Chow may be on Stanford’s plate

LOS ANGELES – Every year around this time, Norm Chow’s name comes up as a potential candidate for head coaching positions.

This year is no different – the offensive coordinator for No. 1 Southern California is reportedly a leading contender for the Stanford job, which opened Monday when Buddy Teevens was fired.

“I have not talked to anyone,” Chow said Tuesday. “They have to be interested in you before you can be interested in them. The only thing I’m thinking about now is getting past UCLA.”

The Trojans (11-0, 7-0 Pacific-10 Conference) face the Bruins (6-4, 4-3) on Saturday at the Rose Bowl in their regular-season finale. A victory for USC almost surely will mean a berth in the Orange Bowl for the BCS title.

Quoting sources, the Los Angeles Times reported that Stanford representatives have made unofficial inquiries with USC regarding Chow in the last week or two. A Stanford spokesman said the school would not comment on the search process.

USC coach Pete Carroll spoke highly of the 58-year-old Chow, saying he’d do whatever possible to help him land a head coaching job if that’s what he wanted.

When Carroll was hired by USC after Paul Hackett was fired following the 2000 season, one of his first moves was to bring in Chow, who hasn’t been a head coach since 1970-72, when he held that position at Waialua High in Hawaii. After that, he was an assistant coach at BYU for 27 years and North Carolina State for one before coming to USC.

“Norm has always been highly regarded,” Carroll said.