Vanderbilt coach James Franklin's name has made the rounds as a possibility for the USC opening in the wake of Lane Kiffin's firing after an ugly loss to Arizona State Saturday. But if Franklin has any interest in the position, he had nothing to say about it at his Monday news conference.
In fact, he not only wasn't answering questions about the opening, he wasn't even hearing them. Check out the video below from tennessean.com, in which Franklin simply answers direct questions about USC with answers that would match a question about the Commodores' upcoming game against Missouri:
Franklin expressed some frustration with any line of questioning outside the Commodores' previous and upcoming games.
"My response is (I'm) really excited about talking about UAB, our last game; really excited about talking about Missouri this week," Franklin said. "I mean, for once I'd like to sit in this press conference and talk about either the game before or the game we're playing this week."
Speculation about what USC director of athletics Pat Haden might do for a long-term solution also includes Oregon State coach Mike Riley, Steve Sarkisian of Washington, and according to sportingnews.com, a couple of NFL coordinators as well.
Former Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron, who had been one of Kiffin's assistants, was named interim coach by Haden earlier Monday.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.