Good for Kyle Whittingham. A local guy makes good and finally gets his chance.

Perhaps he should have received the chance a long time ago.

Whittingham and his advisers pulled off a coup this week, taking advantage of the political climate between rivals Utah and BYU and a vacuum presented by departing Ute head coach Urban Meyer (Florida) and offensive coordinator Mike Sanford (UNLV).

When Kyle shaved off his famed goatee and started wearing white shirts and blazers on local TV shows more than a month ago, he knew something was up and he'd better have his game face on. Never in his wildest dreams could the former Provo High star imagine he'd run into the mother lode.

Utah, bent on preventing Whittingham from getting away to BYU and tearing apart the Ute staff, kept imposing deadlines on Whittingham on Tuesday — then broke five of those deadlines and anted up more money from a pair of well-known boosters.

After Ute folks extended the first deadline for Whittingham, then another, it was apparent the well was deep and the pockets almost endless. He worked it to perfection.

Give Whittingham the money. But what I like the most about this is Whittingham did not turn his back on Ute players. That loyalty is rare these days.

Kyle, 0-0 as a head coach, now makes more than a platoon of proven coaches who can only be both envious while scratching their heads.

Whittingham's six-year contract worth $675,000 a year surpasses that of red-hot Boise State coach Dan Hawkins, who just agreed to a new contract that pays him $2.6 million for five years at $525,000 per.

Kyle's new pact is more than every Mountain West and WAC coach, including veterans Sonny Lubick, Fisher DeBerry and Rocky Long. It is more than Meyer made as a Ute coach when he busted the BCS. And it's more than Utah State basketball coach Stew Morrill, whose Aggies kicked the butts of the Cougars and Utes. Heck, it's more than the governor-elect will make.

In this banking regard, Whittingham has no money peer within his geographical mid-major college football realm.

Kyle, you can shave or not shave. Or wear those nylon warmups or Spanish puffy sleeve pirate shirts around if you want. But win, baby.

I believe Whittingham is an excellent coach and great choice for the Utes or BYU, who lost in the sweepstakes. BYU simply was not going to pay that price for their former team captain.

It isn't clear what BYU does now, but Cougar folks have interviews with assistants Lance Reynolds, Bronco Mendenhall and likely Paul Tidwell.