ATLANTA, GEORGIA – October 12, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – Officials from the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl today announced that Utah Head Football Coach Kyle Whittingham has been selected as The Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week.
The Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week Award honors the football coach whose program embodies the award’s three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity, while also having success on the playing field during the previous week.
“It is great to see a head coach that has been so loyal to a university and program achieve success the way Coach Whittingham has at Utah,” said Jim Terry, Chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. “Utah student-athletes are being recognized with all-conference awards both on and off of the field and it is a direct result of his leadership of those young men.”
Under Coach Whittingham’s tutelage, Utah has stressed academics and its student-athletes have responded. In 2014, the program registered an Academic Progress Rating (APR) score of 973 out of a possible 1,000. Since he became head coach in 2005, his players have earned three Academic All-America honors and 186 academic all-conference awards.
Over the past decade, Whittingham has shown to be a strong supporter of the National Kidney Foundation of Utah and Idaho. For the past 27 years, the Liberty Mutual Invitational Golf Tournament raises funds for the National Kidney Foundation and it has grown into a BYU-Utah rivalry with the head coaches of both teams either playing in the tournament or being strong advocates of the fundraiser. The event brings in more than $100,000 a year.
On Saturday night, No. 5 Utah remained unbeaten after a 30-24 victory over No. 23 California. With a 5-0 record, the Utes moved up to No. 4 in this week’s AP Top-25 Poll and are receiving the second-most first-place votes. Since becoming head coach in 2005, Whittingham has a 90-43 overall record and is an impressive 8-1 all-time in bowl games, which is tied for the best bowl winning percentage of any coach in NCAA history. In his 20 years of being on the coaching staff at Utah, Whittingham has participated in more Utah victories (170), than any other coach in school history.
The Dodd Trophy – along with the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week Award – celebrates the head coach of a team who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity.
The winner of the 2015 Dodd Trophy will be announced in Atlanta during Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Week. A panel consisting of all previous winners, national media, a member of the Dodd family and a College Football Hall of Fame member will identify the final list of potential recipients at the conclusion of the 2015 season.
