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It's been a while now since the San Francisco 49ers hired Jim Tomsula as their head coach. The coaching staff is starting to round out, and the identity of the staff is becoming more and more clear: the 49ers are bringing in a lot of old head coaches and putting them in whatever positions they have available. There is one conspicuous absence, though. Where is the offensive coordinator?
I think if the Tomsula era is going to be a success, it will require the 49ers to hire a successful offensive coordinator who matches the Tomsula / Baalke vision of an offense, and who can be left alone to design and implement the offense. I think the best case scenario with Tomsula is that he continues the 49ers' recent reputation of playing tough defense while letting a smart OC develop Colin Kaepernick. So, the OC position is incredibly important for this staff.
Why, then, do you think we haven't seen any action on that front? There are a few options that I can think of. I'll go from best cast scenario to worst.
First, the 49ers could potentially have a couple of candidates in mind and would like to conduct interviews or continues to process the data they have in regards to the candidates. This is the Rob Chudzinski scenario. I thought this might be the Lane Kiffin scenario as well given National Signing Day on February 3, but Kiffin announced he is returning to Alabama. On the other hand, Chudzinski will have to wait until his contract is up in a few days before potentially moving on. While these candidates might not be your respective top choices, these choices represent a process to go out and find the right guy.
Second, the 49ers might just be playing the stall game until they name an internal candidate, like Geep Chryst, the OC. This is essentially what happened with Tomsula's hiring. I would like this scenario less for similar reasons to why I dislike the Tomsula hire. I hesitate to believe that Baalke and York are interested in bringing in the best talent; rather, they seem interested in promoting the "yes-men."
Third, and the worst scenario: the 49ers are scaring away people who might otherwise want the job. The 49ers have had press conferences recently that have made the team look dysfunctional. And that's being charitable, I think. When an owner says that it's Super Bowl or bust, then coaches might be afraid to move out here for a year or two before the whole staff gets blown up. Tomusla, likewise, might not inspire confidence in offensive-minded coaches.
So, what do you all think? What is taking so long? Are there other scenarios besides these three that are possibilities?