Barnett rules out coaching Sooners

Barnett said Friday he hasn't even been approached about the Oklahoma job, and wouldn't take it if it were offered.

Radio reports earlier Friday said Barnett was one of four finalists to replace John Blake, who was fired by Oklahoma on Sunday, but Barnett took to the air himself to squelch the reports.

"There's no truth to any of this,'' Barnett told Chicago station WGN-AM. "I haven't talked to Oklahoma, haven't been there since 1993. No one from Oklahoma has contacted me. I have no interest in it."

Barnett later told the Chicago Tribune that he was upset by rumors which could hurt his recruiting efforts at Northwestern - particularly because they surfaced while he was out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday, and not in a position to issue a quick denial through Northwestern's sports information office.

The Wildcat coach said he first heard of the rumors on Wednesday when a Northwestern alumnus called him at a family gathering in Missouri. He said he and the caller both treated the story as a joke, and he didn't realize how seriously some people were taking it until he returned to the Chicago area on Friday and read a newspaper column criticizing him for his silence.

"What's a guy to do?" Barnett asked. "This is so unfair to me and to our program, it's incredible. I have no control over it, I did nothing. I never voiced any interest in that program.

"I've never called anybody. There has been absolutely no contact."

Barnett was widely hailed as a miracle worker in 1995 when he led Northwestern, the longtime Big Ten doormat, to the conference championship and a Rose Bowl appearance, and again in 1996, when the Wildcats shared the conference championship.

But this year's Northwestern team is only 3-9, and winless in the Big Ten.

In recent years, Barnett has interviewed at UCLA, Texas, Georgia and Notre Dame, but none of the nibbles turned into bites, and Barnett has since said he intends to stay at Northwestern for the next 10 years of his contract.

11-30-98