‘You can tell that he’ll die for this program’: Morgan Scalley is ready for his moment

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Morgan Scalley always had big aspirations for his coaching career.

When he was hired by Kyle Whittingham as an administrative assistant in 2006, he told his former defensive coordinator and then-boss that he wanted to be a coordinator within five years and a head coach within 10.

“Little did I know how big of an aspiration that was,” Scalley told the Deseret News earlier this summer.

Scalley was just a bit off in his aspirational timeline — he became a defensive coordinator 10 years after starting his coaching journey, and a little under 20 years after 2006, he became the 24th head coach in University of Utah football history.

As he rose up the coaching ranks, starting with taking over Utah’s safeties room in 2008, Scalley was always jotting down names in his notebook for a potential coaching staff.

He never stopped, filling page after page in that notebook along his coaching journey.

Ten years ago, he sat in cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah’s office, asking him who he would pick as part of his staff.

“He would sit with me in my office and say, ‘OK, out of the blue, if you could choose, who would be your offensive coordinator? Who would you like to have at running back coach?’” Shah said.

Even as opportunities to be a defensive coordinator at other schools came his way — Texas, Oregon, Florida and USC all wanted him to coach their defense, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel — Scalley remained loyal to Utah and waited for his turn to become head coach of the school he played for.

All the while, he continued to prepare.

“I’m a preparer. I want to make sure that I’m not caught off guard. I want to make sure that I’ve got contingency plans,” Scalley said. “So, throughout my years coaching, whether it’s camps, out on the road recruiting, scouting, watching film of other opponents, I just kept track of people I thought that did a great job, who I thought were very good coaches.”

Utah’s plan was for a smooth transition from Whittingham to Scalley, naming him the head-coach-in-waiting so when the time came for Whittingham to retire, Scalley could seamlessly step in and continue what the winningest coach in University of Utah football history had built.

Well, even the best laid plans often go awry.

Whittingham steps down, takes Michigan job

On Dec. 2, 2025, ahead of a Dec. 5 deadline for Whittingham to inform the university of his future coaching plans, Whittingham’s agent, Bruce Tollner, informed Utah that Whittingham “does not intend to retire at the conclusion of the 2025 football season.”

Tollner sent a follow-up email with Whittingham’s request for a raise in the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Whittingham’s contract with Utah, signed in 2022, went through the 2027 season.

In negotiations with the university, Whittingham requested a $1.6 million raise for both years, which would have bumped his total compensation, excluding performance-based bonuses, to $9 million in 2026 and $9.6 million in 2027. Whittingham also requested $20 million in NIL funds and an assistant coach salary pool increase of $2 million.

In an email from Utah deputy athletics director and chief financial officer John Jentz, the university detailed a proposed one-year contract for the 2026 season, which would have increased Whittingham’s total salary to $8 million; however, it noted that Scalley, the coach-in-waiting, would have “full and final oversight in decision-making for the areas of football recruiting/player personnel staffing and the general manager position effective Feb. 1, which was after the 2026 transfer portal closed.”

It also said that, effective immediately, Scalley would have “complete decision-making authority over all football recruiting, roster management and staffing matters that impact the program beyond the 2026 football season.”

Whittingham and the university could not come to an agreement on those terms, and on Dec. 12, the school announced that Whittingham was stepping down after 21 years as Utah’s head coach.

As part of the separation agreement, Utah paid Whittingham a “transition bonus” of $13.5 million.

Scalley was announced as Utah’s new head coach the next day.

Whittingham still had the desire to coach, and as the Michigan job came open following Sherrone Moore’s firing, he threw his hat into the ring.

Less than two weeks after stepping down at Utah, Whittingham was in charge of one of college football’s premier programs, and Scalley wasn’t immune from the shock waves.

Whittingham was supposed to coach Utah’s Las Vegas Bowl game as part of his send-off at the school, but instead, Scalley took over as head coach on Dec. 26. Utah’s new coach was all of the sudden in charge of the team earlier than expected, trying to keep them focused ahead of the bowl game while also trying to figure out his staff and create a transfer portal plan.

“Something that we live by at Utah is no one’s bigger than the team, no one’s bigger than the program,” quarterback Devon Dampier said of the moments after Whittingham left. “So when you lose one person, man, there’s so many other people in the building that we worked so hard to get to this point that one person doesn’t control our destiny.

