Baalke’s baffling hires

This is my Friday column.

Trent Baalke, you sly dog.

I thought I had you figured out. I thought I could read you like a map.

I knew you revealed your master plan for the 49ers’ coaching search when you said, “This isn’t a rebuild situation. This is a reload situation,” at the end-of-the-season press conference.

But, I still couldn’t predict who you would hire.

I figured you would promote coaches from within the organization — you made that obvious. Hiring a head coach or coordinators from other organizations would mean rebuilding, because new coaches bring new schemes that take months, sometimes years for players to master.

I thought, “Which coaches on the 49ers deserve promotions?”

I thought the answers were obvious — Vic Fangio, Ed Donatell and Mike Solari. It is common custom to promote a successful coordinator to head coach, and Fangio is the best defensive coordinator in the NFL. I figured you would make Fangio the head coach.

Donatell, the defensive backs’ coach, was the best defensive position coach on the 49ers the past four years. Five Niners defensive backs earned Pro Bowl appearances since 2011 — Carlos Rogers, Dashon Goldson, Donte Whitner, Eric Reid and Antoine Bethea. I figured you would make Donatell the defensive coordinator.

And I figured you would make offensive line coach Solari the offensive coordinator. He was the 49ers’ best offensive position coach for four years. He turned Joe Staley and Mike Iupati into perennial Pro Bowlers, and he turned Anthony Davis into the best right tackle in the NFL.

I see where I erred now.

I can’t think like you, Trent. You’re 50 steps ahead of me. I’m not in your league.

Not only did you not promote Fangio, Donatell and Solari, you fired them.

Was I way off, or what?

For head coach you promoted Jim Tomsula, the defensive line coach who never has been a defensive coordinator in the NFL. Most general managers don’t hire defensive line coaches to be head coaches, but you’re a trailblazer, Trent.

For defense coordinator, you promoted Eric Mangini, who hasn’t coached defense since 2005 and was out of football for two seasons until you resurrected his career in 2013 by hiring him to be a senior offensive consultant, whatever senior offensive consultant means. In 2014, you promoted him to tight ends coach and, under Mangini’s guidance, Vernon Davis had the worst season of his career. Davis went from Pro Bowler to nobody in a matter of months under Mangini. That’s pretty offensive.

I didn’t realize Mangini’s performance, or lack of performance, made him the best candidate to become your defensive coordinator. I’m learning from you, Trent.

Still, I can’t quite get my head around the promotion of Geep Chryst to offensive coordinator. Please bear with me on this one.

Chryst and Solari were the only two position coaches on Harbaugh’s roster who had been offensive coordinators in the NFL, so it dimly crossed my mind you might promote Chryst to be the offensive coordinator.

But, Chryst’s resume seemed weak to me. Chryst coordinated the Niners’ red-zone offense, which stunk, and he coached the quarterbacks, who earned no trips to the Pro Bowl under Chryst. Colin Kaepernick’s passer rating has decreased every season he has been a starter in the NFL. Chryst again.

Last training camp, Jim Harbaugh had to bring in George Whitfield to help Chryst coach. Whitfield is an independent quarterbacks coach who was 23 years old the last time Chryst was an offensive coordinator.

This year, Kaepernick has to work on his mechanics with another “guru” — Dennis Gile, who tweaked Tim Tebow’s mechanics in 2013. If Chryst could teach mechanics, Kaepernick would have good mechanics and wouldn’t need Tebow’s tutor.

But, that’s not the worst thing about Chryst.

When I think of him, I think of the first play of the Niners’ game against the Raiders this season.

Remember that play? It was a play-action pass designed for Bruce Miller in the flat, designed to get Kaepernick in rhythm.

Kaepernick looked at Miller, who was wide open — no defender within 8 yards — and decided not to throw to him. Kaepernick decided to ad lib the first play of the game instead. He scrambled to his left, threw deep to Michael Crabtree and got picked off.

Here’s what puzzles me, Trent. How do you expect Chryst to lead the offense when he couldn’t even lead Kaepernick for one play?

I’ve struggled with the puzzle for days, but I think I’ve put the pieces together. Most general managers want good coaches, but you’re not like most general managers. You’re ahead of the curve.

You deked everyone and hired bad coaches.

You have a genius I can’t figure out. I’ve got my eye on you, Trent.

Grant Cohn writes sports columns and the “Inside the 49ers” blog for The Press Democrat’s website. You can reach him at grantcohn@gmail.com.

This article has 260 Comments

  1. Yeah Baalke is a genius, same as Boy Wonder. Now that they have bought into the Sacramento (so-called) Pro Soccer team under the guidance of another idiot, Kevin Johnson, we Sactown folks can only hope they can sprinkle their magic smart dust on that horrible excuse for a girl’s recreation-time game and kill it before it spreads…

    1. Not excited about the new so Cee team either. The A’s would
      Have been nice. Even with raley field being smaller. Still
      Would
      Have outsold Oakland.

