IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Two University of Iowa officials were fired Tuesday after being faulted for their response to an alleged sexual assault involving two former football players.

University spokesman Steve Parrott said Phillip Jones and Marcus Mills were fired by school president Sally Mason one day after rejecting her offer for resignations.

The firings come two days before Mason is scheduled to meet with the Iowa Board of Regents to discuss the university's response to the incident last October. The Regents are expected to discuss any possible penalties it will impose on Iowa on Thursday.

Parrott said he didn't know if the firings would lessen potential penalties against the university.

``There's no way to know that,'' Parrott said. ``I think that President Mason will talk in detail with the Board of Regents (on Thursday), and we'll wait until then.''

Board president David Miles said he supported Mason's actions, but declined to say if Mason's job will be on the line at Thursday's meeting.

``She has my full support,'' Miles said. ``I expected her to exercise her executive authority and leadership regarding this matter. Her actions today demonstrate that she has taken the report seriously.''

Asked if Mason could still be fired, Miles said, ``I don't want to deal in hypotheticals.''

The Thursday meeting will specifically deal with Mason's response to the case. The rest of her one-year review at the university was completed last week.

Miles said the effect of the two firings on Thursday's meeting is unclear.

``Our objective on Thursday is to take action on policies and that's still what we will do,'' Miles said.

Mills and Jones faced sharp criticism in an independent review of the university's response to the reported assault. The review's findings were released last week.

Former Iowa football players Abe Satterfield and Cedric Everson face charges and are scheduled to stand trial on Nov. 3.

The university received the results of an independent review from a St. Louis-based law firm last week. The report singled out Mills, the school's general counsel, and Jones, the school's vice president for student services, for their actions after the incident.

The report said the university's response was flawed and inadequate, but that there was no attempt to cover up the incident. It cited Jones for denying he knew anything about the case when questioned by the alleged victim's mother, and said he didn't do enough to deter other student-athletes from bullying and threatening the alleged victim after she complained.

The report criticized Mills for holding back documents pertaining to the case from the Board of Regents and for failing to tell the regents about letters to school officials from the alleged victim's mother.

``To date, Mills has failed to provide the Investigators with any adequate response to why such actions occurred,'' the report said.

Mason also announced interim replacements for Jones and Mills. Cedar Rapids attorney Carroll J. Reasoner will serve as general counsel and Tom Rocklin, the university's vice provost, will fill in for Jones.

In a statement, Mason said the interim appointments ``will help restore confidence in the university,'' a comment that Parrott said referenced to meetings between the Board of Regents and the university last week.

``In all of this, they (the Regents) said this raised issues of trust,'' Parrot said.

Calls to Mills and Jones were not immediately returned Tuesday night.