Oregon State, Nevada Las Vegas Show Interest in UCLA’s Romar

UCLA assistant coach Lorenzo Romar, already a top candidate for Oregon State’s vacant head coaching position, is expected to fly to Las Vegas to interview for the open Nevada Las Vegas job today, sources close to Romar said Thursday.

Romar confirmed Thursday that he had been contacted by UNLV but would not say if he would be visiting Las Vegas today. Oregon State, out of deference to UCLA’s postseason preparation, apparently won’t officially interview Romar until after UCLA’s season has ended.

Though the Oregon State job is widely believed to be Romar’s first choice, if offered to him, sources said Romar believes he has to examine the situation at UNLV before rejecting it out of hand.

Said a source: “He’s got to take a look at it, right?”

UNLV, in turmoil for years and facing the possibility of another probation, is rumored to be prepared to offer its next head coach a payment package unlikely to be matched by many other schools.

Romar, a former NBA player who is in his third season with the Bruins and has no collegiate head coaching experience, also has said in the past that he is satisfied being an assistant at UCLA for now and is in no hurry to be a head coach.