      1. Duke University runs the single wing option –Article: “Amid personnel moves, Duke’s offense turns over a new leaf,” USA Today. Could you imagine the PSL holders running away in droves after he was hired?…He turned 49ers down&^%$#!!ost it again trying to get half price for my PSL’s before we go
        2-14 next season

    2. Wow, so was I wrong about what I was saying about the 49ers. Am I now…right? Don’t be afraid to say it 49er fans.

    3. Keeping my eye on the ball and not sidetracked by whatever the York’s minor league investments are, I’d say look at the actual coaches and rumored coaches who turned down 49er job offers: Gase (Den), Shannahan (ATL), Mcdaniels -(PAT’S), CHUD (Colts)- who never met a 7-step drop he didn’t like,- Perry Fewell -DB’s-(Wash.), Your Pick,____________, All the defensive line coaches,
      David Cutcliffe, (Duke University!!!!!!!), The worst football program in the universe turned us down!!! *&^)*&^%+&*%!damn,lost it for a minute while I try to get half price for my PSL’s after 49ers degrade to NFL Europe

  2. ‘Davis went from Pro Bowler to nobody in a matter of months under Mangini. That’s pretty offensive.’
    .
    .
    That was funny.
    .
    .
    .
    ~ALOHA~

  3. Hang in there Grant, I’ll bet Baalke has more curves to show everyone. Just read the Jed interview from the Superbowl.

  4. When Davis is healthy — which he wasn’t this past year — he probably is the best RT in the league. If you disagree, go tell him to his face… and let us watch! ;- )

    1. I have never heard AD mentioned by ANYONE in the conversations about best tackles in the NFL. I stand by what I said.

      1. Not sure if AD is THE best RT, but he’s right up there with the best in the league in my opinion.
        .
        And he’s getting better.
        .
        .
        .
        ~ALOHA~

          1. Extremely sound.
            .
            One of Baalke’s better picks even if guys thought he was chosen bit early.
            .
            Getting him so young was key and resigning him quickly was an excellent move.
            .
            Barring injury, he’s got another 10 years in him.
            .
            .
            .
            ~ALOHA~

      2. On 2/27/14 Bleacher Report ranked Davis #6. I don’t subscribe to Profootball Focus. But to say he’s the best right tackle in the league when healthy is a rape of the truth. Just ridiculous.

        1. He’s a lot better run blocking than pass protecting. That doesn’t sound like number one to me either. Still, he is a very good right tackle, and he’s had very good NFL coaching.

        2. Rape is a pretty strong word there pardner. I’ll go with ridiculous. How about this: Davis is a pretty darn good Right Tackle. Howzat? Make ya feel better?

          1. Yes, Ghost, it was strong. Grant often exaggerates to make a point or to create controversy. I am here to learn as much as communicate, so I don’t find that helpful. I guess I reached my limit on that one. If Davis is the 6th best right tackle, I don’t think that says much about the group. I think he’s too slow and should play guard. Howzat, friend?

      3. You have to have someone tell you he’s the best? Or at least one of. Don’t hear it, go see it for yourself.

      4. Absurd. AD was a top 2-3 RT in NFL until this year. Marred by injury and a clear problem with Roman, he fell back a bit. Expect him to be back the in conversation as one of the best RT in football this year.

    2. I wouldn’t want to tell him he has bad breath to his face…or any other NFL lineman for that matter…but he’s a decent RT…far from the best…top 15 to be fair.

  5. “Boldin: Chryst can bring spark to 49ers’ offense” is Matt Maiocco’s head line this afternoon. I sure hope so. There, I just joined the “hope for happiness” group.

    1. Boldin and Chryst have been on the same team twice now, so I’m taking his support of the new OC with a grain of salt.

  6. Grant is it your LIFE mission to bad-mouth everything the Niners do? are you and Tiny Tim K.Life mission to write crap,I think bot of you Guys need to find another profession,I think the 9ers hired who they see fit,sorry they did’nt HIRE the SEXY-HIRES you and Tiny Tim K.wanted,but IF you are not satisfied with the TEAM directions,Then WHY don’t You and Tiny Tim get your Pennies together and BUY the Team and run it the way You Want until then Just Shut The Hell Up!

    1. Don’t dismiss this opinion piece because of past disagreements with what Grant wrote.
      He is absolutely spot on. Instead of attacking him tell us why his points are wrong. Please include as much detail as you can muster.

      I am with the majority of Niner fans who feel Jed York has been petty and foolish with undermining the Harbaugh coaching team last year. He is the real reason that we didn’t win more games. He probably was “the suit” Deon Sanders referred to. He leaked all the rumors. That is plain to see. Then on Thanksgiving night he looked down from hie luxurious box and saw that he was feeding Richard Sherman Thanksgiving dinner on our logo…..and thought “OH F@&K THIS IS BAD” , I better change the conversation. Thus the apology tweet. Another in a long line of York family debacles.

