Thursday night, a mild maelstrom erupted when a report surfaced that long-time Oregon State head coach Mike Riley was set to interview for the vacancy at Wisconsin.
Almost immediately, those in the area covering the team began poking holes in the report. Today, a pair of one-two punches delivered by the coach himself has seemingly brought the report to its knees.
Earlier this afternoon, Riley told ESPN.com‘s Joe Schad that he “has not interviewed, isn’t scheduled to interview and has no interest in Wisconsin.” After practice Friday, Riley acknowledged that there was interest on the part of Wisconsin -- and he wasn’t even entirely sure of that -- but laughed off the speculation as, in essence, nonsense.
“There is no scheduled interview, I have not talked to anybody from Wisconsin and that’s the truth, that’s everything I know,” Riley said by way of a video on Cliff Kirkpatrick‘s Corvallis News-Gazette blog. “It’s pretty amazing to me that you all are asking me about this. I have not talked to anybody from the University of Wisconsin.”
Riley allowed that he was both amused by the report and flattered by the interest, but reiterated that his “intention is staying at Oregon State. That’s what I’m going to do.”