OMAHA — Before Mike Johanns became U.S. agriculture secretary three years ago, the president’s chief political strategist called another Nebraskan and asked him to interview for the job.

Former U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne confirmed when asked this week that he went to the White House in November 2004 to interview for the nation’s top farm job.

But the legendary Nebraska football coach was in the middle of a congressional term and trying to decide whether to run for governor in 2006.

“We were trying to work on a lot of things in the 3rd District, and we were trying to see that through,” Osborne said.

He called Karl Rove the day after the interview to tell him he wasn’t interested.

Now, nearly four years later, Johanns has resigned his Cabinet post to enter the Senate race to replace Republican Chuck Hagel.

“I don’t want to come across as being critical of Mike Johanns for leaving,” Osborne said this week. But “this is a critical time for the farm bill, and some of the decisions I made in the past were based on trying to finish the job.”

The legislation is tangled in arguments over the scope of government payouts to wealthy farmers. The House passed its version of the multibillion-dollar legislation in July, and the Senate Agriculture Committee hopes to consider its version of the bill this week.

Osborne, a Republican, has backed out of politics and is teaching in the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

He said he won’t publicly endorse a primary candidate, but he said he’ll personally stand by Attorney General Jon Bruning, who supported Osborne when he ran for governor.

“Jon stayed with me right to the end,” Osborne said. “One thing that is important to me is loyalty. I’m not just going to turn my back on someone.”

Osborne and his wife, Nancy, have both contributed to Bruning’s campaign.

White House spokesman Alex Conant said Wednesday he couldn’t confirm whether Osborne interviewed because the White House did not comment on such matters.

Osborne, 70, said administration officials indicated he was the first person to interview after Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman resigned in November 2004.

Later that month, reports surfaced that Democratic Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson was being considered for the Cabinet post. Nelson wouldn’t say whether he was offered the job, and his spokesman this week still would not.

Then on Dec. 2, 2004, the bombshell: Bush offered Johanns the Cabinet post and Johanns would leave midway through his second term as governor to accept.

After Johanns was confirmed by the Senate, Lt. Gov. Dave Heineman took over as governor.

In April 2005, Osborne announced he would challenge Heineman for the Republican nomination but lost in the 2006 primary election. Heineman went on to win his own term.

Osborne said he hasn’t had any calls from the White House since Johanns resigned last month, and he doesn’t think anyone’s planning to offer him the job.

He might consider it “if I thought there would be anything I could do to help the process along and get a good farm bill,” he said. “I think the next few months would be very important in terms of how that all comes out.”