Eric Mangini to interview for Oakland Raiders head coach job

For those that were looking for another San Francisco 49ers offensive assistant to depart, you might get your wish. Tight ends coach Eric Mangini will interview with the Oakland Raiders for their head coaching job, according to FOX Sports 1's Mike Garafolo.

Plenty of 49ers fans would like to see him depart, while Raiders fans are a little bit baffled by the interview choice. Back in early December, I wrote about the speculation that Mangini had been brought in to eventually replace 49ers head coach Harbaugh. The extent of the speculation was based on the fact that Mangini got his start with Bill Belichick in Cleveland, and that carried over to Belichick's time as defensive coordinator for the Bill Parcells led New York Jets. Trent Baalke got his own NFL start as a scout for Parcells.

I would not be surprised if Mangini interviewed for the the 49ers head coaching job at some point. People wonder why he deserves a third chance. NFL media types have been saying he potentially got the Browns job too soon after getting fired by the Jets. They seem to think he has learned a lot from those experiences.

You could potentially group Josh McDaniels and Eric Mangini together given their failures outside the Belichick nest. Of course, the difference is that McDaniels was able to go back, while Mangini got the whole SpyGate mess going. I'm guessing that might have precluded a reunion with Belichick. I'd be a little more comfortable with McDaniels given that it is a second chance, as opposed to a third chance, but either way it's hard to get overly excited about either. If either ended up getting the job, I'd do my best to look at the bright side of it, but we'll just have to wait and see how either plays out.