Stanford University has its eyes on Greg Roman, sources say, and the Ravens' offensive coordinator is considered to be a top candidate for its vacant head coaching job.
The school that is looking to replace longtime head coach David Shaw, who recently stepped down after 12 seasons, believes the interest is mutual.
Athletic Director Bernard Muir, who spoke with Roman recently, left the conversation encouraged. Roman would be potentially returning to his college football home, as he served as assistant head coach at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh from 2009-2010. He was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2010, given annually to the nation's top college football assistant coach.
The news of Stanford reaching out to Roman, which was first reported by Stewart Mandel, The Athletic's editor-in-chief of college football coverage, was later confirmed by Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.
"I think it's very preliminary right now," Harbaugh told reporters this week. "We have really great coaches, they're going to have opportunities. We try to encourage that and support that any way we can."
Working with Roman, quarterback Lamar Jackson became the league's MVP in 2019 and one of the NFL's most dynamic players. But Roman's deep influence goes further than that.
His offensive schemes have influenced countless coaches over the past decade or so, specifically how he's been able to blend running and passing for do-everything quarterbacks. Endless teams in the NFL use versions of his playbook and even more in college, and he's become one of the most copied tacticians of the last decade.
Among Roman's most successful work has been his years with Andrew Luck, Alex Smith and, of course, Colin Kaepernick. He also helped Tyrod Taylor make the Pro Bowl in 2015 in Buffalo.
A source close to Roman said he would strongly considering returning to the place where he first experimented and tested his theories over a decade ago in order to rebuild Stanford into the monster it was when he left.
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