49ers head coach candidates figuring out their coaching staff possibilities

The San Francisco 49ers are in the midst of their search for head coach candidates, and one has to imagine the candidates need to provide some thoughts on their expected staff. The 49ers have plenty of qualified assistants, but a new coach will potentially have ideas on new people to help on both sides of the ball.

On Thursday, there were a couple reports about what we might see for certain candidates. Eric Branch is hearing that Vic Fangio would promote Ed Donatell from secondary coach to defensive coordinator. Donatell is a potential candidate for the Washington DC job, and teams have requested interviews with him for DC roles in the past.

The 49ers secondary was quite impressive this year considering all the turnover, so it is no surprise Donatell might get his shot as a defensive coordinator. The big question will be what he can do in regard to putting together a defensive game plan. Of course, if Vic Fangio got the head coach position, we might see something like what Field Gulls told us about Seattle. One of the questions with defensive coordinator Dan Quinn's candidacy is how much of the Seahawks defense is him, and how much is Quinn just implementing Carroll's vision. A Fangio/Donatell combination could result in something similar.

Alex Marvez of FOX Sports reported on Thursday that Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter could be on the radar for the coaching staffs of Dan Quinn and Jim Tomsula. Both are candidates for the 49ers head coach job, while Quinn is also on the radar for other teams. Koetter is expected to interview for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers OC job, but the interest seems to be rising across the league.