Update Monday, March 5: Florida’s Mike Hill was named the new athletic director for UNCC. Esten will remain at Penn State at least for the time being.

Original story: Penn State Deputy Athletic Director Phil Esten was named as a finalist for the athletic director job at University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Thursday by Phil Dubois, UNCC’s chancellor. The other finalist is Mike Hill, the  University of Florida’s executive associate athletic director for external affairs.

Esten started at Penn State in October of 2014. Before coming to Penn State, Esten served two years as the Deputy Director of Athletics for External Relations at the University of California, where he originally worked for Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour .

Esten and Barbour work closely on day-to-day operations for the 31-sport athletic programs at Penn State. He oversees the athletic department’s development, marketing, strategic communications, facilities, and event management. He also is the sport administrator for the football, baseball and men’s and women’s gymnastics programs, according to Penn State Athletics.

Both candidates will be on campus in Charlotte next week for interviews.