Romo not dating coach's daughter

Eastern Illinois University athletics director John Smith has insisted that Tony Romo is not dating his daughter Natalie.

Romo only split from singer Jessica Simpson earlier this month, but has already been romantically linked to Natalie after they were spotted eating lunch together.

However, John Smith claimed that his family have been friends with the NFL star since he was at college and described Romo and Natalie's relationship status as "friends".

"His breakup brought all these rumours and stories and it is not true," Smith told People.

"Natalie feels so bad. Just being friends with Tony has disrupted everyone [from] talking about Tony and football and are instead talking about Tony and all of this. What is funny about all of this is that if Tony hadn't broken up with Jessica, nothing would ever have been written about him having lunch with Natalie."

Earlier this week, Simpson's father said that his daughter was "doing good" following her split from the Dallas Cowboys quarterback.