Morgan Scalley (born October 8, 1979) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach. He is the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

and

safeties Safety is the condition of being protected against harmful conditions or events, or the control of hazards to reduce risk. Safety may also refer to: Places * Safety Island, Antarctica Government * The Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating t ...

coach at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, positions he has held since 2016. He played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

at Highland High School in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

and college football at Utah as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

Playing career

Scalley was a defensive back at Utah from 2001 to 2004. During his career there, he was named an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...

co-defensive player of the year, a unanimous first-team all-conference safety, as well as a second-team All-Mountain West Conference in 2003 and a 2× Academic All-American. Scalley was presented with the inaugura
Pat Tillman award
during the 2005 East-West Shrine Game.

Coaching career

University of Utah

Scalley began working at Utah in 2006 as an administrative assistant before being named a graduate assistant in 2007. He was promoted to safeties coach in 2008, also assisting with special teams. He added the title of recruiting coordinator in 2009, and also added special teams duties in 2015. Scalley was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2016 following the retirement of John Pease. As the lead strategist of one of the nation's top defenses, Scalley was named a

Broyles Award The Broyles Award is an annual award given to honor the best assistant coach in college football. First awarded in 1996, it was named after former University of Arkansas men's athletic director Frank Broyles. The award is presented in Little ...

finalist in 2019, an award given to the top assistant coach in college football. On July 1, 2024, Scalley was announced as Utah's head-coach-in-waiting. He previously held that designation until it was rescinded in 2020 following an investigation into his alleged use of improper racial stereotypes.

Suspension

Scalley admitted in June 2020 that he used a racial slur in a text to a recruit in 2013 and was promptly suspended by the university. An investigation revealed that there were also two additional incidents where Scalley was accused of using racial stereotypes. He was reinstated to his position as defensive coordinator after an external review by the university, but was reported to have taken a significant pay cut and the offer from the university to be its head-coach-in-waiting rescinded among other penalties.

Personal life

Scalley is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, and served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

for the church to

Munich, Germany Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He and his wife, Liz, have three children.

References

External links

Utah profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scalley, Morgan 1979 births Living people American football defensive backs Utah Utes football coaches Utah Utes football players All-American college football players Coaches of American football from Utah Players of American football from Salt Lake City Latter Day Saints from Utah