Former state Rep. Dudley Goodlette said today that he is not a candidate for the state university chancellor job and doesn't intend to be.

"I think having more of an academic involvement in the academic community than I have had as a lawyer for 30 some years would be a prerequisite for that job that I would think would be important," Goodlette said. "So for that reason and just because I’ve been so busy with my full-time job as the chief of staff of the Florida House, I just really haven’t had an opportunity to apply and I don’t anticipate it."

Goodlette, a Naples Republican who is serving as House Speaker Larry Cretul's chief of staff, had expressed interest in the job several weeks back, but said he was too busy to apply. Now he says he owes a phone call to the Texas search firm helping the board of governors find candidates to let them know he's not interested.

But what if, after session finally ends, board members think he's too good a candidate to pass up and try to twist his arm into applying?  

"I’m not a candidate and I don’t intend to become a candidate for the chancellor position," Goodlette said.

Chancellor Mark Rosenberg stepped down in February to return to Florida International University. University of North Florida president John Delaney has the interim job, but has said he's not interested in staying on.

So far state Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, is the most notable candidate, along with Steve MacNamara, associate professor of communications at Florida State University and former chief of staff to then-House Speaker John Thrasher.

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