Stoops Says No Interest in Notre Dame

With the Notre Dame job still occupied last week, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops had simply been able to dismiss rumors of him bolting to the Fighting Irish as just talk.

With the announcement Monday that Charlie Weis has indeed been fired, Stoops wasted little time taking his name out of the running for the Notre Dame job. Stoops told reporters that he plans to be at Oklahoma "hopefully for a good while" and that he is not interested in interviewing for any coaching positions this offseason.

"What I'm saying is I'm going to be at Oklahoma next year, so I can't be in two places at once," Stoops said during a conference call.

Oklahoma fans should maybe be concerned with what Stoops isn't saying. He wouldn't explain why his preference was to stay at Oklahoma versus going to Notre Dame.

Perhaps at this point he is so committed to Oklahoma because no other job offer has been made?

"I'm not favoring anything over anything else," he said. "What I'm saying is I couldn't be more happy and pleased with what we're doing here. And again, I'm not confirming or denying anything about Notre Dame or any other job. My point is this is what I love doing right now."

Last week when Stoops' name first surfaced as a possible replacement for Weis, Stoops dismissed the rumors as ridiculous and said as far as he knew Notre Dame still had a coach. There was a lot of wiggle room in that denial, but Stoops seemed to leave little doubt.

"I fully intend to be at Oklahoma, and hopefully for a good while," said Stoops, whose team is coming off its worst regular season in his 11 years on the job. "You never know what the good Lord brings you but in the end I couldn't be more excited about -- even through a tough year -- the good, quality kids we're working with [and] the great people that I work with daily in our administration.

"I can't help what's said, but in the end, again, I couldn't be more excited and pleased about what we're doing here and what the future holds."

Luring Stoops would be an expensive proposition should the Irish decide to turn their attention his direction. Stoops recently signed an extension through 2015, that makes him one of the highest paid coaches in the country. As long as he remains through the contract, Stoops walks with roughly $4.3 annually or $30 million over the life of the deal.

So the security and the chance the Sooners have to win make it understandable why Stoops is no hurry to leave Norman, Oklahoma, as long as the school wants him.

"What I am saying is I intend to be at Oklahoma. That's the only place right now -- yes -- what I'm looking to do," he said. "I will never confirm or deny whether I talk or [do] not talk to anybody. And I won't be interviewing for any jobs."