This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Before we get started here, I'd like to thank all the concerned Utah football fans who have sent along their warm holiday wishes the past few days. I wish you all the same. Except for the parts about me shoving candy canes and sugarplums into various body orifices and doing anatomically impossible things to myself.

In the wake of Chris Hill's statement Monday about the status of Kyle Whittingham as the Utes' head coach and my published belief — not a news report, my opinion as is my license as a columnist — that Whittingham would leave Utah after exploring coaching opportunities at other places, including BYU, I have some information to pass along and an explanation.

Hill's statement essentially said Whittingham is still under contract at Utah — nobody questioned that because he has three years left on his deal — and that he is the football coach there. That is fact.

Will it stay that way? Maybe.

Will it not stay that way? Maybe.

It's fluid.

I'm not as sure as I was Saturday, when multiple sources close to Whittingham told me he was gone. These are people who would know. The coach was, in fact, set to leave.

Disbelieve that if it makes you feel better, but it's true. He was done.

If he stays, it's because he changed his mind. And it might because Hill softened his position on some issues. Look for a coming statement from Whittingham reiterating at least part of what Hill's release said. The coach will do that, will steady the ship, not because all of this is firmed up, rather to protect recruiting and the program in case he does stay.

These sources are real, real and real close to the coach himself.

They weren't — and aren't — making this stuff up.

Will I name them? No.

Some of them are the same sources who have provided a lot of accurate information in the past on numerous occasions. For instance, they told me about Kalani Sitake's situation some five months ago, before anyone else knew anything about the complications there, all of which was bang on, as it turned out.

Some readers want those sources identified, as though their information is automatically unreliable or worthless unless there is a published name attached to it. Not true. Those sources have sensitive relationships with the subjects involved. It's ironic that often the people most adamant, those who clamor for complete identification the most, are the ones hiding behind anonymous names on the Internet and social media.

Nobody's absolutely sure yet where Whittingham will end up. Yeah, he's under contract, he's still Utah's football coach. But anybody who claims he wasn't — and isn't — on the hunt for a different opportunity knows little about what's going on here. There was significant discord among the powers at the top of Utah football, between Whittingham and Hill, and this situation was serious, and perhaps still is.

So, based on a whole lot of intel, it was my opinion that Whittingham would leave. And that there was a chance he could end up at BYU.

It didn't — and doesn't — matter to me whether he actually acts on that or not. I couldn't care less where the man coaches. For Whittingham, though, it was professional and it was personal, too. And it was real. It may still be.

I don't know. Whittingham may not know. Problems in the program remain. They haven't vaporized. They will not go away easily, and Whittingham most definitely knows that. Regardless of what certain people want us to believe, this was — is — not situation normal.

Bottom line: If Whittingham stays, since Saturday he will have done, in the immortal words of Karl Malone, "a complete 360." Which, come to think of it, in this case is more apropos than it ever was when Karl said it. He has 2.4 million reasons to stay, and, ultimately, maybe that wins out, after all.

Happy holidays to you and yours. And happy, happy New Year.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.