      1. “Instead of attacking him tell us why his points are wrong. ”

        Ha!

        Welcome to the interwebs.

        1. That same madden who helped get jack del rio as the next raider coach.. Wow that’s impressive! Lmao… God Darren 5000 you are a loser and an idiot..

  7. You’ve hit the mark right on the spot. Jed just swapped out our prime rib for hamburger steak, but is still charging us for prime rib. Does he think we wouldn’t care?! He destroyed what may have been a dynasty. For that, I cannot forgive. This new York is just like the old Yorks. Personal relationships are more important than winning football games.

    1. Dynasty??lol Dynasties are multiple championships over a period of time..We haven’t won one championship under Harbaugh.lol..

      1. Work on your reading comprehension. Note the qualifier “may be”, because it’s relevant.

        1. No htwaits….u need to comphrehend…Any talk of dynasty is crazy considering we haven’t won one championship at all under Harbaugh…Aint no ifs,buts or maybe’s about it..He’s known for losing them anyway…irrelevant

          1. I’ll try one more time. When one uses the phrase “may be” that implies future possibilities. Three consecutive years in the NFCC championship game with one loss in the Superbowl “may be” the start of a dynasty.

            If you fire the head coach, but leave him lingering for a year, while planting “negative reports” about him, you may have killed the chance to become a dynasty.

            If the FO thinks that Jed and Baalke are the only required elements needed to actually create a dynasty, why did they keep Harbaugh around after February 2014?

            1. Once again no ifs,buts or maybe’s…The rest is u speak of is a fairytale..Harbaugh controlled his own destiny..he won any of those. And.we’re not having this conversation..

    2. … but Jed is maintaining Jim Harbaugh legacy by putting three of his hires into the top coaching jobs.

      Oh wait, Jim didn’t hire one of them for sure, and I’m not so sure about one of them.

      Why didn’t we keep the originals? Oh right, one of them wanted to go back to college. One was incompetent, but hired immediately, and the other was independent minded.

  8. The purging of Fangio, Donatell, Leavitt and Solari sent a clear message to perspective assistant coaches. If in written form, would go something like this…

    Dear coaching candidates. Please understand that if hired, your productivity will not have any relationship with job security or advancement opportunities.

    For example:
    – Coach Fangio was fired, despite the fact that he had a top 5 defense with only three starters remaining at years end.

    – Coach Donatell was fired, despite the fact that he was successful while having to start 5th and 6th string corner backs, his rookie safety made pro bowl last year, and his ubber inexpensive strong safety made pro bowl this year and was named team MVP.

    – Coach Leavitt was fired, despite the fact that his replacement linebackers played very well after losing two likely hall of fame linebackers.

    – Caoch Solari was fired, despite the fact he’s considered the best O-line coach in the game who is so in demand, he’s considering turning down a $1m annual salary and retiring.

    Thank you for your (real or imagined) interest in joining the 49er family.

    Sincerely,

    Trednet Baalkyorky

    That said, I’m going to see positives in the new guys. I’m hoping to see more zone concepts with coach Foerster, decisive QBing with coach Logan, improved TE play with coach Sparano, great team moral with coach Tomsula, a few (just a few) WCO concepts from coach Chryst.

    11-5, late post season in 2015. The roster (even with losing FAs) is just too good. All they need is to get the injury plague they had last season.

        1. I chose “hope” over “optimistic” based entirely on Boldin’s single sentence about Chryst today.

          1. I have another name for it ‘experienced optimism’. The glass is half full but we all know —- happens.

            1. I like that! And it sure does happen — Rams and Cardinals QBs, Bowman’s knee, and on and on. In the 2011 season it waited to happen just as a fielded punt would have sent us to the Superbowl.

    1. Another reason for optimism… alot of hurt players returning, and several red shirt players that will go into their first training camp already familiar with the terminology and other internal processes.

      1. That’s true if all the important recoveries are good or better than the original, and that it doesn’t turn out that Aldon Smith’s very quiet return wasn’t brought about by a decline in Justin Smith’s play.

        Lingering foot problems and major ACL+ damage are not sure to be as good as ever. Eric Wright, alumni coordinator for the 49ers, lingered for a few years after his groin injury.

          1. I’m curious. Over what? I thought he was one of the best in the NFL, and that Willis and Bowman were probably the best combination in the NFL.

            Sixty percent of a knee would cut out a lot of speed, power, and maneuverability.

            1. Over wilhoite and Borland. Two guys who can’t tackle or have the speed of a 60% bowman.
              Not bringing bowman back last season is going to go a long way.

