Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Right now, the 5 names I'd look at are:
1. Frank Reich (Chargers) - Largely credited with helping turn back around Rivers and have him play well again. Could he do the same with Kaepernick? Can he build a great staff?
2. Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M) - He will need to have a strong defensive coordinator, but the offense would likely see a large boost in creativity.
3. David Shaw (Stanford) - Has NFL experience, is a proven winner, and could likely retain the majority of our staff while helping sustain overall stability. If he gets a great OC, this might be the best possible option for the team, in my opinion.
4. Vic Fangio - Obviously Vic is a guy nearly impossible to replace in terms of what he's been able to get out of our guys and being able to call games nearly to perfection. Questions though would be who would the OC be? And would being HC cause his performance to suffer when calling defensive plays? Those things happen.
5. Jim Tomsula - After a lot of thought, I don't think it actually would be a bad move if Tomsula was given a shot. DL Coach is certainly a great fit for him, but he has experience as both a head coach and defensive coordinator. In 2004, he was the DC of the Berlin Thunder who went 9-1 and won the World Bowl for NFL Europe. The next year he led the Rhein Fire to a winning record of 6-4 as a HC. Of course he also won his only game as an interim HC for the 49ers, 38-7. The players love him, and he has well-observed success in developing defensive players. Again, the offensive staff under him would be a major question.
I'm really not in favor of a college coach. This is a team that with people healthy, can legitimately be a Superbowl contender so experimenting with someone right out of college, who may or may not succeed and despite guys like Harbaugh and Kelly, most college coaches have struggled in the NFL, I think you need someone with a good NFL background.
Shaw is an interesting candidate because he has NFL experience but his offense is rooted in the same Harbaugh system that people are currently ticked off about. He's also had the familiar red zone struggles and is coming off a pretty lousy year for his program overall. IF he can get a top notch veteran OC, then that is a possibility but if he's just shuffling in some random OC, then I would see this as a big downgrade. I think Harbaugh for all his wacky intensity and aloofness is a better coach than Shaw overall.
I don't like Sumlin at all, he's been going backwards, not forwards in terms of his success in college. One of the posters here put up an NFL Network podcast where they were discussing potential NFL head coaching candidates amongst college coaches and Sumlin was seen as being way at the back, well behind guys like Shaw, Mora and Brian Kelly. Not a fan of that pick.
As far as Reich, he has some of the same issues as with Gase and Hamilton. Can they be leaders in the locker room for an entire franchise. What kind of staffs could they put together. Being that none of them have been head coaches before, there's a lot of things that would need to be looked at ultimately. Also, unlike Gase and Hamilton, Reich is only in his first season of being an NFL offensive coordinator.
I still see Kubiak as the top choice in that he would bring stability, proven NFL experience but not ridiculously old, a good offensive background(his Houston teams were routinely in the Top 10 of NFL offenses) and the ability to put together a quality NFL staff with him. If any medical issues check out, I think with this roster, he could do very well. I also think he's credible enough that Fangio might stick around and not feel like he's being lectured to by a kid such as a guy like Gase who is 36 years old I think.
[ Edited by Phoenix49ers on Dec 17, 2014 at 11:24 AM ]
