Why is it necessary to announce what your succession plan looks like to the world on July 1st? This obviously isn't normal. Usually, you make a move like this in response to something

I know for a fact there were multiple Utah recruits (incl BYU commits) from last year's class who did not commit to Utah because of questions about Whitt's longevity as head coach. Whitt has already alluded to retirement when he turns 65. We've also started to see other legacy 'old school' coaches like Nick Saban up and leave coaching possibly due to NIL and other new changes. Coaching isn't as fun for the old school that don't necessarily want to modernize.

Kyle Whittingham is Utah Football. He is their LaVell. Their entire recent winning history can all be connected directly to his legacy. Despite losing 5 games last year and 4 games the year before that, Utah may be at their highest peak as a program. They don't want to lose that momentum through a coaching transition. They want as much of that legacy to easily transition to Scalley. Removing all doubt about what succession looks like may help soften that inevitable blow.

One thing is for sure, this will be Kyle Whittingham's last season coaching football at Utah. I'm not sure when the announcement will happen, but knowing Whitt it will be relatively low key. He won't want a season-long swansong to play out. It may be during the season sometime, but it's coming.

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1807795071611183185