San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman interviewed this week for the vacant Penn State coaching job, NFL Media insider Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday, citing a source informed of Roman's schedule.
The 49ers play at the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
Penn State is looking for a replacement for Bill O'Brien, who left last week to coach the Houston Texans. Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner said Tuesday that he expects a new coach to be hired "in a matter of days." Vanderbilt coach James Franklin, who has led the Commodores to back-to-back nine-win seasons, reportedly is the favorite to land the job.
Roman reportedly interviewed for the Penn State job after the 2011 season, when the school hired O'Brien in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Roman called it "a lifetime job" in early 2012. "That's a job if I were to become the head coach there, I'd wouldn't leave there," Roman said, per csnbayarea.com.
Roman, 41, is a New Jersey native who never has been a head coach at any level. He moved from Stanford to San Francisco with Jim Harbaugh when Harbaugh became the 49ers' head coach in 2011.
Roman spent 2009 and '10 as Stanford's offensive coordinator. He spent 1999-2007 in various assistant's roles with Carolina, Houston and Baltimore in the NFL and was the offensive coordinator at Absecon (N.J.) Holy Spirit High School in 2008.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
