Utah HC Morgan Scalley sends clear message about his future with the Utes

Morgan Scalley is scheduled to join College GameDay live from Presidents Circle on Saturday morning, the third time in four seasons ESPN's pregame show has set up on Utah's campus. The first visit came in 2004, when Scalley was a senior safety on an unbeaten Utes team.

He now coaches a 6-0 team ranked No. 10, one of five FBS programs still without a loss, with No. 14 Houston coming to Rice-Eccles Stadium for a 10:15 p.m. ET kickoff.

That backdrop brought a story from March back up on Friday.

That month, Scalley and his wife, Liz, pledged $2 million to the Utah football program , a gift athletic director Mark Harlan announced before Scalley had coached a regular-season game as head coach.

"My love for this place includes a vision of where we can go and what we can achieve, and it will require an increased effort from everyone who shares in that vision. Liz and I simply wanted to do something for this amazing place that shows our faith in and commitment to the future of this incredible University, and how excited we are for what's to come," Scalley said in the school's announcement .

"Utah's done a ton for me and my family. My wife went here. My entire family went to the University of Utah. There's a lot the Utah family has given us," Scalley said on The Pat McAfee Show, per On3 .

"This is not a Morgan Scalley thing. I said that early on. It's about Utah football. It's about the University of Utah. When I'm gone, again, it'll still be Utah. We wanted to give back and help this community understand that we're in this together. I'm not going anywhere unless they kick me out of here," he added.

How much of his own salary did Scalley give back?

Scalley's five-year, $27 million contract pays a base salary of $3.6 million this season , with $150,000 raises in each year after. The $2 million pledge is more than half of that first-year base. Even with the $1 million promotional payment and the $500,000 from Under Armour included in each year of the deal, the gift equals roughly 39% of what the contract pays him in its first year before incentives.

Kyle Whittingham coached Utah for 21 seasons before taking the Michigan job, about two weeks after Scalley signed his deal in December. Scalley, a Salt Lake City native, has coached nowhere else. He started as an administrative assistant with the Utes in 2006 and spent the last 10 of his 18 seasons as an assistant running the defense. Coming from a coach whose entire career has run through one program, "I'm not going anywhere" sounds like a plain statement of fact.

If Scalley leaves for another job before the deal expires, he owes Utah 75% of his base salary and other contract payments for each remaining year, the same share the school would owe him if it fired him without cause.