Mike Shanahan interviewed with Raiders, 49ers not interested in Mike Holmgren for head coaching vacancy

The San Francisco 49ers coaching search has not been overly crazy to date, but Monday brought what I would argue is the most random swing. Diane Marie Russini, a Washington, D.C. sports anchor, is reporting Mike Shanahan interviewed with the Oakland Raiders. Russini has grown in stature due to her breaking of a couple national stories over the past year or so.

Shanahan interviewed with the San Francisco 49ers on January 1, although there have been some reports that interview took place in Colorado. We subsequently found ourselves wondering what to make of a picture reportedly showing Mike Shanahan at Chevys in San Francisco. Some doubt it is at a San Francisco Chevys, but in light of this report of a Raiders interview, maybe he was in town for that interview.

I suggest this is the most random swing because Shanahan and the Raiders have an ugly history. The then Los Angeles Raiders hired Shanahan to be their head coach in 1988. Four games into Shanahan's second season, Al Davis fired him and reportedly refused to pay him some portion of the salary owed. Shanahan took that personally (as one might expect) and worked to beat the Raiders every chance he had after that.

It is entirely possible this is a burying of the hatchet between Shanahan and Mark Davis, which would make for a potentially interesting competition between the 49ers and Raiders for Mike Shanahan. Our assumptions about Shanahan are based on his history, the reports of former 49ers players backing him, and of course Jed York's comments to a source that Shanahan might be high on his list.

Mike Holmgren done with coaching

In other news, Mike Holmgren has said he is done with coaching. In a radio interview Monday morning, he said he got some offers last week, but he decided to move on. Holmgren said the one job he might have been interested in was the 49ers job, but the team was not interested. It is possible there were some very preliminary discussions, but clearly they did not go anywhere. This comes after a report last month said Mike Holmgren had expressed some interest in the job.