              1. At 100 % Bowman is possibly the best LB in the league. Borland doesn’t have speed however he can tackle and plays the game with exceptional instinct and acumen.Wilhoite eh not so much.

        1. Optimism:
          The 1982 49ers flopped in major part because of 8 starters out injured.
          (It was the first time Eddie D almost fired BW. It wasn’t the last.)

          The 2014 had 8 starters out just on defense. Even if 33% of IR/NFIs play, this roster will be deep and very good.

          Pessimism:
          The play clock and late game management has been bad going back to Nolan. Got a little better in 2011 because Alex’s pre-snap management was so good, but regressed since then.

          There is something about the 49ers internal processes that makes experienced coaches manage 4th qtrs like drunken lunatics.

          Not just stupid, but literally mindless clock management. Several times the offense, down two scores in the mid 4th qtr, played deliberate slow ball like as if they were protecting a lead. They were running the game clock down… behind! Not just the play clock, but the game clock.

          They did it in both Seattle games. The only two 49er games I didn’t bother watching till the very end since I started watching football in the mid 60’s.

          Recent rumors giving “credit” to Paraag Marathe developing some kind of game management matrix. If this is still going on, the 49ers are in trouble no matter who’s coaching.

          1. I think TK wrote something recently about the suspicion that Marathe’s presents in the coach’s box was contributing to the play management back in Noland’s time. That,s why I asked in the previous blog if anyone knew if he was part of the Harbaugh coaches box crew.

            I also worry that he will come of with some kind of table or computer program to influence play calling.

            1. htwaits,
              Yes, Paraag used to be in the booth for replay review, at some time during the Nolan-Singletary era. Whether it was a detriment is anyone’s guess. Ralph Barbieri used to throw a fit whenever Paraag’s name was mentioned…there were enough issues during that era, I doubt Paraag stood in the way of a championship.
              During the past few days, perhaps a week, TK mentioned that Harbaugh ruled out Paraag being in the booth soon after he arrived, you will have to go through his recent blog entries.
              Re the table, Barrows opinion was that indeed Paraag had come up with a look-up/guide to help the HC decide whether or not to go for it on 4th (percentages, distance, game situation)…..this table has been around and referenced by Nolan, Singletary and Harbaugh.

              1. Thanks again for the information. I’ve heard of to that table which sounds similar to the book on going for two point conversions.

                I’ve heard that the metrics folks have been working on a more complex algorithm for full game situations with live input. That’s mostly what I saw as troublesome.

    2. Correction; All of those coaches were fired because the GM attributes the afore mentioned success on the field to the players HE picked. He believes that because he picks good players that any coach will be successful with them.

  9. Grant I would of been okay with your picks also. The playbook, the playbook, its all about the playbook.

    I wonder if there is going to be a big FA signing to help wash this all over. That would be out of character for this FO.

    I have one request please get Tomsula some mic training.

    1. According to Jed this morning at the Superbowl, there will be no change in their approach to free agent signings. Who knows what continued media heat might stimulate.

    2. Undercenter

      Speaking of that playbook, I have some memory of some of the Walsh playbook having been pilfered by some previous coaches according to coach Harbaugh….a raid on the ‘vault’ if I remember correctly. Grant, can you tell us if those were ever recovered, and returned to their rightful home at 4949…?

      1. It was just careless ownership by the Yorks, and as I remember it, a lot of “missing” material was found and recovered. I expect that it’s being taken care of now.

  10. Meanwhile, Jim and his former OC have sent a nice, fat PDF of every play they put in over the last four years to Seattle, Arizona and Saint Louis. Back atcha Mr. Tweet York…

  11. Interesting. Those that hate the coaching hires think this is Grant’s best work ever. Yet he’s written many similar pieces in the past using exactly the same style and gotten slammed for it. Go figure…

    1. He’s improving a little bit each and every day? He’s finding his voice? No, it’s just that a lot of people are “mad as hell and they aren’t going to take any more” at the same target.

      What Jed had to say today, would make some people mad. It’s kind of a long winded Thanksgiving’s Tweet. Especially the bit about the top three jobs continuing Jim Harbaugh’s legacy, with major improvements of course.

    2. Not really Scooter. I hate most of the hirings but don’t consider this to be Grant’s best work. I’ve seen better. I also would’ve rather seen an article giving the pros and cons of each hire and why it will or won’t work.

      1. I’d like to see that, but would be interesting to see how objective Grant would be.

        I just found it interesting that when Grant writes in this same style about something people don’t agree with, he gets lambasted. The style and quality of this article isn’t any different or better than much of what he writes (and I don’t mean that as negative or positive thing, its how he writes). He just made fun of Baalke and the 49ers coaching search which is in line with the angst of most 49ers fans right now.

