Kudos to Whittingham for shining example of loyalty

Kyle Whittingham: The opposite of ship-jumping Lane Kiffin.

It's true. Tennessee of the mighty SEC came calling for a local guy, flashing big bucks and visions of grandeur on Thursday, and Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham said "no" by breakfast on Friday.

Oh, he mulled it over. It was tempting. But he refused the hook, pushed away the cake and frosting on a deal reported to be in the $3.4 million a year range.

It was a back-and-forth affair, with offers, conversations, things weighed and balanced out. In the end, Whittingham, who USA Today says makes $1.2 million a year at Utah, decided he would stay within the confines of a state that provided him his greatest success as a player at Provo High, BYU and as a coach with the Utes.

That kind of loyalty is to be saluted.

Since Thursday's column on Kiffin hit the Internet, I've been flooded with e-mails from USC and Tennessee fans. You can only imagine the bitter bile Vol fans have for Kiffin for splitting Knoxville after one season. With Tennessee recruits confused and de-committing right at a critical time with signing day a few weeks away, these fans are in a disgusted frenzy.

One e-mail included a link to a YouTube video that featured an obscenity-laced rant from a Tennessee fan who urinated on and then set fire to a Tennessee sweatshirt with Kiffin's name embossed on one side.

Utah is lucky to have three head coaches at Utah, Utah State (Gary Andersen) and BYU (Bronco Mendenhall) who are from Beehive stock, born and bred and proud of it. A fourth, Weber State coach Ron McBride, is easily counted in that company.

These younger guys are not show horses on the fast track. Roots have grown beneath their feet. They are family men who refuse to transplant their kids more than is necessary. In a profession of nomads, castaways, fortune and glory seekers, these guys are not the norm.

Hats off to Whittingham for deciding to stay and work to try to dismantle TCU. That Tennessee called him and Air Force coach Troy Calhoun is a very big deal.

I remember the summer after Utah finished third in the MWC at 5-3 in 2007 for the second straight year. His team got embarrassed at UNLV 27-0 and there were a few rumblings on the hill. Standing on the patio of The Country Club with 1280 The Zone's John Lund, he asked me on a remote on-air hookup what I thought of Whittingham.

There is a reason BYU offered him the Cougar job, I told Lund — he's good. It was a BYU job he accepted, reconsidered, accepted again and then drew back from during that crazy week in December 2004.