So let's start off with a very special guest, my first opportunity to interview the new offensive coordinator for the University of Utah. He is Jason Back on a Thursday afternoon. Jason, how are you. Thanks for the time.
I'm doing great, Spence, thank you, no problem.
Well, congratulations on the new job. First and foremost, here's my first question, right out of the gates. What Kyle Whittingham bronco Minute Hall. What makes them similar? What makes them different?
Both defensive guys, both have a certain culture, toughness, grit that they want in their players and they develop in their players. Obviously, being on different sides of the rivalry, they Yeah, that's brought out a different competitiveness than each of them in their relationship. But they are very different.
And obviously I'm just getting a little bit, but Proker's a little more introverted and coach With's a little easier and to you know, talk with as I've been out on the road with them, and so yeah, I'm looking forward to finding that out more though as we keep going.
You know, Jason, the list of coaches that I can ask that question too is very very short, Like you're the right, there are very few coaches that have experience with both.
That's true, but maybe more than you think. I'm not sure, you know, as you dive into it.
Well, and that's one of the unique things about this Utah BYU rivalries, you know, the cross pollination between coaching staffs, And wanted to get your take on that because from the outside looking in, fans like to stoke the fire of and of course, you know, whoever you support, wherever you went to school, that's going to be.
How you lean.
But how would you describe what I perceived to be a very unique dynamic. You can look across the landscape at college football and maybe one coach from Bama ends up at Auburn or something like that. Yeah, but the list of coaches on both sides that I've experienced with the other is pretty stunning, and it makes this rivalry Jason kind of one of one.
Yeah, that is pretty pretty interesting and it's great to be a part of because I've been at other schools like Syracuse where they kind of have a rival but it's not really you know, their rivals Boston College and they kind of have a thing with Pitt, but it's not near that same, Uh, you know, spirit of the rivalry that you experienced here in Utah, which is great to be a part of. And so, yeah, that is a unique for both those programs and kind of that coaches on each side of it.
So, Jason, I know you've been asked this, but this is my first opportunity to have you on this show and interview one on you know, interview you one on one. And according to reports, you were a candidate for several jobs several schools to call plays and be the offensive coordinator. What landed you on saw Lake City? What landed you on the universey of Utah? What were the elements that made you accept this job and say no to the others?
Yeah, it was kind of up for for a couple of different P four jobs. And you know, Utah is a great program with a great history and a lot of success, and so it's a situation where you look at it and you can you feel like you have every opportunity to be at the top of that conference and to have a lot of success and to be a part of a program like that was a great opportunity. You know, Utah is a great state to live in.
So for my family and I you know, that's a great opportunity to move here and live in the communities here because it's a great place to raise your family, and the stability with coach with and and then to coach Scally is a great, you know, opportunity for a coach that you're looking for and to find in a program that you're choosing.
Let's let's get a little peak beyond the curtain about the interview process. I'm curious and obviously, you know, keep to yourself what you need to and that's part of the deal when you're talking behind closed doors to peers and coaches and people are going to work with and work for. But what were some of the questions that were posed to you by coach Wit and maybe coach Scally and how did you sell your vision to them that ultimately landed in this partnership.
You know, there was I knew there was some interest from you through the process early on, mainly coming from third parties kind of other people just reaching out to
gauge interest, you know, that kind of thing. There wasn't a lot of necessarily interview, sit down, question answer interview type of thing as maybe some of the other jobs, but there was a deep dive into watching the film of you know, what I was doing offensively in the scheme, and so you could tell there's a lot of knowledge about what what I was doing offensively and why they
had interest that way that was more unique to the process. So, yeah, I could tell there'd been between with Scaley and other people around the program. Man, They've watched a lot of film on me, and I'm assuming several other coordinators that they were looking at and kind of letting I guess that be the resume much more than what you had to say in an interview type setting.
So for our youth fan listeners who are not familiar with Jason Beck and his offensive ethos and his belief in how offensive football should be played, how much of it is simply your system and how much of it is simply all right, let me see what sort of talent I have at my disposal. Then we're going to cater a game plan around that.
Yeah, it is very much personnel driven. Catered the game plan to your best players, starting with the quarterback, next what the old line can do, and then lastly kind of all the other skilled players you're putting around around that. And so every year it has been different. You know, some years you're thrown it for a lot, some years are rushing it for more. You know, it's very it's very much catered and built around the personnel.
