The San Francisco 49ers strong season naturally leads to other teams attempting to poach coaches and front office personnel to help improve their own situations. The NFL Network reported earlier today that defensive backs coach Ed Donatell was denied permission to interview for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator under new head coach Greg Schiano. Teams cannot deny a coach a chance to interview for a head coach job, but they can deny the opportunity to interview for any other sort of coaching ladder promotion.
I have always found this practice curious in part because of any concern that an assistant coach might grow to resent it. I would hope most coaches are professional enough to understand what's going on with it, but I could see it being a frustrating part of the coaching process. After all, if things go south with the secondary, Donatell could be on the hook and find himself back at square one if he were fired. It just makes for an interesting dynamic.
In somewhat related news, the St. Louis Rams have apparently narrowed down their GM list to Vikings player personnel director George Paton and Falcons player personnel director Les Snead. This means 49ers player personnel director Tom Gamble has been eliminated from consideration. The 49ers front office has done great work, and with Trent Baalke signing a three year contract extension the unit will stick together for a little while longer.