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| Saturday, January 20 Associated Press | |||
| CLEVELAND -- As hard as he tries, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops
can't seem to make the Cleveland Browns or those rumors go away.
Stoops, repeating his remarks of last weekend, insists he isn't
planning to leave the Sooners to become the Browns' next coach.
Earlier this week, Cleveland owner Al Lerner indicated the team
might try to quietly court Stoops, who just won a national title in
his second year at OU.
"The problem with college coaches is you can't say you're
interviewing them because then you create problems," Lerner told
the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. "They have problems with
recruiting."
Stoops had problems with the story.
"Listen, I can't stop anybody from saying things, but he can
read my statement from last week and read it again," Stoops told
the Tulsa World in Friday's editions. "I'm not going anywhere."
Meanwhile, the Browns said Friday that they would have formal
interviews with at least three of the candidates for their job
opening between Monday and Thursday next week.
Tennessee defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, New Orleans
offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy and San Francisco offensive
coordinator Marty Mornhinweg will be in for interviews, Browns
spokesman Todd Stewart said.
The club also plans to interview Baltimore defensive coordinator
Marvin Lewis, Minnesota Vikings offensive line coach Mike Tice and Browns defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel.
Tice has been a Vikings assistant coach since 1996 and has
guided three linemen to seven Pro Bowl starts.
However, Lewis cannot be interviewed until after the Super Bowl
on Jan. 28.
Crennel, coming off his first season in Cleveland, may get the
first interview.
Mornhinweg, 38, also will interview with the Detroit Lions
sometime next week.
The Browns have denied having contact with Miami coach Butch
Davis despite reports that say he is the team's leading candidate.
Stoops, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, led Oklahoma to a 13-0
record and the school's seventh national title this season.
Last Saturday, during a halftime ceremony at Sooners basketball
game, Stoops told the crowd, "Regardless of what you hear, I plan
on being at Oklahoma for a long time."
Speculation about Stoops heightened after he said Browns
president Carmen Policy, who is also from Youngstown, had been
trying to reach him on his cell phone, and that he would talk to
team representatives if they called.
This week, he said he doesn't expect rumors about that job to
end until the position is filled.
"It's a compliment to the program that people recognize what a
solid program we have and that people like that are interested,"
he said.
The Browns fired Chris Palmer last week after he went 5-27 in
two seasons. | ALSO SEE
Fired Browns coach Palmer inteviews with Redskins | ||