With Whit — and win — Utah has soon-to-be-coveted trophy coach

SAN DIEGO — At last, he's in a league of his own.

Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham finally earned a conference championship, Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium. No more accusations that he can win bowl games but not titles. No more claims he's been getting by on Urban Meyer's leftovers. (In that case, Meyer won with Ron McBride's players ... )

Championships are nice when you're part of the group, as was Whittingham during Utah's 2003 and '04 seasons, when he was an assistant. But they're even better when you're the boss. Now he's not only a winning coach, but a title-winning coach. Big difference.

If he beats BYU next week, his phone will be ringing like Ask-a-Nurse. People will be calling about coaching vacancies. That's what happens when you win trophies.

As athletic director Chris Hill has often said, "I'd rather have a coach that everybody wants than a coach nobody wants."

For at least for another week, Whittingham is the man of the hour. His transformation has come full circle. He has gone from assistant, to untested rookie head coach, to self-assured symphony conductor. This year's 11-0 team isn't as good as the 2004 Utes, and certainly not as convincing. In fact, it's a little sweaty and rough around the edges. Its approach is stubborn and inventive, rather than cool and aloof.

"We're a little more of a ground-it-out type group," said quarterback Brian Johnson, who was also with the '04 Utes.

But that's how Whittingham likes it. The ex-BYU linebacker was never much on glamor football back in the day, either.

The Utes secured at least a tie for the Mountain West Conference championship, wiping out and already wiped-out San Diego State, 63-14. It wasn't close, but it's not Utah's problem that the Aztecs have endured more casualties than the Light Brigade.

Do the Utes care? Maybe, in a gee-that's-too-bad kind of way.

But not enough to give the Aztecs a shot. It was 21-0 before lights came on.

Whittingham's first championship came at a fortuitous time. Sure, he's murder in the bowl games, but until this year the obvious issue was always this: Show us the rings.

His teams previously finished tied for fourth once and third twice.

Asked if it's a different emotion, earning a championship as a head coach, Whittingham said, "Yes and no. Certainly (that was) our primary goal, to win the Mountain West — which we've done; at least a share of it. We've just got to keep it going."