Utah asks to talk with UNR’s Johnson

Tuesday, March 30, 2004 | 9:46 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

Days after taking Nevada-Reno further than it's ever been in the NCAA basketball tournament, coach Trent Johnson has reportedly met with University of Utah officials about their vacant coaching position.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports Johnson returned from Salt Lake City Monday night but would not confirm he had talked to Utah officials.

"I have no comment on any of that," Johnson told the newspaper. I haven't even talked to my wife yet."

But Chris Ault, Nevada-Reno's interim athletic director, acknowledged he gave Johnson permission to visit Utah, where he spent three years as an assistant coach in the 1980s.

Michigan (21-11) will play Oregon (18-12) in the other semifinal at Madison Square Garden.

That the Cyclones would still be playing this late in March in any tournament was considered unlikely before the season.

Iowa State's program was in turmoil last year after pictures of the team's former coach, Larry Eustachy, kissing young women and drinking at a college party, became public. In April, Eustachy accepted a buyout.