Kyle David Whittingham (born November 21, 1959) is an American college football coach and former player.

Prior to becoming the head coach at Utah, Whittingham served as Utes defensive coordinator for ten seasons.

He won AFCA Coach of the Year and the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award in 2008 after leading the 2008 Utah Utes football team to an undefeated season and a win in the 2009 Sugar Bowl over the 2008 Alabama Crimson Tide football team.

He and Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy are the second longest tenured FBS coaches (with one school), trailing only Kirk Ferentz.

A graduate of Provo High School, Whittingham was all-state at linebacker and fullback and earned two letters in baseball for the Bulldogs.

Whittingham played in the first four Holiday Bowls; he was a running back as a freshman in the inaugural and a linebacker in the next three, during which he recorded 27 tackles.

[6] Whittingham graduated from BYU in 1981 and went on to play linebacker for the Denver Gold and New Orleans Breakers of the USFL and the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL.

In the 1995 season, Whittingham replaced his father as the defensive coordinator, who had been hired as the linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders.

Whittingham remained the defensive coordinator for ten years, serving under both Ron McBride and Meyer, until being named head coach in 2004.

After winning the Fiesta Bowl, the Utes' overall record improved to 12–0 under the leadership of junior starting quarterback Alex Smith (in his final season before declaring for the NFL draft) and head coach Urban Meyer, who announced his departure to the University of Florida in December 2004.

[8] Whittingham's first season was an up and down ride for Utah as the team not only adjusted to a new coaching staff, including Andy Ludwig, but also a new offense led by quarterback Brian Johnson.

Utah beat Georgia Tech 38–10, the Yellow Jackets' worst bowl loss by point margin in school history.

Like the year before, the Utes rebounded toward the end of the season, but lost to rival BYU at home by a score of 33–31.

Whittingham led the Utes to a 25–13 victory over the University of Tulsa in the 2006 Armed Forces Bowl, running his record to 15–10 (.600) with Utah.

The following week, wide receiver Brent Casteel was lost for the season in an embarrassing 20–12 loss at home to Air Force.

Overall, Utah finished the regular season holding wins over three teams in the final AP Top 25.

[12] Utah defeated Alabama, 31–17, in the Sugar Bowl,[13] completing the fifth undefeated and untied season in school history.

However, during a 68–27 victory over Iowa State, Utah quarterback Jordan Wynn injured his arm and though he continued to play, the injury impacted the remainder of the season.

After that 8–0 start, the Utes stumbled badly at home against the TCU Horned Frogs, lost a sloppy contest to Notre Dame and then bounced back to end the regular season with victories over San Diego State and rival Brigham Young University.

[32][33] The Utes defeated the Colorado State Rams 45–10 in the Las Vegas Bowl to end the season.

[34] Whittingham led the Utes to a 6–0 start and a #3 ranking in the AP Poll before dropping a 42–24 result to USC.

[39] This came on the heels of Whittingham surging past McBride to become the second-winningest coach in school history, behind only Ike Armstrong.

Whittingham led the Utes to a 8–4 mark in the regular season, which qualified them to the Foster Farms Bowl.

[46] The Utes reeled off an eight-game winning streak to qualify for the Pac-12 Championship Game, an eventual 37–15 loss to Oregon.

[69] Whittingham led the Utes to a 8–4 regular season mark that culminated with a loss in the Las Vegas Bowl to Northwestern.