Whittingham, who is considered a strong candidate for the Washington job, and Andersen, one of the favorites for the Utah State position, both declined to comment Monday regarding their futures.

Whittingham, once on a long list of possible candidates for the Washington job, now is said to be just one of three or four coaches Washington is pursuing, according to the Seattle Times.

Fresno State coach Pat Hill and Cincinnati's Brian Kelly are said to be other strong candidates. The school also is said to be interested in Seahawks coach-in-waiting Jim Mora.

Whittingham has refused to confirm or deny that he has had talks with Washington, although the general assumption is that it would be hard for Washington to pry him away from Utah, a place in which he has stated he is happy to be.

Utah athletic director Chris Hill would like him to stay, too, and has had talks with Whittingham about a possible contract extension.

"I let Kyle know that obviously we're happy with things and we want to extend his contract into the future," he said. "It's the right way to proceed. He has done a good job, and we need to do right by him and the university."

Whittingham is in the fourth year of a six-year deal that earns him $681,120 with a base salary and other incentives combined. According to his contract, he already stands to gain a one-year extension because the Utes won nine games this season.

Hill stopped short of saying actual contract negotiations were under way and refused to put a timeline on when he wants the negotiations to be finalized. He also declined to discuss Whittingham's future at Utah or the possibility other schools could be after Whittingham.

"I've learned you can agree to a lot of things and sometimes it takes time for those things to be finalized so it's best not to put a timeline on things and I've told him I'm not going to discuss things further in the media until things are said and done." Whittingham refused to comment on the rumors regarding Washington. However, he did acknowledged that he has had discussions with Hill and called Utah a "good place to be."

As for Andersen, he is on a short list of candidates at Utah State that includes South Florida offensive coordinator Chico Canales and San Jose State assistant Kent Baer.

On Monday, Andersen was named one of five finalists for the Broyles award, given to the top college football assistant. The other finalists are Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong, TCU defensive coordinator Dick Bumpas, Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson and Ball State offensive coordinator Stan Parrish.

He was willing to discuss that honor more than his future.

"Good players make good coaches and they did an outstanding job this year," he said of his defense. Without getting into specifics, Whittingham acknowledged there could be some staff turnover following Utah's successful season.

"I would never stand in the way of coaches to better themselves, but it would have to be a really good situation to better themselves from here, because I think this is a pretty good place."

lwodraska@sltrib.com