  12. Let’s wait and see what Fangio does with the Bears defense before you anoint him leagues best… Major drop in talent over there

  13. your points are valid and correct. but your snark is unprofessional and unearned.

    also, you took the easy way out. any half wit can write about the lack of accomplishments at the professional level by these coaches. your snark, laziness and the zeal at which you write these types of articles continue to make me think you have a personal issue with the team.

    See, EVERYONE knows the history of what has went down and the results of the coaching search. Just regurgitating the events for amusement is pointless (I didn’t find it amusing, not because I think the info and analysis is wrong or because I’m offended that it’s critical of the team I follow, it was just lazy and predictable). are you really that poor of a journalist?

    a more interesting article would be to write about what these coaches bring to the 49ers. What do their philosophies and (admittedly limited) experience bring to the 49ers? Logan, while out of football and little to no NFL experience has an interesting college coaching background. He’s also on record as saying he’s moved from a West Coast philosophy to more of a down field passing philosophy (will this work out for the deep throwing…but often missing Kaepernick?). Chryst, also a lack luster hire at OC but was considered to be the front runner to take over at OC under Harbaugh if Roman ever left. Like the entire offense Chryst’s red zone hasn’t been too great. But he has had some success in some specific games. How or does his philosophy differ from Roman and Harbaugh’s? Mangini has been lauded by many as being incredibly intelligent about football. On the other hand he’s been a train wreck as a head coach and had some success as problems as a defensive assistant and coordinator. Could any of Mangini’s defenses work out to be comparable or better than Fangio’s? Fangio ran a fairly static offense. It had some complex elements to it but it was mostly a bend but don’t break with pressure from the front 4 scheme. Mangini’s defenses tend to be more complex and more custom tailored for the opponent. That can be a huge advantage as long as the players can continue to execute the various schemes from week to week.

    There’s so much to explore and investigate and analyse with a new coaching staff. Do they look really weak on paper. Yes that’s obvious. But how could it work? What could go wrong (and why?…not simply because they weren’t good to begin with). Put your personal insecurities with the 49ers aside (are you seeing Anthony Davis in your dreams?) and write something that is not just a public declaration of your petty issues with the Niners.

    1. Allforfun….Thankyou for saving me about 20 mins. Thats how long or longer it would have taken me to write the same exact post as yours. There is no possible way i could have said it better. BRAVO BRAVO. Grant please read and save Allforfuns post you could learn so much. Once again thank you very much.

      1. I agree with both of hour comments about Grant’s choice of points to make. I think it stems from the fact that the 9ers are so secretive and none of the information was made available to him to write about those subjects. Grant’s style seems to reflect the fact that virtually everything with the 9ers is either Top Secret Crypto or what is made available is just a PR release. All good journalists resist just re-typing someone’s PR release. Grant seems to be like many writers I have read over the years. Basically his style is, if you’re not going to be honest with me with your information, if you’re not going to make honest and forthright people available for me to gain information, they when I have to write an article I am going to speculate and you can just see how that goes. This, after all, a job for him.

    2. “are you really that poor of a journalist?”
      There’s your problem, right there. This is not journalism. Grant is a blogger. Huge, huge difference. Once in a while, Grant writes a good piece. But 95% of the time, the value here is found in the comments. And given that perspective, I am rarely disappointed. For fax, I go to the Matts. This place is for entertainment only!

  14. affp, you laid it right out there. Very well expressed. Thanks. Wish we heard more from you.

    1. … and I gave up my anti snark campaign a while ago. Snark writing does get attention. I just got tired of paying attention to it.

    2. AFFP -is very informative George I agree. Daunting at times and can be surly but certainly has game. Inspires me to deepen my knowledge of the game.

      1. to be clear, i have no problem with a writer criticizing the team. that’s fine. it’s just the personal snark that isn’t needed IMO. all the beat writers have said the same thing that the Niner’s hires are certainly questionable and that they may have pained themselves into a corner with their hires and been left few choices. but none of them have come off as unprofessional about it.

        here’s some really interesting info on one of the Niner’s new hires QB Coach Steve Logan courtesy of a fan post on Niners Nation.

        Steve Logan’s philosophy on quarterbacks and the passing game

        1. Niners need a Wr on the outside like a Tory smith or a mike Wallace.. That opens everything up.. I think that is been missing since an aging moss was here..

          1. They need production from the TE1 and TE2 position.

            They’ve shown the ability to be successful with only 1 solid receiver when those guys are producing.

            1. I’ve been wondering if the team will draft a TE during the first round of the next draft.

              1. Who would you take in the first at TE Mid? Not that great af crop this year.Maxx Williams ,Minn,is about the only guy that I could see that high and he is a doosey! But I doubt we take him there.

              2. What do you guys think of Clive Walford? He impressed at the Senior Bowl. Reminds me a bit of Dwayne Allen for the Colts, and may not need to use a high pick on him.

