San Francisco 49ers Promote Jim Tomsula To Be Their Next Head Coach
By Keith Myers
Oct 19, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive line coach Jim Tomsula before the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
After a ton of speculation that the San Francisco 49ers were about to hire Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase to be their next head coach, they went in a completely different direction today. Instead, they will promote Jim Tomsula from defensive line coach to head coach.
Now official: 49ers have informed Adam Gase they're going in a different direction. Jim Tomsula will be 49ers new HC.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 14, 2015
Tomsula was the interim head coach when Mike Singletary was fired in 2010. He was also a finalist for the HC job after that season, but the 49ers hired Jim Harbaugh instead. Harbaugh then retained Tomsula as the team’s defensive line coach.
The 49ers knew they'd be hiring a HC for months. If it took them nearly 3 wks to hire one who was under their noses, what does that tell us?
— Dan Pompei (@danpompei) January 14, 2015
Dan Pompei raises a good point there. Tomsula was reportedly the preferred choice by San Francisco’s CEO and GM well before Harbaugh was officially fired. If this is the direction they were going to go, why did it take so long?
San Francisco was one of the teams that was interested in Seattle’s Dan Quinn. It is a reasonable assumption that they got tired of waiting for Quinn and chose to go with Tomsula instead.
Overall, this is good news for Seattle. Not only does it remove one of the teams from the market that were looking to take Quinn, but it also leaves Gase on the market. Gase has been another highly sought-after candidate, and will likely take one of the two remaining available jobs.