The Ute ( /ˈjuːt/) are Native Americans now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah (3,500 members); Southern Ute in Colorado (1,500 members); and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico (2,000 members). The name of the state of Utah was derived from the name Ute. The The University of Utah, the state's flagship university, has adopted the Ute name as its mascot. The word Ute means "Land of the sun" in their language (www.uteindian.com). "Ute" possibly derived from the Western Apache word "yudah", meaning "high up." This has led to the misconception that "Ute" means people high up or mountain people.

The native Ute language belongs to the Numic division of the Uto-Aztecan family of languages and is a dialect of Southern Numic. However, most current Utes speak only English. Peoples speaking Shoshonean dialects of the Numic family include the Bannocks, Comanches, Chemehuevi, Goshutes, Paiutes and Shoshones. They share an individual language with Shoshonean.

Kyle Whittingham (born November 21, 1959) is the head football coach of the University of Utah Utes. Prior to becoming the head coach at Utah, Whittingham served as Utah's defensive coordinator for ten seasons. He was named head coach of Utah after Urban Meyer left for the Florida Gators in 2004. He won AFCA Coach of the Year and the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award in 2008.

Whittingham played linebacker for the BYU Cougars from 1978 to 1981. In 1981 he earned first-team all-WAC and WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. Whittingham was also named the defensive MVP of the 1981 Holiday Bowl. He played in all of the first four Holiday Bowls. In his first appearance, he played as a running back and the other three as a linebacker, during which he recorded 27 tackles. In 2009, he was inducted into the Holiday Bowl Hall of Fame.

He graduated from BYU in 1981 and went on to play linebacker for the Denver Gold and New Orleans Breakers of the USFL and the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL. He also played for the Los Angeles Rams' replacement squad in 1987.

Andrew Walter "Andy" Reid (born March 19, 1958) is the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL, a post he has held since 1999. Since 2001, he has also been the team's executive vice president of football operations. He led the Eagles to five NFC championship games, including four consecutive appearances from 2001-2004, and to Super Bowl XXXIX in 2004.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Reid attended John Marshall High School and worked as a vendor at Dodger Stadium as a teenager. He also played youth sports in Los Angeles, and among his coaches were Pete Arbogast, who is the radio announcer for the USC football team, and formerly the radio play-by-play man for the Cincinnati Bengals. In 1971, at age 13, Reid appeared live on Monday Night Football during the Punt, Pass, and Kick competition. Reid played offensive guard and tackle at Brigham Young University for head coach LaVell Edwards.

After graduating from BYU in 1981, he spent one year as a graduate assistant on the school's football coaching staff. He spent the next nine years as an offensive line coach with four different colleges, including in 1986 with Northern Arizona University when he coached Frank Pollack, who went on to play for six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. He was hired as an assistant coach by the Green Bay Packers in 1992, the same year quarterback Brett Favre became a member of that team. Reid was named the Packers' quarterbacks coach in 1997, the season after the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI.