A report from an ABC affiliate late Monday night out of Tallahassee, Florida said that former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops was nearing a deal to become the next coach at Florida State.

Confirmations never came overnight and this morning, and now ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has said he talked with Stoops.

“Any reports that he’s a candidate for the FSU job are not accurate.” Said “he’s not a candidate,” and added, “that I haven’t spoken to anyone.”

So that leaves the only coaching in Stoops future to be the Dallas Renegades in the XFL where he is set to serve next spring as head coach/GM.

Florida State recently fired head coach Willie Taggart after 21 games. Taggart finished with a record of 9-12 over two seasons with the Seminoles — 5-7 in 2018 and 4-5 this season. His 0-5 mark against rivals was especially troubling.

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reported that, “Last night I spoke to a two people very close to him who were really skeptical he’d want to come back to being a college coach and take that job. It wouldn’t surprise me that FSU boosters would want—and try to pursue him though.”

Interesting, the one other name connected to the FSU job that appears to be a consensus is Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, who previously served as defensive coordinator at FSU under Jimbo Fisher.