BYU head coach LaVell Edwards, right, meets with President Ronald Reagan and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, at the White House. The Coach of the Year presented Reagan with a white football signed by the BYU football team and a BYU football jacket. | Deseret News

By Jody Genessy

SALT LAKE CITY — They weren’t mentioned in the same lists, but two iconic college coaches from Utah — the great, late LaVell Edwards and Kyle Whittingham — had their names mentioned amongst an elite crowd of football mentors this week.

Edwards was ranked No. 22 overall on ESPN’s “150 greatest coaches in college football’s 150-year history,” with his crowning achievement being, of course, guiding BYU to the 1984 national championship.

“Edwards did more than lead the Cougars to 19 conference titles, 10 10-win seasons and that incredible run to the 1984 national championship,” the ESPN.com article mentioned. “He did more than take the vertical passing game and use it as a cudgel to bash down the door to the national elite — although grooming five first-team All-American quarterbacks is pretty cool.

“Edwards used college football to take a regional religious institution and turn it into a brand. BYU became known for exciting, entertaining, edge-of-the-seat college football, and it proved that three yards and a cloud of dust wasn’t the only way to win games. It was just the old-fashioned one.”

While Whittingham, who played for Utah alumnus Edwards at BYU, hasn’t quite climbed up that distinguished ladder just yet, Utah’s football coach would be well on his way with more years like this one.

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham walks the field as players stretch before the game against the California Golden Bears at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Thanks to the Utes’ 11-2 record and their second straight Pac-12 South Division title, Whittingham has been named a finalist for the prestigious Bobby Dodd Trophy for Coach of the Year.

The other four finalists include Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck, LSU’s Ed Orgeron, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Baylor’s Matt Rhule.

That honor came the same day Whittingham was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year by the conference.

The Football Bowl Association also named him the 14th-best bowl coach. The 2008 Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama was the highlight, but certainly not the only one. Whittingham has led the Utes to an 11-2 record in bowl games.

The Utes will have a chance to give Whitt his 12th postseason win on Dec. 31 in San Antonio when they take on Texas in the Alamo Bowl.

Other active coaches on that all-time bowl ranking: 2. Nick Saban 14-10; 3. Dabo Swinney 11-5; 9. Mack Brown 13-8; 14. Kyle Whittingham 11-2; 15. Gary Patterson 11-6; 24. Jimbo Fisher 7-2; and 25. Mike Gundy 10-4.