              3. @Scooter, Can he go up the seam and catch the football, absorb the hit by Chancellor and hold on to it? If so, I’m sold. They need a tough TE that can dish it out instead of taking it over the middle….

              4. VD can’t do that. We need a Gronk. Heuerman has that type of mentality that the 49ers could use in the middle of the field. He’s like a Timex watch but with the Swiss Army Knife versatility….

              5. I like Heuerman. But he’s not a playmaker. He’s rugged, and will do the dirty work. He’s the Bruce Miller of TEs.

              6. He’s good across the board and he won’t be intimidated by big hits. He’s got enough football speed too. He’s got big hands, and Urban used him just like the Swiss Army Knife….

          2. CK=Elite (or anyone else)

            What’s with the language convention used thrice above, i.e., “a Tory smith”, “a mike Wallace”, and “an aging moss”?

            There is only one Tory Smith, just one Mike Wallace, and just one aging Randy Moss. So why use the letter “a” to precede the person? It is incredibly ugly language, but it seems almost all the punters on NFL Network and ESPN are doing it.

            If you want Tory Smith, say you want Tory Smith. If you want a guy who reminds you of Randy Moss, say you want Dorial G-B. For Chryst’s sake people, this is just English!!!

        2. Jack, what do you think about Jed’s view that our offense will be intimidating this year? Harmless juvenile hyperbola?

          1. I thought it read a lot like what many commenters here, myself included, and others were saying prior to the 2013 season.

            1. OK, so Jed expects what you and others expected before the 2013 season. Is Jed’s expectation harmless juvenile hyperbola, or sound analysis based on known reality?

          1. With Kaepernick they scored 26.3 pts per game which would have put 7th in the league. Above average/elite.

            With Smith they scored 23.6 pts per game which would have put them 15th in the league. Average.

              1. So once Kaepernick took over they were elite. Kinda like I said. They caught teams by surprise in the 2nd half of the season.

              2. Again, my fault cause I was unclear. “After week 8”, was when they posted their ratings, which were for weeks 1-8. They were actually better with Alex for the first half of the season from an efficiency standpoint.

              3. You take efficient 23.6 points and I’ll take 26.3 inefficient points. Last time I checked the team with the most points wins.

              4. I’d want to know how much the defense was exposed to pick points alone. For instance, in the NFL I’m very uncomfortable with the Eagles offense.

              5. All I said was that the offense in 2012 was elite, whether it was with Alex or Kap. I wasn’t “taking” the 2012 offense with Alex over Kap. I think PPG is a good stat, but not perfect, and certainly not as good as DVOA which adjusts for the defenses faced and how teams perform on a per play basis compared to the average team. Feel free to raise another straw man though.

              6. Straw man? Pft. They weren’t elite until week 10 when they started catching teams off guard. Points and yards all increased.

              7. Okay let’s play a game.

                Team A puts up 350 yards and 26 points per game for 16 games against the ’14 Saints defense

                Team B puts up 300 yards and 22 points per game for 16 games against the ’13 Seahawks defense

                Which offense is better? DVOA is a better stat because it has larger sample sizes, there are a lot more plays in 8 weeks than there are games, and it adjusts for defenses. PPG and yardage are good broad indicators of performance but they are simplistic and lack nuance when really judging how good an offense is.

              8. I’ll take the 2012 49ers. They had two starting QB’s, both managed 13 points against the Seahawks. Overall one averaged 23.6 points in 8 full games, while the other averaged over 28 in 10 full games (inc playoffs).

                They caught teams off guard in the 2nd half of the season.

              9. I just find it interesting how some like this hire but hate others.

                And there’s every indication that the front office believes lightning will strike twice if they return to that mindset

          2. The Harbaugh Offense Year 2 was a mix of creative run plays and gimmicks. Both QBs ran interesting offenses.
            In 2013 teams caught up to the pistol and read option and Kaep never developed as a pocket QB.

            It was a bad marriage. This upcoming season will be worse!

        3. I think to a lesser but still significant degree, they caught defenses off guard in 2011 with their use of heavy personnel, unbalnced formations in the run game and various and different blocking angles they presented.

  15. Grant the only thing that surprises me is that you’re acting surprised by Baalke’s moves. You’ve made it clear to this point that you don’t really feel that Baalke has been doing his job with the team’s personnel so why would it come as such a shock that he’s just as bad at hiring coaches?

    This entire article could have been one sentence; “See this is what I’ve been saying about the guy, he’s no good.”