“So just sticking to that, sticking to our culture. And I mean, Scalley came with so much energy. It kind of lightened us up as players just to feel that energy going into a game and it all worked out obviously.”

In Scalley’s first game as head coach, Utah beat Nebraska 44-22 in a dominant performance, but the work was just beginning.

After more than two decades in charge of Utah, it made sense that Whittingham wanted familiarity as he took a job outside of the state for the first time since 1993, so he extended invitations to members of his coaching staff to join him in Ann Arbor.

Offensive coordinator Jason Beck, offensive line coach Jim Harding, tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham, receivers coach Micah Simon, quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer Jr. and defensive ends coach Lewis Powell left for Michigan, plus longtime strength and conditioning coach Doug Elisaia.

Utah players Smith Snowden, tight end/wide receiver JJ Buchanan, defensive tackle Jonah Lea’ea, defensive end John Henry Daley and Salesi Moa — the second-highest rated commit in Utah history — also made the move to Ann Arbor.

Whittingham’s only loyalty at this point is to his new employer, Michigan, but it was hardly the smooth transition Utah envisioned when it crafted the succession plan.

“When Kyle stepped down and I was named head coach, the couple weeks after that, really hectic,” Scalley said. “All of a sudden he takes the Michigan job. Now I’m coaching the bowl game and you’re doing it in Las Vegas where you got to keep guys out of trouble and focused. And there’s a question as to is Kyle going to take staff.”

The decades of planning and writing down names paid off for Scalley as he was able to quickly assemble a coaching staff that included hires Kevin McGiven (offensive coordinator), Jordan Gross (offensive line), Chad Bumphis (wide receivers), Luke Wells (tight ends), Inoke Breckterfield (defensive ends), Derrick Odum (safeties) and Ryan Gunderson (quarterbacks).

“What we’re seeing now, somebody said it’s such an easy transition. No, not at all easy,” Shah said. “A very methodical, painstaking, meticulous transition. No, nothing was overlooked. Every stone was turned over, every consideration made for years.”

Two days after Scalley’s inaugural win as head coach, before he assembled a complete coaching staff, the transfer portal opened.

Navigating the transfer portal

As expected, some key players followed Whittingham to Michigan, but Scalley was able to keep some of Utah’s most important players in Salt Lake City, selling them on his vision for the program.

Perhaps the most important piece, starting quarterback Devon Dampier, had full belief in Scalley.

“For him to step into the head coaching job, I had full belief in it. No question. I think he’s worked hard to get to this position, and just as time goes on, it keeps reminding me that I picked the right decision just where things have been so far and I’m loving it,” Dampier said.

Loyalty, finishing what he’s started at Utah and playing in front of the fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium were all elements of Dampier’s decision — he’ll also be rewarded handsomely monetarily — but a gesture from Scalley and the coaching staff after Dampier had offseason surgery made a big impression.

“When I had surgery, I came back and our whole entire staff was waiting for me to get off the plane. That meant a lot to me,” Dampier said.

A conversation with Scalley sealed the deal for Dampier’s return.

“Just us having this conversation about what he wanted out of me and just his background and my background, we just got on the same page and I love what he said. I love what I felt and I’m sticking to it,” Dampier said.

Another key piece in the transfer portal puzzle was holding onto Byrd Ficklin, who was the backup quarterback last season but contributed a lot on offense, adding 503 yards and 10 scores on the ground and playing an integral part in multiple Utah wins.

“I think Byrd absolutely loves Scalley. They really clicked right after the bowl game,” Justin Ficklin, Byrd’s dad, told the Deseret News. “Scalley told him as soon as we land back in Salt Lake City, I want to have this one-on-one with you. And him and Byrd talked, he revealed some things to Byrd that Byrd really loved to hear.”

Scalley had conversations with all of the players on the Utah roster ahead of the transfer portal opening, gauging where they were at so he knew how many players he needed to replace.

“Making sure with the transfer portal, are you in or are you out, with very frank conversations with our players, needing to know. All I know is it was a blessing to be surrounded by really good people and to have a plan,” Scalley said.

In the end, 26 players transferred from Utah. Seven — Jonah Lea’ea, JJ Buchanan, Dallas Vakalahi, Don Saunders, Smith Snowden, Tao Johnson and John Henry Daley — were starters or rotation players in 2025.

