When the news broke that Lincoln Riley would be leaving Oklahoma to take take job at USC, one of the first names to be mentioned as potentially the next head coach of the Sooners was Kliff Kingsbury.

Kingsbury is in his 3rd season as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and his team is 9-2 on the season.

On Monday, Kingsbury was asked about the Oklahoma opening and essentially side-stepped the question.

“I don’t get into those things,” Kingsbury said. “My sole focus the last couple of weeks has been the Chicago Bears.”

The 42-year-old was then asked why he wouldn’t just deny interest in the job and he said, “”We’re in-season, we’re 9-2, just not a topic I want to touch right now.”

Kingsbury, of course, has strong tied to the Big 12.

He was a star quarterback at Texas Tech and later led the Red Raiders to a 35-40 record as head coach between 2013-18.