Chargers Offer Ross Coach’s Job : Pro football: Georgia Tech coach to be named successor to Henning on Thursday.

General Manager Bobby Beathard said Monday night he has offered the Chargers’ head coaching position to Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Ross.

“It’s his job if he wants it,” Beathard said. “Now it’s up to him to decide.”

Sources said Ross will inform Georgia Tech that he has decided to accept the Chargers’ post, and that he will be introduced as early as Thursday in San Diego as the team’s ninth head coach.

Sources said Ross has been bound by financial considerations at Georgia Tech, and he has been unable to officially accept the Chargers’ post until Jan. 1. Beathard said earlier that he would not name a successor to Dan Henning before Jan. 1.

Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen and defensive coordinator George O’Leary are prime candidates to join Ross’s staff in San Diego, although neither is expected to retain coordinator duties.

Ross returned home Monday after a day-long visit with Beathard in San Diego and told the media in Atlanta he had come to monetary terms with the Chargers--in the event that he decides to accept the position.

Ross said he would discuss his situation further today in a press conference at Georgia Tech.

“I think it was a good visit,” Ross told reporters upon his arrival in Atlanta on Monday night. “I think I learned a lot of things about the organization and I met the owner (Alex Spanos).”

Ross, who took a tour of the Chargers’ training facilities, also said that the draft selection process and personnel “were very specifically discussed,” with Beathard.

Defensive coordinator Ron Lynn, meanwhile, who was released along with Henning last week, spent Monday in Cincinnati interviewing with newly hired Bengals’ head coach, David Shula.

“We still have some things to talk about,” Lynn said, “but it was a good visit.”

Lynn, who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, is considered the leading candidate to replace fired Bengals’ defensive coordinator, Dick LeBeau.