It’s hard to believe reports from the Chicago Sun Times that Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops would be interested in the Notre Dame job should Charlie Weis be fired.

Stoops says he isn’t interested, and there’s no reason to doubt his word.

This is not the Notre Dame program that is 8-1 against the Sooners, including 7-1 against the legendary Bud Wilkinson.

If Weis is fired, he would be the third Notre Dame coach dismissed since Stoops took over at OU. Actually, it’s four if you count George O’Leary, who was fired five days after he was hired because of false information on his resume.

Bob Davie (35-25) and Ty Willingham (21-15) lasted five and three seasons, respectively, before getting a pink slip. They had identical winning percentages of .583.

Weis is 39-25 going into today’s game against Connecticut. Stoops is 115-28 in his 11 years at OU. That’s more career wins than any Notre Dame coach has. OU is the lone NCAA Division I school with four coaches with 100 or more wins.

Knute Rockne is the lone Irish coach (13 years) who has been at Notre Dame longer than Stoops has been at OU. That may say something about the pressures of being at Notre Dame.

Frank Leahy left after 11 seasons in 1953 with a record of 87-11-9 because of health problems. Leahy, Ara Parseghian and Lou Holtz are the only Irish coaches who have coached there for more than 10 years. OU coaches have had longevity. Bud Wilkinson left after 17 seasons. Barry Switzer was the head man for 16 years.

Stoops, a devoted family man, wouldn’t want to uproot his family with a daughter who is 13 and twin sons who are 10.

At OU, he has had the advantage of having the same president (David Boren) and same athletic director (Joe Castiglione). Notre Dame hasn’t had that kind of stability.

Stoops has won six Big 12 championships at OU. It’s the national championship or nothing at Notre Dame, not that the Irish have contended lately for the national championship.

At Notre Dame, a coach must deal with high academic standards. Recruiting is not as easy as it was in Parseghian’s day, when the Irish virtually could get any player they wanted.

Notre Dame hasn’t had a Heisman Trophy winner since 1987. Stoops has had two — Jason White and Sam Bradford — and probably should have had a third in Josh Heupel.

Notre Dame has the reputation for being a national school.

But a recent prime-time game against Washington State on NBC was the lowest rated network show that week.

Stoops has gone through frustrations in a 6-4 campaign so far this season. Yet, the Sooners are only 12 points away from being 10-0.

He will return a promising quarterback (Landry Jones) with several others in the fold for the future.

The defense, if a few NFL eligible juniors don’t turn pro, should be dominate again next season.

OU has a fertile recruiting area in its backyard.

That’s one reason why Stoops has turned down Florida and the Cleveland Browns. And it’s another good reason to turn down Notre Dame if offered.