Utah Eyeing Chow

Like many members of USC’s coaching staff, offensive coordinator Norm Chow hit the recruiting trail Monday.

But the Trojan offensive coordinator is a target as well as pursuer.

Chow is regarded as a leading candidate for the head coaching job at Utah, which fired Ron McBride last week.

Chow, who played offensive line at Utah from 1965-67 and coached at Brigham Young for 27 seasons, was in Utah on Monday. Chow, who has a home in Provo, said he was there to visit a high school recruit.

Chow said he had been contacted by Utah representatives but declined to comment about whether he met with them.

Chris Hill, Utah’s athletic director, refused to comment about Chow or other candidates for the job.

“We are early in the process,” Hill said. “We’re looking at trying to have somebody before the Christmas holiday. We want to do it as quickly as possible and as thoroughly as possible.”

Chow has said that he is not looking for a head coaching position, but would listen to schools that contacted him.

Utah probably would have to significantly increase its financial commitment to lure Chow, who earns about $300,000. McBride was paid $310,000 last season.

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USC Coach Pete Carroll said the Trojans’ ascent to the No. 4 spot in the bowl championship series standings was a reward for playing the toughest schedule in the nation.

“I’m real pleased because it shows the respect for the people that we’ve been playing against to get to where we are,” Carroll said.

The Trojans can earn an automatic berth in the Rose Bowl if UCLA defeats Washington State on Saturday. They also are eligible for berths in the Orange, Sugar and, possibly, the Fiesta bowls.

“We’ll watch how that UCLA-Washington State game goes, and then kind of start to zero in after the weekend,” Carroll said. “We’re really excited to see what the events allow.”

Carroll said his first choice remains the same.

“We want to go to the Rose Bowl,” he said. “If it should happen that the Fiesta Bowl is there, that would supersede everything else. The Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl are also great games to play in and it would be fantastic to be a part of either one.

“It’s like I told the team. ‘We don’t know what’s going on yet so don’t worry about it. When the time comes, we’ll have some fun with it and figure out where we’re headed.”

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The postseason awards blitz began with quarterback Carson Palmer and Troy Polamalu selected to the All-American team chosen by the Football Writers Assn. of America.

Polamalu, a finalist for the Thorpe award, was chosen to the FWAA All-American team for the second consecutive season despite missing most of two games because of a high ankle sprain.

Palmer also was selected as co-offensive player of the year in the Pacific 10 Conference and as one of three finalists for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award. Ken Dorsey of Miami and Brad Banks of Iowa are the other finalists.

Palmer, Polamalu, junior offensive tackle Jacob Rogers and sophomore linebacker Matt Grootegoed were selected first-team all-conference by Pac-10 coaches.

Palmer shared offensive player of the year honors with Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser.

Wide receiver Mike Williams was named freshman of the year and was one of seven Trojans selected to the second team. Others were flanker Keary Colbert, running back Justin Fargas, offensive lineman Zach Wilson, defensive end Kenechi Udeze, defensive lineman Mike Patterson and safety DeShaun Hill.

Arizona State defensive end Terrell Suggs was named defensive player of the year. Jeff Tedford of California was coach of the year.