Utah Utes football: U. anticipates coach movement

While the who, what, when and where of Utah's impending Bowl Championship Series appearance has yet to be determined, head coach Kyle Whittingham has a pretty good idea of how some other issues associated with the Utes' 12-0 season might pan out.

For starters, Whittingham is confident some of his assistant coaches will be presented with other opportunities.

"There's no question that is going to happen. Selfishly, I'd love to keep everyone on board but I just don't see that happening," he said. "I would never stand in the way of anybody that's trying to better themselves professionally.

"We've got a very good thing going here. This is a great place to work," Whittingham explained. "But there's going to be opportunities come up and I will help any of our guys that have a chance to better themselves."

The speculation has already started. Defensive coordinator Gary Andersen is considered a strong candidate to replace Brent Guy at Utah State. Andersen, however, has declined comment on the situation.

Whittingham is taking a similar stance when it comes to his own future and reports he might follow Urban Meyer's lead and cash in on a higher-paying job elsewhere.

"I'm very happy at Utah and I'm just working on getting ready for a bowl game," he said Monday morning. "No comment on anything job-wise."

No comment, he emphasized, will be his response every single time a report surfaces.

As for his current staff, Whittingham is hopeful the coaching crew can remain intact for the bowl game.

"That would be ideal. That would certainly be ideal to stay together for at least that time frame," he said. "Obviously, there's no guarantee of that happening."

In the meantime, Whittingham is keeping busy. So much so, in fact, that he didn't have much to say about all the coaching changes in the Mountain West Conference. San Diego State's Chuck Long and Wyoming's Joe Glenn were fired over the weekend.

"I don't know. It's a crazy profession," Whittingham said. "I'm completely absorbed in what I'm doing here at Utah and I don't really have time to monitor it and look at what's going on at other places. I don't have time to concern myself with that. I'm just trying to do the best job I can right here."

And this is the place after leading the Utes to their 13th consecutive victory and 20th triumph in 21 games.