Tell me, you know when it comes to obviously you haven't been on the ground for that long, but there have been so many things that have happened since you have been hired. What sort of role, Jason, have you had in say, the re recruitment of Isaac Wilson And obviously your former New Mexico quarterback is now on campus here with Devin Dampier, and you're the offensive of course offensive coordinator, so of course you have a seat of
the table. But was it drinking through a fire hose when you landed where there are a lot of things that you kind of had to jump right into when it came to the reacquisition and then acquisition of some of the kids that are going to be playing for Utah football next year.
Yeah, with the landscape of college football now, this coordinator higher needs to happen pretty fast before that portal opens, or ideally it happens before that portal opens. So you're heavily involved with that, both in retaining, in attracting players and identifying, you know, the pieces you want for what
you're doing. So, like talking about Isaac when it was coming up and it was rumored Devin might be coming, there's some concern there, you know, that led to going in the portal, and so yeah, it was absolutely a recruiting to keep Isaac here because when I watch him, he has a lot of talent and a lot of ability, and you know, my background developing quarterbacks and UH and helping quarterback play I thought would be a strong attraction. And so I you know, I wanted to keep him here.
And there's a lot of people are on the program that helped with them, that were involved with that. That was some of the first stuff I was doing. So fortunate then they have all the old line coming back and UH with coach Harden and the great job he's done here, that was pretty solid, and then everything else was kind of had to be addressed through through keeping players and through getting players through the portal.
Is the plan that Devin's the starter certainly feels that way.
Yeah. I mean that's definitely with the history and the background and the interest and the commitment all that that's for Devin not to come in and be in uh uh up front getting reps. You know, that just makes sense. And my job is to develop and coach all of those guys in the room and develop all those guys. And because everybody, you know, anybody's a play away. Anybody's a play away. So you've got to be developing the
whole room. But it's nothing's just handed to you. You've got to still earn it, improve it, and show it all the time. But Devin has a head start. He knows the offense, he knows the verbiage, he knows you know, how that all works. And so he's coming in in that position while everybody else is competing for the opportunities behind that. And like we told everybody, I mean, if if somebody's clearly out playing somebody else, the best guy's gonna play. You know, I'm not coaching my son in
pee wee football. And so but Devin's in an advantage with everything, and he's a really talented player, which is why we want and to get him here.
Well, Jason, at the last two years or any indicator, you need to be five deep at the quarterback position for the Utes. Unfortunately, that's been what has transpired because of the lack of health. So besides Devin and besides Isaac, how's that room looking right now? And are you looking to add to it?
Yeah, we're well, right now we're full in the room. We've brought in a couple other transfers. Of course, you guys know Nate, he was here previously and he's back and so he'll be doing some stuff in the QB room, but kind of also seeing what else he can add to the offense. Brendan transferred in from Oklahoma, so he's
in that room working. A couple high school kids that were signed by the previous staff with Bird and Wyatt or here, they're on campus, so they're you know, starting to wrap their heads around college football and what that's like and what those expectations are. And then we got a couple up good walk ons to the program and Drew and Dollon that are also a part of that NIXT. So yeah, right now there's there's seven guys that were
development and working with for that reason that you're talking about. Now. Hopefully we don't hit that, hopefully we don't see five quarterbacks, but but that is the reality. You got to your coach and everybody up developing everybody. And you know, I lived in that world as a player, just you know, being a play away as primarily a backup in my time.
Before I said you lose Jason, as a child of a former sports executive that moved a bunch of different times where my dad changed jobs. The most important thing, as the wife out of the kids, how they handling the adjustment.
Well, they haven't moved yet. We're still in the process of doing all that. But you know they've been a part of this thing quite a few times. As the kid get older, that brings different challenges with it. But my wife's amazing, and you know, she's been in this thing the whole time. You know, we got married in college, so she's been been along for this ride the entire time.
And she's amazing. The kids are great and has its pros and cons as you know, and she just try to focus on the best parts of it and make the most of all those things.
Well, Jason, we'll finish where we started. Congratulations on the opportunity, and I appreciate the time, Thank you, sir.
Yeah, absolutely, Fan's good to visit with you, all right.
Jason Beck, the new offensive coordinator for the University of Utah