*http://www.tidesports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040626/NEWS/40626001/1011
UPDATE: Gottfried avoids speculation on Ohio State job*
By David Wasson Executive Sports Editor June 26, 2004
TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama men's basketball coach Mark Gottfried made his first public comment surrounding the Ohio State coaching vacancy Saturday morning, but declined to say whether he had contact with the Buckeyes.
"It is my belief that it isn't appropriate to discuss any job other than the one I have, which by the way is one I really like," Gottfried said in a telephone interview Saturday morning. "I've been in similar situations in the past few years, and it is my position not to talk publicly about it."
When then asked if he had been contacted by Ohio State, Gottfried replied "I think I have already answered that question."
Gottfried, who was in Tuscaloosa all day Friday and made several stops at the Mark Gottfried Basketball Camp going on throughout the weekend both at Coleman Coliseum and the university's recreation center, had been declining to comment for two days on the Ohio State issue. He played golf with UA football coach Mike Shula on Thursday morning at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, then spoke at a function in Murray, Ky., before returning to Tuscaloosa on Thursday night.
Gottfried, 40, is a Crestline, Ohio, native who is fresh from guiding Alabama to a 20-13 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, where the Crimson Tide lost to eventual national champion Connecticut.
Asked Wednesday if Ohio State officials had spoken to Gottfried, Buckeyes athletic director Andy Geiger declined to answer. Athletic department spokesman Steve Snapp said later, “We have not offered the position to anybody."
Snapp was asked if Geiger had talked to Gottfried. He said, “The answer would be no. He has not been in contact with him."
Among the other potential candidates for Ohio State’s vacancy, which was created when Jim O’Brien was fired on June 8 after Geiger said O’Brien admitted he had given $6,000 to a recruit in 1999, are Marquette’s Tom Crean, Minnesota’s Dan Monson, ESPN analyst George Karl, Los Angeles Lakers assistant Jim Cleamons, Rutgers coach Gary Waters, Penn coach Fran Dunphy and possibly Xavier coach Thad Matta.
David Wasson can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or at (205) 722-0229.
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