Bob Stoops has been down this road before, and has developed a formula for how to deal with being mentioned for openings like USC, which came open on Monday after the Trojans let go of Clay Helton.

Stoops, the former Oklahoma coach, joined FOX Sports as an analyst this season.

“I can’t control rumors, I don’t get involved in rumors,” Stoops said on Sirirus XM College. “I’ve never acknowledged one way or another where someone has contacted me or not, and I won’t in this case either. I’m enjoying my opportunity to work with FOX. I love watching my sons, one’s playing and one’s on the sidelines coaching. But in life you just never know what ever fits you just perfectly, and I’m not saying this does.”

Stoops added that the USC search will go through a list of coaches that are already on the field that he believes can’t even talk to the officials until the season is over.

“I didn’t ask for my name to be attached to this,” Stoops said. “But I can’t help it that it is.”

Stoops was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in January 2021.

At Oklahoma beginning in 1999, he won 190 games and went to a school-record 18 consecutive bowl berths. He led the Sooners to the 2000 national championship and 10 Big 12 titles in his career, posting double-digit wins in 14 of his 18 seasons. Behind the six-time Big 12 Coach of the Year and two-time national coach of the year, Oklahoma racked up more victories than any other Power Five program from 1999-2016, according to FOX Sports.