Last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that San Francisco 49ers inside linebackers coach Clancy Pendergast was probably going to accept the USC defensive coordinator position. Today, Ian Rapoport is reporting that Pendergast formally interviewed for the job recently. Unlike interview rules for NFL jobs, if an NFL coach wants to resign and coach in college, there are no rules preventing him from doing so. There can be complications if he later returns to the NFL, but as we have seen with NFL coaches in the past, they can leave the NFL for college relatively easily.
Jed York said on Monday that only Jim Tomsula had been released. He said the next head coach would evaluate the coaches to decide if he wants to keep anybody. Later in the day, Trent Baalke said the team would not be interviewing any of their current assistants for the head coach role. Pendergast's potential departure would indicate if the assistants find an opportunity before the 49ers hire a head coach, they will be allowed to pursue it. Technically I think the team could prevent them from interviewing with other NFL teams, but given the changes at the top, I can't imagine they would do that this time around.