish the kid well, because he seems to be a Ute fan favorite. I wonder how long a leash Utes are going to give him. I can already see the posts now, "Brian Johnson will always be one of my favorite Ute players ever. But he sucks as a coach." Oh, wait, that has already been echoed by Ute fans when he sucked as a QB coach.

Thank you for explaining to us what should be disturbing to us.

[Katy Lied]

If you look at one of the primary reasons Utah has been successful since the McBride days it’s because Utah went hard after Polynesians. One of the reasons Utah continues to be good, especially defensively, is because of Polys. Kilani Sitake is a key figure in Utah being able to maintain a strong Poly Pipeline. Whitt stated that when everything was finalized with his OC Search, he was left with two possibilities, Arod and BJ. In today’s business environment, if you have two guys with similar talent and abilities, but one happens to be a minority who do you naturally hire?

Wrong.

Urban said that when he got to Utah, at least half of all the poly players did not deserve to be playing at the D1 level, and he un-scollied a bunch of them. You have to go after good poly players. Sitake is doing this well.

BJ recruits Texas. I hear he's a pretty good recruiter out there. So hire him for his Texas expertise. He doesn't figure into the poly pipeline, and he doesn't need to.

[Scorcho]

Worst self-convincing argument given yet.

No doubt, it's a huge risk and there's a good chance it could fail miserably.

Whitt became a DC after one year as a grad assistant (that's less coaching experience than BJ has had) and that has turned out pretty well.

Kilani Sitake spent one season on the defensive side of the ball coaching before he became a DC.

[Blueintheface]

No doubt, it's a huge risk and there's a good chance it could fail miserably.

Whitt became a DC after one year as a grad assistant (that's less coaching experience than BJ has had) and that has turned out pretty well.

Kilani Sitake spent one season on the defensive side of the ball coaching before he became a DC.

I don't doubt the importance of Kalani and Brian as it relates to recruiting minorities but I think it's a fool's argument to suggest this makes either good as position coaches is all. With help Kalani has become very good and maybe Brian will be too but to suggest that at this point WRT Brian looks seems like a stretch to me.

[Scorcho]

maybe some fallout from Brian Johnson's hiring, Tim Davis is leaving Utah for Florida

[MartyFunkhouser]

maybe some fallout from Brian Johnson's hiring, Tim Davis is leaving Utah for Florida

Absolutely that is fallout from the BJ hire. I'm really disappointed that we are losing Tim Davis. I expect to lose a lot more offensive coaches due to this terrible hire.

[Surfah]

Absolutely that is fallout from the BJ hire. I'm really disappointed that we are losing Tim Davis. I expect to lose a lot more offensive coaches due to this terrible hire.

Is it really fallout? He got an offer to go to Florida. Florida > Utah.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Is it really fallout? He got an offer to go to Florida. Florida > Utah.

I agree Florida > Utah but my guess is he was looking for a job this late in the game because Whittingham slapped him in the face.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Also, as much as I hate losing Davis, here is a chance for Whittingham to mitigate some of the damage caused by hiring BJ. He needs to go out and hire the best QB coach that he can find for the highest salary that he can get authorized. Move BJ from OC/QB coach to OC/TE coach.

[UteStar]

I agree Florida > Utah but my guess is he was looking for a job this late in the game because Whittingham slapped him in the face.

Why?

Did anyone think that Davis was going to be the Offensive Coordinator? So, how was he slapped in the face? I understand that BJ was an interesting hire...but you seem to be stretching it quite a bit funk trying to make your point. He went to Florida. Good for him.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Why?

Did anyone think that Davis was going to be the Offensive Coordinator? So, how was he slapped in the face? I understand that BJ was an interesting hire...but you seem to be stretching it quite a bit funk trying to make your point. He went to Florida. Good for him.

If Whittingham didn't interview Davis for the job, I'd be shocked that he was around after signing day. Davis actually is somewhat qualified for an OC job, unlike BJ. Maybe Whittingham didn't interview him, which would make me question Whittingham's ability to hire offensive coaches even more.

[Surfah]

I agree Florida > Utah but my guess is he was looking for a job this late in the game because Whittingham slapped him in the face.

I think you're still overestimating the impact of having a guy with 30 years coaching experience that included stops at USC (when they were winning MNCs), Wisconsin, Bama and the NFL have to answer to a kid who was playing college football just 3 years ago. Especially since Davis played for the Utes like 30+ years ago.

[cougjunkie]

So Utah hires Dan Finn to coach the oline. He has 1 year previosu experience at SDSU. This means Utahs coaching staff has 1 total year coaching outside the state of Utah. Kyle figures he would rather ride or die with his guy then someone elses shwoing some loyalty. Either that or he has a huge ego. I think its a little of both.