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Kentucky is days away from a big game against Tennessee, but the Stoops family is in the news for an entirely different reason.
After Florida State fired Willie Taggart over the weekend, both Mark and Bob Stoops have been named as potential candidates to take over as the Seminoles’ next head coach.
On Monday, reports came out that FSU and Bob Stoops were nearing a deal that would name him the program’s next head coach, but that’s now being refused.
According to Carey Murdock at Sooner Scoop, he spoke with Bob, who says he was busy attending two different events over the weekend. He said he was not in Tallahassee finalizing or interviewing for anything and was not a candidate for the Seminoles.
Spoke w/ Bob Stoops this morning. He tells me the rumors/reports of him being a candidate for the Florida State job opening are not accurate. Says he was at the new Hard Rock Casino all day yesterday and at a Dan Marino Foundation party last night. Not interviewing for FSU job. https://t.co/Uwf7a4TCwQ
— Carey Murdock (@CareyAMurdock) November 5, 2019
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit tweeted similar information with a quote from Stoops simply saying he’s “not a candidate”.
Just talked with Bob Stoops. Any reports that he’s a candidate for the FSU job are not accurate. Said “he’s not a candidate”. @CollegeGameDay @espn
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 5, 2019
There’s still a chance that these are just deflections, but it sounds like Bob Stoops isn’t interested in the job (or perhaps the current offer to take it). It remains to be seen if Mark Stoops, who spent a few seasons in Tallahassee before coming to Lexington in 2012-2013, would be interested, but that’s obviously something he likely won’t go into detail on until after the Wildcats finish their season.
Stoops was asked about the speculation on his radio show on Monday night, saying his focus is solely on Kentucky vs. Tennessee.
“It is something that you don’t really want to address in-season. For us and myself, it is 100 percent concentration on Tennessee. I am not going to get into speculation. I am going to talk about the University of Kentucky and Tennessee.”
If you’re a Kentucky fan, you’re probably hoping the Seminoles land Bob, because if not, Mark may quickly move up their big board.