With the firing of University of Wisconsin head football coach Don Morton on Tueday, the Chicagoland media speculated that NIU head coach Jerry Pettibone could be considered for the Badger post.

However, the fifth-year Huskie boss, who just finished his best season with a 9-2 mark, has no immediate plans to reside in Camp Randall Stadium.

“I haven’t heard from them,” Pettibone said. “I didn’t apply to them and I’m not going to apply.”

Pettibone, who came to NIU in 1985 from Texas A&M, where he served as an assistant coach, is not sure how his name was brought up.

“I don’t know how it all got started. It’s difficult to say,” Pettibone said. “If they (Wisconsin) contacted me, I’d listen. But right now I’m not pursuing anything.”

Morton, who compiled a mere six victories in three seasons as Wisconsin’s head coach, said he would not accept another assignment in the Badger program. The school’s Athletic Board voted 10-0 to fire Morton.

In his third year as a Big Ten Conference coach, Morton receives a salary of $113,280 with an estimated outside income of $100,000.

Reasons for Morton’s dismissal are based on more than wins and losses. Declining attendance at Badger football games has led to a budgetary problem. The 1989 season average of 41,734 is the lowest since 1945 when Harry Stuhldreher was the head coach.

Pettibone began his coaching career in 1966 at Oklahoma. While being a Sooner, Pettibone served as the freshman coach from 1966-70. He then served a brief stint at Southern Methodist University as recruiting coordinator under Hayden Fry.

From 1971-78, Pettibone returned to Oklahoma as the Sooners’ recruiting coordinator under Chuck Fairbanks and Barry Switzer. He followed up that tenure by moving to Nebraska for three years under the direction of Tom Osborne before going to Texas A&M.

In 1984, while serving under Jackie Sherill, Sports Illustrated named Pettibone the No. 1 recruiting coordinator in the nation.

“I feel a lot more secure about the site here at Northern and the state of the program. I feel good about the potential and how excited I am about what we can accomplish in the future and it would have to be something very, very special for me to think about,” Pettibone said, in regards to taking another post.

“I would listen, any intelligent adult would listen, to other opportunities. But to listen and to do something else are different. I’ll always listen,” he said.

The naming of a new Badger coach is not expected to be any time soon. The Wisconsin athletic department is currently looking for a new athletic director. Earlier this month, Ade Sponberg was forced to resign come May. Wisconsin sources said they plan on hiring the athletic director before the new coach.

During the 1988 football season, NIU traveled to Madison and defeated the Badgers 19-17. The victory gave the Huskies their first win ever over a Big Ten program.