SALT LAKE CITY — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham had little to say about a Twitter report that U. alums Norm Chow and Tim Davis would be joining his staff as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, respectively.
"As of this evening, there is nothing to report," Whittingham said before declining additional comment.
He did, however, confirm that no announcements of any kind would be made Wednesday night.
Speculation mounted after Tom Dienhart, national college football writer for Rivals/Yahoo, sent out the following "tweet" on Wednesday: "I have learned Utah is expected to hire Norm Chow as OC and Tim Davis as offensive line coach. Hires could happen soon."
Chow, who spent 27 years as a coach in various capacities at BYU, has spent the past three seasons as UCLA's offensive coordinator.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Johnson "appears set to take a similar position with UCLA." That, continued the report, would leave Chow with two options: accepting a demotion to position coach or accepting a buyout. The paper reported that Chow signed a two-year extension last summer, worth $1 million.
However, a source close to the UCLA program told the Deseret News that Chow is still employed at UCLA and is expected to attend a recruiting meeting with the other coaches this morning.
Chow is a Utah alum and was a three-year letterman at guard from 1965-67.
Davis, who has worked at Minnesota since 2008, also lettered three times for the Utes.
The former offensive tackle played from 1978-80 and returned as an assistant coach from 1990-96. He was on the Idaho State staff with Whittingham in 1989 and worked with Chow at USC from 2002-04.
Vacancies on Utah's coaching staff were created when John Pease retired after the BYU game and Blake Miller reportedly accepted a job at Memphis following the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas loss to Boise State.
Pease coached the defensive line and also served as assistant head coach. Miller oversaw the offensive line.
Contributing: Dick Harmon
e-mail: dirk@desnews.com
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...And the Utes can't afford to buy out Boylen's contract.
It seems that the Utes are spending all of their money on football. Now if they can pull Lavell out of retirement, they will have gotten the band back together.
Let's More..
Another great move by the best coach in college football, Kyle Whittingham.
Let's face it, Norm Chow loves Utah, but he wasn't treated professionally at BYU. At BYU, Norm was subjected to prejudice and racial slurs. This was even More..
When I read about Norm Chow this morning, I immediately got on Cougar Board to see how our disloyal, unrealistic fans were reacting. Sure enough, there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of comments denigrating Norm Chow and ridiculing Utah for hiring him. More..