  16. is it that surprising?. this happened with mooch and we know what happened , we became the laughing stock of the league for 8 years. ( why we drafted so high), thats why alex smith never reached anything but mediocrity under those clowns nolan and sing. The yorks dont like football and dont want to spend money. Seattle was the only team that looked down at us, but now the whole nfl does / thats why the wr coach or philly, kyle shanahan, chud, gace etc… spit in the yorks face. ballke is a parcells control freak who will become joe thomas 2. when the yorks turn on him i will laugh my behind off. The coaching was anyone who was from a losing program and would work for peanuts please come here. walsh and holmgren had legendary staffs. The warriors had kerr get the best o and d assistants in the league. after teh giants changed ownership they won 3 world series. the Yorks have the reverse midas touch, they turn Gold into pooh poo. Sell the team! ( then you can watch soccer and sip bottled water)

  17. Grant, Grant, Grant… My friend, you are completely missing the point. You have to see the big picture.

    All you see is that Trent Baalke has hired a bunch of midgets. What you are overlooking is that they are not just any old midgets – they are the TALLEST midgets the 49ers could find. That changes everything.

    Amongst the NFL owners, Jed York is the tallest midget. So you see how all of this fits into one harmonious ecosystem?

    What you have to decide is, whether you want to be a wayward sports writer like that feller Tim Kawakami who has this nasty habit of thinking independently and telling things as they are, or if you want to be the tallest midget amongst the media folk, and plug right into the ecosystem that Trent Baalke is building.

    So a good first step would be to go to the 49ers.com website, and under the SHOP tab, place an order for a few sixpacks of 49ers Kool-Aid, drink a couple of bottles, and start heaping praises on all the brilliant moves the 49ers have made in the past twelve months.

    You will feel a lot better, I assure you. You will realize how easy it is to surpass the standards and declare victory when the standards are set very low!

  18. I’ve not paid a lot of attention with all of the poor media. Did all of the coaches get fired or were they just allowed out of their contact? It seemed that a few wanted to leave if certain coaches weren’t head coach and so forth.

    1. What do you mean, fired? Nobody was fired. There were some mutually agreed parting of ways, that’s all.

  19. Grant (Larry) – I love this column! Well done….Right on the money!

    Can you believe I remembered your middle name. :)

  20. This sarcastic article is so negative. The only good thing is despite your opinion the new coaching hires will get a chance to prove themselves. If they fail then you can follow through with your purchase of the 49er franchise so that it can be done correctly.Also how many pro games did Harbaugh coach before he was hired?

  21. This Jed talk about the offense next season is about one thing, and one thing only. To sell seats. He truly believes the old school 49er fans forgot what an offense should look like. With those words he has sold out opening day. After that he better hope he hit bullseye. Because this will be a half empty stadium year. And after the Super Bowl pays for the loss of revenue this season he will again see the half empty stadium. So he will put more time and money into marketing. You’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it a thousand times. Desperate ownership clinging to the past glory of their teams. He needs a slogan like Al’s just win baby to stay a float. Tbd

    1. MD – I liked your post above but disagree with your confusion on Baalke Bashing…..Billy-Bob Baalke was part of the reason we lost Harbaugh and Fangio (2 of the best coaches around).

      1. I meant by… What has he done to screw us up since he’s been here?
        Let’s keep it real. We really don’t know if it was Jed or Baalke calling for Jims head. I actually think it’s Jed or Baalke. I can’t imagine Harbs being a pleasure to work with, but it seems he wanted out too. Idk the guy can draft and fill in FA holes. So I can’t knock him until it’s proven he was the reason Harbs was let go.

  22. NIcely written article. You’re stuff is growing on me..but we can talk about past success all day long but that isn’t necessarily the best indicator..if it were that easy the formula for success would be easy..but it’s not. We have to wait and see..maybe there is chemistry or synergy with the coaches..probably not ..but maybel. If it were easy to put the right person in every spot ..there wouldn’t be only one Bill Walsh..or Bill Parcells…it’s hard.. but nice article and nice read.

    1. In three of his six seasons with the Packers, Slocum led the special teams unit to a bottom third finish in league rankings. That includes being dead last this year.

    1. He called and Constanzo said he doesn’t kiss @$$ but tackles them and would rather impart that onto the younger generation.

      1. Thanx for the info on Slocum, MidWest …

        Sounds like just the type of guy
        Baalke is lookin’ for, huh ?

        and …

        I’m glad I wasn’t sippin’ anything when I read
        your response to the Costanzo link ! .. :-}

        (you woulda got me again !)

  23. Grant- Trent did a great job of burning down the club house. I knew I could smell napalm burning in the house half way through the football season.

    Trent just paved the road for the Seattle Seahawks to SB-50 next year. Oh-well, so much for resurrecting the old 49er dynasty from the ashes

  24. I didn’t agree with many of these hires but disagree with a couple of your points. Your praise for Solari is a little high. Our oline sucked this year. Sure they had a couple injuries but Solari kept trotting Martin out to RT. Why not change it after seeing he can’t play. Maybe move Boone to RT. Rathman is probably our best position coach on offense. Look what he has done with Bruce Miller

    Tomsula being promoted to HC doesn’t make much sense. However he may have been our best position coach. Look at the development of Iam Williams, Jerod Eddie, Dobbs…all undrafted. Revised the crareer of Glen Dorsey. Not to mention the development of McDonald and now Dial. He gets no credit for Smith as he is just a stud

  25. grant,

    Another horribly written article. Well done.

