Whittingham resigns, the Jazz tanks and an NHL team gets a name

The only thing constant is change.

That was the case for Utah sports in 2025.

We said goodbye to Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham and welcomed newcomers like AJ Dybantsa and Avery Neff.

Utah’s hockey team and the Olympics get new names.

And your favorite student athletes got new cars thanks to a payday unlike any college sports you’ve seen before.

These are the stories that defined Utah sports this year.

Tanks useless?

The Utah Jazz’s season was set for one moment.

For 82 games, the story was more about who didn’t play than who did; The NBA suspended Utah for sitting star forward Lauri Markkanen among other players despite being healthy.

The losses were wins, and the worst record in franchise history put the team in the best possible position to win the NBA draft lottery and draft Duke phenom Cooper Flagg, projected as a future superstar.

Instead, the ping pong balls fell to the Jazz. Not just once for the No. 1 pick, but a total of four times because the maximum number of teams skipped over Utah. Dallas took Flagg first. Ace Bailey, an athletic wing from Rutgers with huge potential but considerable risk, ended up being the No. 5 pick in the Jazz’s June selection.

While Bailey looks relatively promising, the moment showed an ugly truth about the Jazz in 2025: The rebuild appears to be taking much longer than management and ownership envisioned when they traded Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert four years ago.

—Andy Larsen

The high price of college athletes

Money can’t buy happiness?

Don’t tell college athletes, coaches and administrators.

Schools across the country have made millions of dollars this year to pay players because the House vs. The NCAA opened the door to revenue sharing.

AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 high school recruit in the nation last year, arrived in Provo with a multimillion dollar deal and now the Cougars are ranked in the top 10 in the nation.

BYU football coach Kalani Sitake flirted with Penn State but ended up staying in Provo after receiving a new contract that will reportedly pay him $9 million a year.

These costs add up, and many schools have deficits of $20 million or more. That’s one reason the University of Utah earlier this month became the first school in the country to partner with a private equity firm to handle its athletic department’s revenue.

—Aaron Falk

The Millers buy a football

The Miller family is back in major league sports.

After selling their majority stake in the Utah Jazz in 2020, it didn’t take long for the Millers’ interest in the sport to rekindle. The family led the charge for Major League Baseball’s expansion bid in Salt Lake City. And in April, Miller Sports + Entertainment bought a controlling stake in Real Salt Lake and the Utah Royals.

RSL has made the postseason each of the past five years despite being one of the most frugal teams in Major League Soccer.

—Aaron Falk

Jake Retzlaff walks out, but BYU rebounds

Before there was a place in the championship, this summer in Provo was chaos.

BYU thought it had it all figured out after a 10-win season in 2024, but a civil lawsuit shook the program to its core.

Quarterback Jake Retzlaff — the face of the Cougars’ resurgence on the national stage — was charged with civil sexual assault in May. The case was later dismissed, but the quarterback admitted to honor code violations at a school owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Facing a seven-game suspension, Retzlaff decided to leave Provo for New Orleans to play at Tulane.

In the end, it worked out for both the quarterback and the Cougars.

BYU replaced its veteran quarterback with true freshman Bear Bachmeier, who took college football by storm. Bachmeier overcame obstacles, with stiff arms, to lead BYU to 11 wins and a berth in the Big 12 Championship game.

Meanwhile, Retzlaff led the Green Wave to the College Football Playoff, eventually losing to Ole Miss in the first round.

The man they called “BYZID” is gone. But the “Air Bear” has head coach Kalani Sitake’s program on the run.

—Kevin Reynolds

Kyle Whittingham resigns

In the past 20 years, there hasn’t been a bigger presence in Utah sports than Kyle Whittingham.

The Utes head football coach won 177 games, three conference titles and a trio of national coach of the year awards during his illustrious career.

But after two decades at the helm, Whittingham announced this month that he is stepping down from his role after New Year’s Eve at the Las Vegas Bowl. Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley has been named the program’s next head coach.

It’s a long-planned passing of the torch – only now it’s taking a turn.

Whittingham has not committed to retirement. Instead, the 66-year-old said he might consider coaching elsewhere after leaving Utah.

It will be pretty weird not seeing him patrolling the sidelines at Rice-Eccles Stadium next year. It would be even more strange to see him in another school’s colors.

—Aaron Falk

Hockey in Utah is getting a new name

Fangs up, Utah hockey fans.

After playing its inaugural season as a hockey club in Utah, the state’s NHL franchise has a new name and identity.

The Utah Mammoth may not have been owner Ryan Smith’s first choice, but they were quickly embraced by the thousands of raucous fans that now fill the Delta Center.

The team unveiled its new logo, uniforms and mascot this year.

Now all that’s left is for the franchise to take the next step in its rebuild and make the playoffs.

—Aaron Falk

Anti-LDS chants college games are futile

Arenas and stadiums have become hostile environments for the BYU faithful this season.

Opponent fans chanted “F— the Mormons” on several occasions directed at Brigham Young University’s religious affiliation. It happened in Arizona, Colorado, Cincinnati and Providence.

BYU administrators grappled with how to respond to the derogatory chants — some wanted a strong condemnation and others wanted fines and more actionable punishments.

With the end of the year, there is still no concrete answer. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said whatever policy the league adopts must change people’s behavior.

“After this football season, we’re going to come together as 16 institutions and figure out how we can improve,” Yormark told The Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s about changing behavior and we’re going to do it.”

—Kevin Reynolds

The Royals are selling their stars

The return of the Utah Royals did not bring many wins on the field.

However, there was hope that the team could be built around rising star USA Women’s National Team player Ally Sentnor. The No. 1 pick in the 2024 NSWL draft, 21-year-old Sentnor has been a bright spot for the struggling franchise.

But when Sentnor requested a trade, Utah quickly complied, selling the outfielder to powerhouse Kansas City in exchange for $600,000.

– Aaron Falk

The first phenomena

The experience is nice.

Talent is better.

That’s how it went in 2025, when Utah and BYU were dominated by first-year athletes.

Utah gymnast Avery Neff burst onto the scene despite serious injuries and helped lead the Red Rocks back to the NCAA Final Four.

In Provo, quarterback Bear Bachmeier got the Cougars to the Big 12 title game for the first time. AJ Dybantsa is on track to become one of the first names in the NBA draft. Running back Jane Hedengren, meanwhile, was arguably the best of BYU’s young trio. The cross-country sensation finished second at nationals and set a number of records.

—Aaron Falk

Naming games

What’s in the title? As for the official name of the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Games, not Salt Lake City.

Instead of sticking with the moniker used during the International Olympic Committee’s bid process — Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 — they went with something considerably less detailed:

Utah 2034.

Dropping Salt Lake City from the name will make the event more inclusive, said Brad Wilson, CEO of the 2034 Organizing Committee. He noted that the sporting event footprint includes 13 venues in five counties.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said she wants the 2034 Games to “uplift the state.” Still, she said of her city’s exclusion from the new name, “It hurts.”

“I don’t think anyone expected the name change,” she added, “because it’s not a typical thing.”

— Julie Jag