Kyle Whittingham has the right idea, although his policy on dealing with speculation only leads to more speculation.
The Utes football coach refused to address rumors of his candidacy for the USC coaching position, The Los Angeles Times reported.
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Whittingham, who is in his 11th season as coach of the Utes and 22nd overall with the team (he came to Utah as an assistant in 1994), was asked whether the USC job would be one that he had any interest in.
"I never make any comments on any job speculation one way or the other," he said. "Why speculate on speculation? It doesn't make sense."
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The Utah icon is a complete departure from the kind of candidate the Trojans have been chasing since Pete Carroll left the program in 2009. His successors both have been offensive-minded assistant coaches in Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian.
Whittingham has no ties to USC, other than he was born in San Luis Obispo, Calif., nearly 56 years ago and played briefly for the Rams when they were in L.A. His reputation lies on the defensive side -- as he served as the Utes' defensive coordinator under coaches Ron McBride and Urban Meyer before succeeding Meyer in 2005.
Whittingham led the 2008 Utah team to an undefeated season, a No. 2 national ranking and a win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
"He's been there forever, so his recruits trust him into not taking another job," said USC linebacker Su'a Cravens, who is distantly related to Whittingham by marriage. "And he's just done a great job of recruiting and running what he wants to run."
But now that he's finally put Utah in a position to be a national power after the school struggled in its initial years in the Pac-12 after moving from the Mountain West, would he leave the school to take over a program with much more potential to rebuild quickly?
If Whittingham is considering it, he's not saying.
"That's always been my stance," he said, according to The Times. "Any time there's speculation or conversation about openings and that I just choose not to have any comment.
"That seems the safest route to go."
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