Scalley added 18 players from the transfer portal, including wide receivers Braden Pegan and Kyri Shoels, running back Steve Chavez-Soto, defensive end Ethan Day, defensive tackle Jireh Moe, cornerbacks James Chenault and Elijah Reed, offensive tackle Cedric Jefferson and tight end Noah Bennee, all of whom are expected to either start or be in the rotation this year.

Utah’s RSNB culture

One phrase was repeated more than any other by Utah’s players during media availabilities this season: “RSNB.”

The acronym stands for “relentless, smart, nasty, ballhawks,” and was the culture that Scalley implemented as a defensive coordinator.

Now as head coach, that culture is something that Scalley has drilled into the entire team. It’s the cornerstone of the way that Utah’s new head coach runs his program.

“Culture is what you believe. It’s how you behave based on that belief and it’s the experience that’s delivered by that behavior. It’s teaching your players, what does elite behavior look like in every aspect of how to win football games,” Scalley said.

Building that culture, Scalley says, is a result of emphasizing it every single day.

“How do you build it? It’s what you practice every day. It’s what you promote,” Scalley said. “If we see behavior that we’ve asked for in our program, promote it. Shout it to the rooftops. They need to know that that’s awesome and then don’t permit anything that’s counter to that culture.

“So it’s simply teaching skill sets and mindsets of winning football teams and winning men and being on top of it every single day. It’s not just words on walls, it’s how you behave every single day. Our behavior should show people what’s important to us. Our behavior is going to show people what our priorities are.”

While the culture builds toward making the players the best they can be on the field, the off-the-field aspect is important too, developing young adults as a whole person at a critical time in their lives. In his introductory press conference, Scalley told his players that the most important title they will ever hold in life is the title of father, and Scalley’s goal is to not only mold his team into successful football players, but also great men.

“This is a profession that allows you to be a light to others, allows you to teach and guide and be an influence on young men, particularly at an age where they’re asking themselves a lot of questions,” Scalley said.

Scalley as a leader

Scalley has successfully commanded a defense for a long time, engineering a unit that has been ranked in the top 25 nationally in fewest points allowed per game five times, including 2025. His defense helped give the Utes a national identity as a tough team to play against.

As he transitioned into being in charge of the entire team, what would his leadership style be?

After working with Whittingham for two decades, there are some things that he’s going to take from the most successful coach in Utah football history, including being a master planner and really good organizationally.

“He understands what it takes to win football games and that is toughness, that is a very strong defense, an offense that is complementary, an offense that doesn’t turn the ball over. There are certain things that it’s just like time tested,” Scalley said.

While some of the overall culture is the same as it was under Whittingham, with an emphasis on toughness, defense and getting players that fit into Utah’s program, Scalley is his own man with his own ideas of how to run a program.

“He and I are different personalities. The way I run or lead the program is going to be different than the way he led the program, just based off my personality alone,” Scalley said.

“Certain aspects to offseason training and conditioning I’ve had different thoughts about, not that I’ve necessarily disagreed with how he did things. I just have my own thoughts about how we can improve and get better.”

There’s the little things, like Scalley blasting music during practices, to larger changes, like Scalley’s new coaching staff, general manager and strength and conditioning staff. The way that Utah recruits and chooses which players to value and offer, from high school to the transfer portal, has been reworked. Scalley will have a different offensive philosophy than his predecessor.

“You have to be physical and then you have to be innovative. You have to always be on the cutting edge. Always be a student. Never think you have the answers,” Scalley said.

The most important thing, which is something he learned from Whittingham, is to be himself — and that’s exactly what Scalley has done since taking over.

“I have to be me. That’s one thing I learned from Kyle. Kyle took over for Urban (Meyer) and the minute he decided, OK, I’m just going to be Kyle Whittingham. And that was a tough position for him to be in, taking over from Urban, who flipped the script on Utah football,” Scalley said.

“So it’s no different, it’s a very tough task for me and people are looking at me and, well, this better work. It’s like, ‘Hey, I believe in it. I believe in what we’re doing,’ so excited for the future.”

The thing that has stood out above the rest in the short time since Scalley took control of the program is his energy.

