Condi Rice to 49ers? For a player to be named later?

The State Department is denying it.

Ditto the San Francisco 49ers.

Sort of.

Rumors are flying that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a passionate football fan who once hinted that she would rather be NFL commissioner than POTUS, is interested in becoming the San Francisco 49ers team president.

The NFL Network reported Sunday that a 49ers official expressed interest in hiring Rice as team president. "If she's interested in talking to us, I'm interested in talking to her," the official reportedly told the NFL Network's "GameDay Morning."

But 49ers spokesman Aaron Salkin later dismissed the report, according to the San Jose Mercury News, saying, "We don't respond to rumors." He added, "We have our office structure in place."

Back in Foggy Bottom, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the secretary of State and former national security advisor, once the provost of Stanford University, had made "no contacts" with the 49ers. It was the first question at his daily briefing this morning. The key quote:

Look, she's going to head back to Stanford. You know ... what she's going to be doing. She'll probably end up writing a book, do a little speaking and pursue other activities, particularly in the area related to education and underprivileged children. So I think that's going to be the focus of her efforts. You know, of course, once she's in private life, I have no idea what sort of interest there may be in terms of the NFL and NFL teams, but at this point, there hasn't been any contact between her and the 49ers.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Associated Press