ESPN College Football

SALT LAKE CITY -- There's a bit of coaching confusion at Utah.

The Utes (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP) ran through Tuesday's practice under the supervision of two assistants, defensive line coach Gary Andersen and quarterbacks coach Dan Mullen.

Is this any way to prepare for a Fiesta Bowl matchup against Pittsburgh on Jan. 1?

Apparently so.

Urban Meyer was in Florida being introduced as the Gators new coach even though he will lead Utah against the Panthers in the lucrative Fiesta Bowl at Tempe, Ariz. Utah's top two assistants weren't around either: offensive coordinator Mike Sanford left to take the head coaching job at UNLV and defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham missed the workout while mulling offers to take over the Utes or leave for rival BYU.

"Obviously he's pretty torn himself. It's a very unusual situation," Utah quarterback Alex Smith said, referring to Whittingham.

The Utes lost Sanford to a Mountain West Conference rival in the Rebels. They could be losing Whittingham to Utah's main rival in the Cougars.

BYU needs to replace Gary Crowton, who resigned last week after the Cougars' third straight losing season. Whittingham, a Provo native, is a BYU graduate and former player and was a graduate assistant with the Cougars. He fits one very important requirement for BYU as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

But he has also developed strong ties to Utah in 10 years as an assistant.

"I won't lie. I'll be heartbroken if he goes somewhere else, but at the same time I'll cheer him on," Utah safety Morgan Scalley said. "We congratulate him. He's earned it. People are coming after him and this is what he's worked for his entire life."

Scalley and a group of players met with Whittingham on Sunday night to talk to him about taking over for Meyer, who kept Whittingham on his staff when he was hired from Bowling Green two years ago.

The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News reported Tuesday that Whittingham had received offers from the state's biggest rivals.

If Whittingham leaves, the Utes will have lost him, Meyer and Sanford. And all three could also be taking some Ute assistants with them, leaving the Utah coaching staff in limbo as the Utes prepare to play in the biggest game in school history.

Utah athletic director Chris Hill has refused to comment on the search.

The committee responsible for hiring the next BYU coach was in New York for former Cougars coach LaVell Edwards' induction into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night.

BYU rushed Whittingham into a meeting with a member of the leadership council of the LDS Church on Monday for approval at the church-owned school, the Deseret Morning News said.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press