The head coach-in-waiting role has become a relic in college football, especially as modern recruiting moves away from players staying on campus for five years. Even with internal promotions remaining common, athletic departments are much more reluctant to commit. But while most of the sport moved away, Utah steered directly in.
The Utes named Morgan Scalley head coach-in-waiting back in 2024 to help retain the heralded defensive coordinator. Finally, in 2026, the program moved on from Kyle Whittingham and handed the keys to the former All-American Utes safety.
Through seven games, the Utes are 7-0, with six wins by at least two touchdowns. This week, they face their first big test as No. 14 Houston comes to town for a historic moment with Big 12 and College Football Playoff implications on the line.
So how does Scalley's performance so far rank among the other notable head coaches-in-waiting of the 21st century? It's still early, but there's a lot to like.
However, we begin our list with two assistants that never stuck around and ultimately landed other head coaching jobs.
Will Muschamp, Texas
Previous coach: Mack Brown
Muschamp was only 32 when he won a national championship with Nick Saban at LSU, and helped lead Texas to a national title game as defensive coordinator. In 2008, Texas named Muschamp its coach-in-waiting behind Mack Brown to convince him to turn down interviews with major openings.
However, Brown had no timeline for leaving the role, and Muschamp was ultimately poached as head coach at Florida. Brown coached through 2013 before he was pushed to resign. Muschamp had one successful season in 2012, but otherwise posted a 10-14 conference record with the Gators before he was fired in 2014.
James Franklin, Maryland
Previous coach: Ralph Friedgen
Franklin was a longtime Maryland assistant and a perfect successor to Ralph Friedgen, given his DMV recruiting ties. He was named coach-in-waiting in 2008 when he returned to College Park after stints with the Green Bay Packers and Kansas State. Instead, new athletic director Kevin Anderson came in and did not clearly commit to following the agreement.
Instead, Franklin left to take the job at Vanderbilt and kicked off a phenomenal coaching career. Franklin has a 133-62 career record with a Big Ten title and a College Football Playoff appearance. Maryland went to the Big Ten and has not recorded a nine-win season since Franklin moved on. Outside of the pandemic season, Franklin has won 10 straight games against Maryland.
7. Joker Phillips, Kentucky
Previous coach: Rich Brooks
Phillips played at Kentucky and spent more than 15 years with the Wildcats in various coaching roles before he was named coach-in-waiting in 2008. Brooks had a successful run of four straight bowl seasons to close his tenure, leaving Phillips plenty of positive runway entering 2010 at one of the tougher jobs in the SEC.
After making a bowl game in Year 1, Phillips regressed in Year 2 before losing nine straight games to start Year 3. He finished his tenure with a 13-24 record and a 4-20 mark in SEC play before Mark Stoops came in and stabilized the program.
6. Danny Hope, Purdue
Previous coach: Joe Tiller
Like Tiller himself, Hope was an offensive line coach by trade who helped build the dynamic spread offenses of the 2000s. After a successful coaching tenure at Eastern Kentucky, Purdue brought him back as head coach-in-waiting in 2008 to take over in 2009.
Hope wasn't bad in four seasons, recording a 22-27 record with two bowl appearances to end his career. His final season was marred by a five-game losing streak to tank high expectations. Darrell Hazell then took over and went 9-33 in four years, so the Boilermakers might have made a mistake.
5. Morgan Scalley, Utah
Previous coach: Kyle Whittingham
Utah identified Scalley as a rising star very early, naming the former All-American defensive back as head coach-in-waiting prior to the 2020 season. It was briefly rescinded, but reinforced once again in 2024. After Whittingham's success as a promoted defensive coordinator at Utah following the Urban Meyer era, there was no need to mess with the system.
Scalley's start has been sensational, rocketing out to 7-0 and reaching an AP top-10 national ranking. Despite losing multiple key players and coaches to Michigan under Whittingham, Utah has actually taken a few steps forward, especially on defense.
Utah hoped the transition from Whittingham to Scalley would be seamless, but off the field it was not. Regardless, Scalley has met the moment. If he finishes this season on track, he could jump multiple spots on the list by season's end.
4. Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia
Previous coach: Bill Stewart
Coming off a strong season as Mike Gundy's offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, West Virginia brought in Holgorsen as head coach in waiting. Unlike most of the names on this list, the incumbent -- Bill Stewart -- was not on board. In fact, the move was more of a soft firing of Stewart.
Stewart ultimately resigned, and Holgorsen zoomed out of the gates with an Orange Bowl victory. He never reached conference contention after joining the Big 12, but recorded an impressive 61-41 record with six winning seasons in seven years. Since he left, the Mountaineers have had five losing seasons in seven years.
3. Bret Bielema, Wisconsin
Previous coach: Barry Alvarez
Bielema had big shoes to fill when he took over for the legendary Barry Alvarez in 2006, but the rising defensive coordinator had an incredible group of mentors between Hayden Fry, Kirk Ferentz, Bill Snyder and Alvarez. He immediately took the baton from Alvarez and elevated the program.
Bielema took the Badgers to a 12-1 season and a No. 7 finish in 2006, the most wins in program history at the time. He went on to record three additional 10-win seasons and three Rose Bowl appearances before departing for Arkansas.
2. Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
Previous coach: Bobby Bowden
Fisher has become a cautionary tale after a disastrous finish at Texas A&M, but he had a magical run at Florida State. In his first season taking over for Bowden, he won 10 games for the first time in seven years. Between 2012-14, he went an absurd 39-3 with a national championship in 2013 behind Heisman winner Jameis Winston.
Fisher recorded six 10-win seasons, seven AP Top 25 finishes and four AP Top 10s in eight seasons with the Seminoles, one of the most impressive runs of the 21st century.
Things fell apart down the stretch as FSU went 8-8 in ACC play over his last two seasons before he took the escape hatch to College Station. At the same time, the crumbling infrastructure at Florida State under multiple coaches at least suggests that Fisher's struggles down the stretch might have been above his head.
1. Chip Kelly, Oregon
Previous coach: Mike Bellotti
Hall of Famer Mike Bellotti made Oregon into a relevant program. Chip Kelly made it into a superpower. When Kelly arrived at Oregon from New Hampshire, he helped turn Dennis Dixon into a Heisman contender and revolutionized the offense. After the 2008 season, Bellotti stepped into the athletic director's chair and handed the keys to Kelly.
Amazingly, Kelly only coached four years at Oregon. He reached a 46-7 record with three Pac-12 titles and a national title game appearance. While a second title game appearance happened in 2014 under Mark Helfrich, Kelly's fingerprints were all over the program.
Now, Kelly is drawing up wacky sets for Northwestern as they again stun the Big Ten. He's one of the greatest football minds of all time.