“That energy, it’s all energy. And that’s one thing I really love that about Scalley, because that’s how I am,” Dampier said. “To bring energy every day, to be consistent, to want the best out of the team and just knowing how to be smart, but also push our team to our full limits. That’s what he’s doing and he’s doing a great job so far.”

The 46-year-old seems a lot younger than that, brimming with vigor. Scalley is very involved in all aspects of the team, which is something his players have appreciated.

“He brings a lot more energy, but he’s also everywhere and every place at every time. No matter if that’s lift, practice, meetings — he’s there, he’s talking, he’s showing his presence,” Ficklin said. “And that’s what I really love, because no matter what, he’s showing his presence, he’s also showing we’re still a family.”

Aside from the energy, players and coaches have noted Scalley’s attention to detail. That was one of Scalley’s strengths when he was crafting game plans as a defensive coordinator, and that has carried over as he leads the team.

“He’s one of the best in the country to do it and there’s a lot to learn from him,” said defensive coordinator Colton Swan. “Work ethic is probably one of them and just his meticulous way about handling his day-to-day business. He spent an enormous amount of time studying film. There wasn’t a stone that was left unturned when it comes to his study habits and things of that nature.”

Ultimately, Scalley’s vision for the team is to be a winning, tough and physical team while being on the cutting edge of innovation in everything they do, and everything he does as a leader is to further that goal and foster the kind of culture he expects.

“I think if I’m asking people to behave — like culture, I’m asking them to live culture — I have to be the living embodiment of it. If culture’s not happening in me, it will never happen through me,” Scalley said. “That’s the biggest reason why they see what they see every day is I want them to know that I’m all in it with them.”

NIL and the transfer portal

Scalley begins his head coaching journey at one of the most turbulent times in college football. An unlimited transfer portal makes it harder for programs to maintain continuity, while revenue sharing caps and NIL guardrails are treated by some teams as mere suggestions.

A Power Four general manager told On3’s Pete Nakos that, “We’re going to have multiple rosters over $40 million in college football this season.”

“The biggest challenges facing college football are no guardrails, basically unsustainable rules. I do believe that everyone sees that and people are trying to get it right,” Scalley said.

Utah doesn’t have a $40 million war chest and isn’t in the very upper echelon of spending in college football. That’s a reality that Scalley knows and is working with, but he feels like the Utes have enough money to be competitive and win lots of games.

This offseason, Utah held onto Dampier and Ficklin, running back Wayshawn Parker and linebacker Johnathan Hall, among others. The Utes have money to spend, but they have to be deliberate on which positions — and which players — to spend it on.

“Are you smart with your money? Do you understand value? Do you understand positional value and how are you using your money?” Scalley said. “We won 10 games (in the regular season) last year and we’re not paying the most money. So I truly believe that, yeah, we’re going to have enough at the University of Utah. Are we going to outspend everyone? No, you don’t have to outspend everyone.”

Utah’s new general manager, Joe D’Orazio, works in concert with Scalley to create the roster and decide who gets paid what.

“We’ve got an amazing general manager who understands the market, who understands what we value in terms of position and according to our offense and defense, what positions are higher value,” Scalley said.

Part of Utah’s strategy when paying players is valuing “production over projection.” That’s something that the coaches are upfront about with players.

“When it comes to freshmen, that’s going to be a projection. Everyone’s projecting because you really haven’t done it yet at the college level. When it comes to our own players that have actually done it, to me, you have to be able to reward production,” Scalley said.

In a world with unlimited transfers and programs that may pay more than Utah, it’s all about rewarding players that have earned it, but it’s also about creating a culture where players will want to stay and be developed for the NFL.

“The experience has to be awesome. If the experience is not awesome, if they don’t believe in the culture and they don’t see the fruits and the benefit of the culture, they’ll leave. So you have to create a culture that’s strong enough that maybe a higher dollar figure doesn’t sway it,” Scalley said at his introductory press conference.

A Utah man

This job is personal for Scalley.

Scalley’s father, Bud, played football for Utah under Ray Nagel, and Scalley grew up going to Rice Stadium to watch the Utes as a kid.

After a standout career at Highland High, where he won the Deseret News’ inaugural Mr. Football award, Scalley committed to Ron McBride and Utah — there was no other school he would rather play for.

