Utah Utes soccer head coach Kyle Whittingham and BYU soccer head coach Kalani Sitake react to a query throughout a gathering for the Coaches Legacy Golf Invitational at Hidden Valley Nation Membership in Sandy on Monday, June 6, 2022. Mengshin Lin, Deseret Information
There will probably be loads of consideration paid to how Kyle Whittingham’s Utah Utes and Kalani Sitake’s BYU Cougars carry out this season.
The expectations are excessive for each applications heading into 2022, and so, too, are the expectations for each coaches.
Earlier this week, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg broke down the nation’s high FBS faculty soccer coaches and put them into 4 tiers — nationwide contenders, subsequent up, overachievers and quick begins.
Each Whittingham and Sitake seem amongst 10 coaches within the subsequent up class, that means, “These coaches have proven they will win on a nationwide foundation, however lead groups that aren’t but considered as annual CFP candidates,” Rittenberg wrote.
The 62-year-old Whittingham — the nation’s second-longest tenured FBS head coach — is available in on the high of the subsequent up coaches as he heads into his 18th season as Utah’s head coach.
“Whittingham’s longevity and consistency jumps out, in addition to his postseason success and skill to transition Utah from the Group of 5 to Energy 5,” Ritttenberg wrote.
“… (Whittingham) has eight straight successful seasons, punctuated with Utah’s first Pac-12 title and Rose Bowl look final 12 months. He owns the bowl season, posting an 11-4 document. Utah additionally thrives in producing NFL draft prospects, regardless of not signing embellished recruiting lessons.”
At 46, Sitake is the youngest within the subsequent up grouping, and tenth in that class. He’s headed into his seventh 12 months because the Cougars’ head coach.
“Few coaches on this class just lately helped their nationwide profile greater than Sitake, who's 21-4 the previous two seasons with two AP top-20 finishes,” Rittenberg wrote.
“Even earlier than 2020, Sitake recorded wins towards USC, Wisconsin and Tennessee, and has 13 wins towards Energy 5 opponents. He has this system arrange nicely to transition to the Massive 12 in 2023.”
One other pair of Utah ties present in Rittenberg’s rankings — Mississippi State’s Mike Leach and Baylor’s Dave Aranda.
Leach, the highest coach within the overachievers class, is a BYU graduate and has been round faculty soccer for a very long time. He was beforehand the top coach at Washington State and Texas Tech, whereas spending greater than a decade as an assistant coach earlier than that.
“Leach is perhaps greatest identified for his big selection of pursuits and quirky persona, however he’s additionally among the many greatest overachievers of his teaching era,” Rittenberg wrote.
Aranda, the No. 1 coach among the many quick begins group, was as soon as Utah State’s defensive coordinator, and he led the Bears to the Massive 12 championship final 12 months in simply his second season as head coach.
“Aranda has Baylor positioned nicely to be an annual contender sooner or later Massive 12,” Rittenberg wrote.