Utah's Kyle Whittingham on college football structure: 'What we do right now is not sustainable'

Utes head coach offered a few changes he felt were necessary to the long-term viability of college football during his first press conference of 2025

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham and his team take on the UCLA Bruins for their 2025 season opener. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

As he addressed the media on Monday, Kyle Whittingham admitted that while he's not the same person holistically, the 65-year-old has all the energy he needs to be on the sidelines after 20-plus seasons as the head coach of Utah.

His feelings toward the changes the NCAA has made regarding the transfer portal and name, image and likeness, pointed to how college sports' governance has been less adaptive than he has been over the past two decades.

In addition to discussing the Utes' Week 1 matchup against UCLA, Whittingham also took some of his 15 minutes at the podium Monday to offer up a few changes he felt were necessary to the long-term viability of college football, including multi-year contracts for players and the implementation of preseason games which wouldn't count toward a team's win-loss record.

Multi-year contracts for players

Whittingham didn't offer a take on the situation his opposing quarterback, UCLA's Nico Iamaleava, went through in the offseason before he transferred from Tennessee to play for the Bruins, though he did voice some approval for multi-year contracts being implemented to provide a sense of structure in roster building.

"Multi-year contracts — I think there's some merit to that," Whittingham said. "But, I think somehow we've got to get to the point where, and again, I say a 'minor league NFL'; not technically, but theoretically; where we're just the same type of setup, same structure, salary cap, that type of thing."

Whittingham's remarks came after Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said earlier in August that he supports federal legislation for implementing multi-year contracts in college sports. As of July 1, schools have been able to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with their student-athletes as part of the landmark House settlement. Harlan said in a news release shortly after the settlement was granted final approval that Utah Athletics plans to share the full amount allotted in revenue share with their student-athletes in 2025-26.

Whittingham added that a player's union seems like a likely outcome.

"What we do right now is not sustainable," Whittingham said. "They've got to figure out a way to get some sanity to the whole thing. The prices are spiraling out of control for the rev-share monies now, and so it's still in a place where I don't think you can continue this way without some major changes."

College football preseason?

Scheduling has been a hot topic in college football lately, with conference games and the importance of a strong nonleague slate sitting at the focal point of those discussions.

Whittingham has a different stance he believes is worth considering, and it might be one some conference commissioners investigate further for themselves at some point.

While mentioning the pros and cons to arranging a power conference opponent out of the gate to start the season, Whittingham offered an amendment to the sport's calendar to carve out time for preseason contests, much like in the NFL.

"If I was going to say, what would I absolutely prefer is probably to have a lesser opponent that you can find out who you are early on," Whittingham said. "But I don't know if college is going to ever go to preseason like the NFL — and that wouldn't be a bad idea, in my opinion, to have a couple preseason games that don't count on the record."

Saturday will mark the Utes' fourth season opener against a power conference opponent since 2011.

Challenges with transfer portal

Whittingham estimated that about 50% of Utah's 2025 roster consisted of players who weren't on the team last season, and that managing that roster turnover in the offseason was difficult between the winter and spring transfer portal windows.

It also wasn't easy to keep track on the balance sheets, either.

"We feel like we did a good job in the portal this year and then, of course, the finances come into play as well," Whittingham said. "Portal guys are more expensive than retaining your own guys; but you can't just retain your own guys, or you'll run out of guys because they'll eventually graduate."

"Typically, high school guys are priced pretty high as well. So it's a balancing act."

Whittingham's assessment of the portal was echoed in an ESPN article posted Monday, detailing the average price range several power conference schools spent to acquire top-end transfers this past offseason. According to ESPN's sources, the highest-paid quarterbacks in the sport, such as Miami's Carson Beck or Oklahoma's John Mateer, will make well over $2 million this season, though $3 million was also suggested by one SEC general manager.

Good running backs ranged from $300,000-$700,000 on average, while solid wide receivers cost about $400,000-$800,000, according to ESPN.

"The NFL has the capologist guys — they manage the cap, and that's essentially what we have to do," Whittingham said. "And it's a challenge, but the portal certainly allows you to go out and replenish if you're thin at a position or whatever, that helps you in that regard. But it's certainly a different ball game than it used to be."

"I guess it could return somewhat to how it used to be, but they're gonna have to have a major overhaul of the rules and how things are structured."