After serving a Latter-day Saint mission in Munich, Germany, Scalley starred at safety for the Utes, culminating in a senior year in which his Utes went 12-0 and became the first “BCS Busters,” polishing off the season with a Fiesta Bowl win over Pitt.

Scalley, a natural leader during his playing days, jumped right into coaching, starting as an administrative assistant for Whittingham and rising up the coaching ladder to become a highly respected defensive coordinator.

Even as offers came to leave for jobs that some might consider more prestigious, Scalley remained steadfast in Salt Lake City, waiting his turn for his “dream job.”

On Dec. 13, Scalley was sitting in his living room when a call from Ute athletic director Mark Harlan came in. The succession plan had been in place for a while, but when the moment finally came after years of waiting, the emotions rose to the surface for Scalley.

“I started to cry and then my wife started to cry and then my whole crew,” Scalley said.

All of the memories surrounding Utah football, from his childhood to his time on the coaching staff, started flooding through Scalley’s mind.

Then, it was back to business.

“It was a lot of emotion, but ultimately now it’s, OK, you got to succeed,” Scalley said.

The position of head coach at a Power Four football program is unlike any other job in the world. The main job, of course, is to win at a high clip — something Scalley believes that he can do — but the position is multifaceted.

There’s the typical activities of a head coach at any level — running practices, game-planning, making in-game decisions — but there’s so much more — recruiting, managing the transfer portal and roster, developing young men at a critical stage in their lives and even drumming up donor dollars.

There’s responsibility to his players and his coaching staff, but also responsibility to represent an entire university the correct way.

That’s a lot of responsibility, but Utah believes that Scalley is the man to take that on.

“What does the head coach title mean to me at the University of Utah? Responsibility,” Scalley said.

“Responsibility to do it the right way. Responsibility to the university, to a fan base, a donor base, responsibility, primarily No. 1, to the players and their parents who trust me and our staff with their young men to help continue to raise them the right way, to prepare them for life after football because at the end of the day, the majority of them are not going to play in the NFL and they have to have skill sets and mindsets that are transferable to any walk of life.”

Scalley is all-in on Utah — he’s been all-in on Utah his entire life — and in a unique move, he decided to show that with a $2 million donation to the football program.

“I donated because I love this place and I wanted other people to see that I’m all-in. My flag is firmly planted here in Utah. I want this place to succeed. We’ve got an unbelievable donor base. We’ve got unbelievable support,” Scalley said.

“That money’s going to be used for whatever’s going to help our players get better truthfully. That’s what all the money should be used for, is how are we going to develop our players and be elite in every aspect of what we’re doing.”

There’s been no question about how much this job means to Scalley. Just ask his players.

“You can tell that he’ll die for this program, seriously. I don’t know anybody else that is more dedicated to anything than Coach Scalley and I totally mean that,” said safety Jackson Bennee. “So when you see that as your fearless leader, it’s compelling and you want to follow him.”

There has been a positive energy and a buzz in the football facility as the team and coaching staff have rallied around their new leader.

“He’s been here his whole career as a player, as a coach. He has so much invested in the program and you can feel that. He’s been here for so long and just his leadership, his push for the culture to be right in this program — it permeates through every position group,” safeties coach Derrick Odom said.

“… I enjoy it every single day I come to work and get some more of his philosophies on things and what he wants done. … The feel in the building is really positive. I know it’s the honeymoon phase and I get that, but you can feel the genuineness of the whole thing and it’s moving in the right direction, that’s for sure.”

Scalley’s office at the Spence & Cleone Eccles Football Center is the same one Whittingham used. A large window overlooks Rice-Eccles Stadium, which is located just across the street from where Scalley sits in a Utah-branded chair.

Since taking over, Scalley has said and done the right things. He’s won over the Utah fanbase and has earned the respect and trust of his players and assistant coaches.

But Scalley’s head coaching legacy will be measured by the results on the field he can see every day from his office, and others across the Big 12 Conference.

The leadership at the University of Utah believes he’s the right man for the job. Scalley himself believes in what he’s doing.

Now it’s time to prove it on the field.

“What is my mindset as leader of this team? Trust the process. Trust that the culture and what we’re building here is going to succeed and keep loving, keep giving, keep fighting for your guys,” Scalley said.

“I am so blessed to be in the situation I’m in. I understand that, the responsibility that comes with it and I’m going to give everything I can to this.”

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