Meyer gets pursued

Urban Meyer didn't have a lot of spare time Thursday. He was in meetings — and lots of them.

Between visits by officials from Florida and Notre Dame, who flew to Salt Lake City in hopes of wooing the sought-after coach away from fifth-ranked Utah, Meyer updated the Utes on his situation. He told his team that his options had been narrowed to Florida, Notre Dame or staying at Utah.

"I came in the office today and I kind of felt that I've avoided a lot of things for a long time," said Meyer. "I think they deserve to know what's going on, and I told them exactly what's going on. I think they appreciate that."

They did.

"I think he handled it the right way. He told us enough so that we're no longer speculating," said quarterback Alex Smith. "We know where he's at and kind of what he's thinking."

The media, however, wasn't as enlightened. The players honored a request by Meyer not to share too much information with the press.

"There's just too many things involved right now to have any comments," said Meyer, who met with Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White and The Rev. John Jenkins, the university's president-elect, for more than two hours at the end of a busy day.

Details of the meeting were not readily available.

What is known, however, is regardless of what Meyer decides to do, he wants to coach the Utes in the Bowl Championship Series.

"I'm the head coach at Utah. If for some reason I'm not, I still anticipate coaching in the bowl game," said Meyer, a two-time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year, is 21-2 at Utah. He was 17-6 in two seasons at Bowling Green.

On Sunday, the Utes are expecting an invitation to the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz.

"Every single player on this team wants him to coach us in the bowl game. He's been with us since Day 1. We couldn't have done it without him. So why would he leave now? We've got to finish this out," said cornerback Bo Nagahi, who like Pouha and Smith is a team captain. "The season is over, but it's not. We still have that one game left. We're trying to get that 12th win. He's going to be here."

Smith agreed.

"I guarantee he's going to want to coach us in the bowl game no matter what happens," he explained. "He's going to want to be part of this. That's just the kind of coach he is."

Defensive tackle Sione Pouha said Meyer spoke to the team about maintaining its focus.

"He basically told us there's a lot of distractions out there, but he's part of us and we're part of him," said Pouha. "Our main goal right now is to go out and win our 12th game."

The opportunity to do so is one of many reasons why Meyer is such a hot commodity and his current team understands that.