Tuesday morning, 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman confirmed his candidacy for the Penn State coaching job in an interview with New Jersey's ESPN 97.3. It turns out Roman is from a town in New Jersey that is a few hours drive from Penn State, so this is a career opportunity that provides a great family opportunity as well. Roman is currently a finalist for the job and it sounds like a decision will be made in the next week or so.
49ers President/CEO Jed York made an appearance on Chronicle Live yesterday (stream after the jump) to discuss a variety of topics and he had a chance to touch on the Greg Roman news. He made some excellent comments about some of his old discussions with Bill Walsh and how Walsh understood that if you want to bring in the best people for the coaching staff, you're going to lose those kinds of people as well.
As MM pointed out in the link above, potentially losing Greg Roman would not be the end of the world. While Greg Roman is the coordinator, he is not the sole play-caller. I recall a point earlier in the season when Michael Crabtree caught a red zone touchdown and after the game he mentioned how the wide receiver coach had made that particular play-call. Having an offensive-minded head coach makes any transition from Roman to whomever (Geep Chryst, maybe?) that much easier. It's not a simple process, but it is not nearly as complicated as it could be.
This is all of course assuming Roman gets the job. The laundry list of rumored candidates is extensive, so one of a number of people could end up with this job.
Jed York, Matt Maiocco on Chronicle Live