“No, I’ve never spoken to anybody from USC, never emailed anybody from USC, never got a phone call from anybody at USC, never had any contact with Southern California … I’m not involved in any college jobs. I’ve said it before, the same thing happened a year ago with Florida. I have great respect for those schools, I think USC just hired a coach who is a heck of a coach. Clay’s gonna do a great job there but I haven’t been involved in any jobs, I haven’t discussed anything with any colleges.

[A report says you met with them in Philly on Friday]

“I wasn’t in Philly on Friday, so that’s wrong. I haven’t met with them, I haven’t talked to them, I haven’t had a conversation with anybody from USC, so.”

[How has adversity this year effected your commitment to this job]

“It hasn’t at all. I can’t control what’s written in terms of other schools and stuff like that …”

[I’m not talking about that]

“I know and I’m answering the question: It hasn’t at all. No matter what’s written or what’s been said I’ve been totally committed since the day I got here on January 16th in 2013, and that hasn’t changed. I’m here … I’ve never been looking at college jobs. But again, I can’t control what’s written. I was never looking at the Florida job last year and I said the same thing … I never talked to anybody from Florida. I can’t control what’s written, I guess there’s no rules. You guys, people can write or tweet or say whatever they want, but I’ve never discussed another college job since I came here … And I’ve said that one hundred times I don’t know how many more times I have to say it … I don’t have to say that to my players every single time. I’ve never been involved in any other job since I came here … this is where I wanna be, so.”

[How did you spend your weekend, and how do we fix this]

“Thanks Les, we can get back on to football.”

…

UPDATE: Chip addressed the reports again, humorously, somewhat:

“No I don’t because there are so many things that are written and said nowadays that it’s ridiculous. And it’s … A lot of time we just chuckle and laugh to be honest with you. That I had a meeting in Philadelphia with USC on Friday? I was in New Hampshire … I never met with them. It’s crazy. But really, it’s kinda sad that everybody can just write whatever they want or say whatever they want and then everybody takes it as the truth. It’s the world we live in but if you have to sit there every single day and combat everything that comes out, you’re just wasting time. Our focus and energy is gonna be on the New England Patriots. I don’t know why it comes up or why it has to happen but to have that every day with every rumor that you hear about every person and every thing, it’s crazy. And it’s the world we live in, so I don’t get worked up about it because I don’t care, and I know it’s not true. You just, gotta answer it at presss conferences like this, and you guys are on a set time so we’ll continue to talk about it … ask me about a school, we can talk about any school you want because we got what? Two questions left? So a couple more college questions would be great and then I go back and get ready for the Patriots.”