Gatland has told the Radio Sport Breakfast he had to say no to New Zealand Rugby.
"I was contacted about that…it was nice to be contacted I politely declined putting my name forward," Gatland said this morning.
"I'm a little bit old school…I'd made the commitment to the Chiefs and I'd made the commitment to the Lions, it was important that I carry on with that…honour the commitment I made to those two sides.
"Maybe sometime in the future I may get that opportunity again," he added.
Gatland said if the chance to coach the All Blacks never arose again, he wouldn't have any regrets.
"No it's not something I think about," he told the Radio Sport Breakfast.
"I'm not one of those people who plan ahead too much…I'm a great believer in what will be will be. For me having been away a long time there are a lot of different challenges and the challenges are to kind re-integrate myself back into New Zeland rugby.
"If you are successful other opportunities will come along. It was time for me to make a decision to leave Wales and the northern hemisphere and come back to New Zealand and I'm excited by that," Gatland said.
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.
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Kok will become a fan favourite
Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
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