SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — With Morgan Scalley as the coach-in-waiting the past two seasons, Utah had a plan in place for a smooth transition when its all-time winningest coach, Kyle Whittingham, decided to retire.
That plan went askew when Michigan hired Whittingham on Dec. 26 — and he brought several assistants with him — leaving Scalley with unexpected holes to fill.
Scalley has since hired coordinators and multiple assistants while working to retain players and keep new recruits on the board.
“I feel like it’s my first birth and I (had) twins,” Scalley joked at his introductory press conference on Tuesday about all of the new faces.
Scalley, who led Utah to a 44-22 win over Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31, compiled a list of assistants at other schools who fit well with the philosophy and schemes he wants Utah to run.
When it came time to rebuild his staff on offense, he focused on maintaining continuity with the potent, high-flying attack former offensive coordinator Jason Beck ran with great success during the 2025 season. That meant bringing aboard OC Kevin McGiven, who used similar concepts, plays, and terminology in the offense he ran at Utah State.
“There has to be a system where you can teach these young men quickly and get an offensive identity established early that allows for that,” Scalley said. “It didn’t hurt that we already had the skill players for that system that had been in that system.”
During a 10-season stint as defensive coordinator under Whittingham, Scalley helped Utah build a reputation for fielding a rugged and stingy defense.
The Utes finished in the top half of their conference in total defense nine times in the past 10 seasons. In 2019, Scalley coached a Utah defense that ranked second nationally and first in the Pac-12 in total defense. The Utes also finished with the top rushing defense in the Pac-12 five times over Utah’s final eight seasons in the league.
In 2025, Scalley guided a Utes defense that ranked top 20 nationally in passing efficiency defense, total interceptions (14) and scoring defense (18.7 points per game).
“He has proven over and over again that he is not only prepared and ready to lead but will excel in taking over our storied football program,” athletic director Mark Harlan said.
Scalley played safety for the Utes from 2001-04 before joining the coaching staff. As a senior, he was the 2004 Mountain West Co-Defensive Player of the Year and a second-team AP All-American.
He had opportunities to coach at other schools over the years, but never felt a strong desire to move on from the school where both he and his father had played.
“I never wanted to leave here. My family is here and I never wanted to uproot that,” Scalley said. “Have there been opportunities? Yeah. Do you listen to those opportunities? Yeah. But then you tell those opportunities, ‘Thank you, but no thank you.’ I’m grateful to be here my entire career.”
Harlan successfully fended off efforts from other schools to entice Scalley away from Salt Lake City. His loyalty created a perception outside the program that Whittingham was pushed to step down after 21 seasons to prevent Scalley from departing elsewhere.
Harlan insisted that he and Whittingham had many long conversations about his future at Utah and that the longtime coach felt at peace over leaving the program in Scalley’s hands going into 2026 and beyond.
“He did not want to use the word retirement and I understood what that meant. He might go coach again,” Harlan said. “It was a healthy process. The legacy of Kyle doesn’t change by any of this. He was extraordinary for this university and he trained Morgan to be the very best he could be.”
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Players dump water and Gatorade on Utah head coach Morgan Scalley after defeating Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl NCAA college football game Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis driver on Wednesday during the Trump administration's latest immigration crackdown on a major American city — a shooting that federal officials said was an act of self-defense but that the mayor described as reckless and unnecessary.
The 37-year-old woman was shot in front of a family member during a traffic stop in a snowy residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets and about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020. Her killing quickly drew a crowd of hundreds of angry protesters.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, while visiting Texas, described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism” carried out against ICE officers by a woman who “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him.”
But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey blasted that characterization as “garbage” and criticized the federal deployment of more than 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of the immigration crackdown.
“What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust,” Frey said, calling on the immigration agents to leave. “They’re ripping families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.”
“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit,” the mayor said.
Videos taken by bystanders with different vantage points and posted to social media show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.
It was not clear from the videos if the vehicle made contact with the officer. The SUV then sped into two cars parked on a curb nearby before crashing to a stop. Witnesses screamed obscenities, expressing shock at what they’d seen.
After the shooting, emergency medical technicians tried to administer aid to the woman.
The shooting marked a dramatic escalation of the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations in major cities under the Trump administration. The death of the Minneapolis driver, whose name wasn't immediately released, was at least the fifth linked to immigration crackdowns.
The Twin Cities have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation, which is at least partly tied to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. Noem confirmed Wednesday that DHS had deployed more than 2,000 officers to the area and said they had already made “hundreds and hundreds” of arrests.
A large throng of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, where they vented their anger at the local and federal officers who were there, including Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.
In a scene that hearkened back to the Los Angeles and Chicago crackdowns, bystanders heckled the officers, chanting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE out of Minnesota,” and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he's prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He said a family member of the driver was there to witness the killing, which he described as “predictable” and “avoidable." He also said like many, he was outraged by the shooting, but he called on people to keep protests peaceful.
“They want a show. We can’t give it to them. We cannot,” the governor said during a news conference. “If you protest and express your First Amendment rights, please do so peacefully, as you always do. We can’t give them what they want.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara briefly described the shooting to reporters but, unlike federal officials, gave no indication that the driver was trying to harm anyone. He said she had been shot in the head.
“This woman was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue. ... At some point a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot and the vehicle began to drive off," the chief said. "At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”
There were calls on social media to prosecute the officer who shot the driver. Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said state authorities would investigate the shooting with federal authorities.
“Keep in mind that this is an investigation that is also in its infancy. So any speculation about what has happened would be just that,” Jacobson told reporters.
The shooting happened in the district of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who called it “state violence,” not law enforcement.
For nearly a year, migrant rights advocates and neighborhood activists across the Twin Cities have been preparing to mobilize in the event of an immigration enforcement surge. From houses of worship to mobile home parks, they have set up very active online networks, scanned license plates for possible federal vehicles and bought whistles and other noisemaking devices to alert neighborhoods of any enforcement presence.
Dell'Orto reported from St. Paul, Minnesota. Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Ed White in Detroit, Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas, and Mark Vancleave in Las Vegas contributed.
People protest as law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People protest as law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
A bullet hole is seen in the windshield as law enforcement officers work the scene of a shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People protest as law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Photographer King Demetrius Pendleton has his eyes flushed after being hit with chemical irritants in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Ben Hovland /Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
A bullet hole and blood stains are seen in a crashed vehicle on at the scene of a shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Ben Hovland/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - People protest as law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
A bullet hole is seen in the windshield as law enforcement officers work at the scene of a shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People protest as law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
A bullet hole is seen in the windshield as law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
Law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
A bullet hole is seen in the windshield as law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
FILE - Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears before the House Committee on Homeland Security on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Federal law enforcement officers stand near a roadblock at Portland Avenue and East 32nd Street, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, after reports of a shooting involving federal agents in Minneapolis, where immigration enforcement has been conducting a major crackdown. (AP Photo/Tim Sullivan)
Federal law enforcement officers stand near a roadblock at Portland Avenue and East 32nd Street, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, after reports of a shooting involving federal agents in Minneapolis, where immigration enforcement has been conducting a major crackdown. (AP Photo/Tim Sullivan)
