"I have no plans to change anything Governor Huntsman has done on EnergySolutions," he said. But he did say he opposes civil unions, something supported by Huntsman.

Herbert said when Huntsman told him by telephone last Friday he was moving on, it was "kind of like the Fourth of July exploding in your head."

The governor said he had been contacted about the job "a couple of weeks ago" by Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. "I had a few conversations with him, followed by a conversation by phone with the president," he said. But Huntsman didn't accept the ambassadorship until sitting down with Obama in the Oval Office.

In addition to Will's football career, the governor said, they "also talked a lot about service and in some cases, the importance of putting self interest and politics aside in pursuit of those things that are more important to our nation." He said it was not an easy decision to leave the state and thanked Utahns for allowing him to serve.

His spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, announced before the press conference began that "because of the sensitivity of the post Governor Huntsman is being tapped for," there will be no access to the governor "this week at all." He had spent most of last week in Israel, leading a group of Utah companies on a trade mission to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Huntsman was named by the Democratic president to the ambassadorship at a White House press conference Saturday. There had been speculation since Obama's election last November that the new administration was looking at the GOP governor. Huntsman, however, had been widely seen as positioning himself as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2012.

This will not be his first ambassadorship. He served as U.S. ambassador to Singapore and later as a U.S. trade representative to Asia. Huntsman was on President George W. Bush's short list for the China ambassadorship.

E-MAIL: lisa@desnews.com