What’s going on in the Big 12 and beyond? I expand and explain every Sunday in Postscripts at Heartland College Sports, your home for independent Big 12 coverage.
This week, there is a lot going on at Utah, and what exactly is the Big 12 doing with RedBird and Weatherford Capital?
Utah’s Long-Awaited Turnover
Kyle Whittingham’s tenure at Utah ended earlier this week as the long-time Utah head coach stepped aside. I remember Whittingham’s off-handed comment at Big 12 media days in 2024 in Las Vegas. He was talking about Utah’s just-agreed-to neutral site game in 2026 and made a comment that he would be there if he were still coaching. Something to that effect.
Well, that game doesn’t appear on Utah’s 2026 schedule right now. They have home games with Idaho, Arkansas, and Utah State. Morgan Scalley, the defensive coordinator who was named head-coach-in-waiting two years ago, will take over the program. The long-time Utes assistant and Whittingham protégé finally gets his chance to call the shots. He’s spent his entire coaching career at Utah. He’s never been a head coach. I honestly have no idea what to expect.
For now, let’s tip our hat to Whittingham. He played at BYU, did some time in both the NFL and USFL as a player, and started his coaching career with BYU in 1985 as a graduate assistant. He joined Utah as an assistant coach in 1995 and worked there for a decade until he ascended to head coach when Urban Meyer left that job for Florida. Meyer was job-hopping. Whittingham was not.
Utah has a rich history in football. The program has won 26 conference championships. Whittingham added to that list three times in 2008, 2021, and 2022. The last two were in the Pac-12 Conference, as the Utes finally got a power-conference invitation. The back-to-back titles were a crescendo and validation for everything Whittingham built. He also reached three other Pac-12 title games.
He didn’t want to go out like 2023, when the Utes were beset by injuries and went 5-7. This season certainly had to be more satisfying, as Utah went 10-2. Its only losses were to Texas Tech and BYU, the teams that made the Big 12 title game. No shame there. Utah’s undefeated 2008 team was named the national champion by Anderson & Hester, a computer ranking system not recognized by the NCAA. But it also won the Sugar Bowl.
Whittingham leaves Utah with a 177-88 record, which is a winning percentage good enough for the College Football Hall of Fame. We’ll have to see what voters think of his case when he’s eligible.
But is he done coaching? The word “retirement” was used when the news broke, but no one at Utah or in Whittingham’s camp has used the word. Several reports have Whittingham interested in continuing to coach. If so, then why leave this job, one he made one of the best in the country? It’s curious, to say the least.
For now, we’ll watch and wait to see what, if anything, he does next. But he did a fantastic job at Utah. No one can deny that.
Utah’s $500 Million Bet
Before Whittingham stepped aside, Utah did this.
The private equity deal, worth a reported $500 million, puts Utah’s athletic department in a partnership with Otro Capital and creates a for-profit entity called Utah Brands & Entertainment LLC. Per Dellenger’s report:
The new company’s primary goal is to generate more revenue across an assortment of areas, including ticketing, concessions, corporate sales, and sponsorships. Charged with overseeing and operating the revenue-share pay system for Utah athletes, the new entity provides the department with more flexibility and freedom, considering it will operate separately from a public university.
In addition, Utah is giving well-heeled donors a chance to purchase a stake in the partnership, no doubt a chance to boost more revenue.
It’s not easy to understand. But The Athletic provided a solid summary of the top line.
Essentially, Utah gets money up front, Otro gets a cut every year and Utah has an out after five years. Whether this is good for the athletic department long-term is a good question. Anytime you let outsiders into something like an athletic department it tends to end badly. Utah’s structure for the deal sounds solid, but I’m sure there are nuances we haven’t seen yet.
Before it joined the Big 12, we all know that Utah pined for the Big Ten. There’s a solid reason why — money. The Big 12 is behind in that area and no one argues that point, not even commissioner, Brett Yormark. This kind of deal would help bridge the gap, make Utah more competitive in NIL and ease the weight of the new revenue-sharing for both the athletic department and the university.
In that way, it’s a win for Utah. But what about the rest of the Big 12? About that …
The Big 12’s Potential Big Deal
Yormark hasn’t gotten his university presidents and athletic directors on board with private equity enough to do a conference-wide deal. He’s tried, but no one is biting. Well, except Utah. So, he’s attempting the next best thing.
Earlier this week, Dellenger, the busiest dude in journalism when it comes to covering the business side of the game, reported that the league is on the cusp of a deal with RedBird and Weatherford Capital for what would be a $500 million infusion of cash for the league and its members. These are private equity firms, but this isn’t necessarily a straight PE deal, which makes it a bit unique from what Yormark has tried previously.
Dellenger described it as a three-pronged approach. The Big 12 Conference would get an infusion of cash, and RedBird would help drive commercial business, help create new business, and even help the Big 12 find investment opportunities. Second, each Big 12 school would get access to up to $30 million in cash as needed. Third is a strategic relationship to make the Big 12 office more “professionalized.” Yeah, not sure what that last part means.
Some of this sounds like up-front money, initially to the league office, money the league would likely pay back as a cut on the back end of any deal or investment. One might assume that moving forward, RedBird and Weatherford Capital would get cuts of any deals the Big 12 signs as a conference and would probably help get those deals done.
The line of credit is intriguing. Giving the schools an opt-in or opt-out is smart. It will make the schools more comfortable with it. Without knowing how the money gets paid back, though, it’s hard to grade whether it’s a good thing for schools. The deal isn’t final and the long-form contract hasn’t been signed. But there’s a clear read-between-the-lines here. The schools that use it will probably be more competitive than the schools that don’t. Plus, $30 million is only going to handle less than two years of revenue-sharing. How will schools get to use the money?
Competition is based on money in college athletics now. We know this. Yormark knows this. It’s another way to move the needle. With a straight PE deal too much for league members, this seems like the next-best thing. Yormark has been clear that he’ll do everything possible to keep his league competitive. This certainly falls in line with that goal.
I wonder if the Big Ten is taking notes?
