This wasn’t how 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman drew it up.

For the second time since 2012, Penn State has passed on making Roman its head coach. According to CBS Sports, the school will hire Vanderbilt’s James Franklin after Roman reportedly interviewed with school officials on Monday in Chicago.

It marks the second time Roman has lost out to Franklin for a college head-coaching job, In December 2010, Roman interviewed at Vanderbilt, which subsequently hired Franklin. It’s possible Vanderbilt — as Penn State did — will reach out to Roman to interview for a second time. During the 2011 season, Roman interviewed with Penn State, which he’s termed a “lifetime job.” In January 2012, Penn State hired Bill O’Brien to replace Joe Paterno.

Since 2010, Roman has also interviewed for openings at Stanford and Pittsburgh. During the 2011 season, he was offered the job at Tulane, but didn’t accept it, partly because of the timing,

An NFL head-coaching door also closed for Roman today when when Washington hired Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden as its head coach. Washington reportedly had requested permission from the 49ers to interview Roman and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

The Vikings have also requested an interview with Roman, according to reports. On Wednesday, SiriusXM’s Adam Caplan reported Minnesota was also expected to request an interview with 49ers defensive line coach Jim Tomsula.



Tomsula, 45, the team’s longest-tenured assistant, is the only coach to be retained by Mike Singletary and Jim Harbaugh. He was the interim coach for the 2010 regular-season finale and also led the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe in 2006.

The 49ers have a host of young linemen under the tutelage of Tomsula, who is regarded as one of the NFL’s top defensive line coaches. In April, the 49ers drafted Tank Carradine in the second round and selected Quinton Dial in the fifth. Another rookie, Lawrence Okoye, is a project who had never played football until last year. Okoye is on injured reserve.

Twitter: @Eric_Branch