“Audentes fortuna juvat” — Fortune Favors the Bold

In my other play by play job I work with a Head Coach who lives and coaches by that Latin phrase. It was one of the first things that came to mind late Wednesday night when I confirmed that Utah Head Football Coach Kyle Whittingham named his 24 year old Quarterbacks Coach his new Offensive Coordinator. Brian Johnson is barely old enough to rent a car when he goes on recruiting trips, but he is now in charge of the Utah Offense as it heads into its second season in the Pac 12 Conference.

In the need for full disclosure, I consider Brian Johnson a friend. Not the kind that hangs out or spends holidays together, but still a friend. I first met Johnson when he was just 17 years old and a freshman on the Utah Football team. In the year, where everyone was talking about Alex Smith, Brian Johnson already stood out. He was one of the brightest and most articulate young men I’d come across in my years of coverage collegiate athletics. I knew immediately that the Utes had a good one and so did his Head Coach Urban Meyer and QB Coach Dan Mullen. On their way out of the program and off to Florida both raved about what great hands the Utah Offense was in for the next 3 years. I don’t need to recount the rest of the Brian Johnson story, because anyone reading or caring about this story knows the rest.

I use that example to illustrate that Johnson has always been just a little ahead of his years. So as the debate rages on sports radio and in the Twitter-sphere about whether Whittingham made the correct choice or not, I would simply tell you that nobody will know if this is going to work until Johnson puts on the headset on August 30th against Northern Colorado. One thing I will say is that Kyle Whittingham knows a thing or two about game planning against clever offensive minds and has spoken effusively about Johnson’s feel for the game.

Is there risk with this selection? There’s no doubt about it. Johnson has just 2 years coaching experience and has never been a Coordinator before. While he has played the game at a high level and has become an excellent recruiter in just two years on the job, he’s never called plays or run an offensive staff.

Kyle Whittingham has been around football and coaching his entire life. He is the son of a coach and has forgotten more football than most of us will ever know. This is the biggest hire of his 7 plus season Head Coaching tenure at Utah. He saw in his first go-around in the Pac 12 exactly what it takes to compete offensively with the “big boys”. When Norm Chow left for Hawaii, Whittingham had more than 50 potential candidates for the vacancy. He spent more than a month vetting candidates and after the process was complete his decision was just three offices down the hall.

As with any hire there will be risks, but often times the higher the risk the higher the reward. If you are going to take a risk then it might as well be on a guy that knows something about winning and even more about leading. In hiring Brian Johnson, Kyle Whittingham gets both. This would certainly be categorized as a bold move, now we’ll see if indeed fortune favors the Utes.