    BTW, my trouble with the article isn’t that you’re criticizing the 49ers, it’s that your article lacks critical thinking. You do realize there’s a difference, don’t you?

  26. ex ..

    No critical thinking” ..??

    When has there ever been any ?… besides ..
    this whole column was written in a completely
    sarcastic tone … and I found just a tad
    of humor in it …

    Weird, too .. because, I wasn’t sure Grant
    had any humor !

  27. How many of these guys complaining where the same ones wanting to get rid of Harbaugh and Company? Heck how many of these “fans” got upset when Harbaugh was hired? And a year or two ago everyone about how awesome the owners and GM were. And now? If they brought success to back to us so quickly why is everyone in such a hurry To knock them down because we had a bad year? last season was a combination of so man things. A lot of which had to with injuries, and then dumb asses making idiotic personal life decisions. Pay attention and stop being a bunch of leaves that blow where the wind takes them.

    1. The problem with your thesis is …

      THIS hire seems to be more of a downgrade
      than the last hire was …

      (Dollars to donuts .. Eddie D probably had his hand
      in the last hire)

    2. ” If they brought success to back to us so quickly why is everyone in such a hurry To knock them down because we had a bad year?” … Nine ers

      “DeBartolo returned from his suspension in 1999, but a series of lawsuits over control of the family’s vast holdings led him to surrender controlling interest to the Yorks as part of a 2000 settlement. Denise York became chairwoman of the board, while John York became CEO.” ,,, Wikipedia

      I guess you think that the York ownership’s 15 years in power is a short time. Others have ask your question about why they got rid of Harbaugh after an 8-8 season.

      Some even think that the Yorks committed to getting rid of Harbaugh right after the last playoff game for the 2013 season.

      By the way, Jed York doesn’t own the 49ers. His mother owns the 49ers. As you so aptly started your last sentence, “Pay attention …”

    3. A large number of commenters wanted to get rid or Roman.

      A much smaller number commenters wanted to get rid of Harbaugh and Roman.

      Few (if any) commenters wanted to get rid of entire defensive staff, Mike Solari and Brad Seely in a Stalinist purge.

      Purges of successful coaches hurt the 49ers reputation as a good place to coach. Purges send the message that productivity will not have any relationship with job security or advancement. They make recruiting coaches and free agents a little more difficult.

  28. For Scooter: The 49ers’ top choice for offensive coordinator was Adam Gase. They kept contacting him, according to a source, after Gase finished as the runner-up to Tomsula for the head-coaching job.

    Then, of course, they wanted to meet with Rob Chudzinski. But the Indianapolis Colts wrapped him up before the 49ers had an opportunity to make their pitch.-Maiocco

  29. There is nooo-way this FO, coaching staff/team is competitive next year or the year after that or ever.
    Trent and Jed are just weak and make decisions out of weakness. They are the type of people you give them 4 decisions. Two of them are close. One is just ridiculous and just there to make them laugh as they are going through the selection process in their minds. Then one is the right one. They would consistently chose the ridiculous one. The one that makes the ship run-aground That causes enron to fail, the one that destroys a good competitive nfl team.

  30. I cannot understand the negativity towards the 49ers Grant anymore. The past 4 months you have written about them as if they were the Raiders. I think this type of commentary is warranted next year if they finish with less than 5 wins. Its not fun coming here anymore.

    1. Because b4 Harbaugh. We sufferd for years, game after game. We grew up watching Walsh’s, Eddy D’s niner teams and we were competitive every season. We were never disappointed with their decisions. We never felt, time after time we were smarter than them. We just watched and were in awe. It’s hard to go from eating high on the hog to eating MRE’s.

    2. The Yorks are just not good at running the team. They should stay in Ohio and pretend that they are Doctors and don’t have mob ties with the Ohio family.

        1. Tom Gamble brings more experience to the FO too.

          Wishful thinking, but the more experience in the building might help temper the Debartolo/York’s impulsive, emotional management style.

        2. Sure is Jack. Many years of coaching under their collective belts. And across many different aspects of coaching.

          They should also have a few ideas being thrown around when it comes to developing plays and figuring out game plans. There are now three guys with NFL experience developing and calling plays on offense, and four guys with NFL experience developing and calling plays on defense.

          1. I’m wondering if there was a sense that Harbaugh was somewhat of a dictator in terms of setting game plans – it seems likely that they may be developing plans more by consensus.

      1. They sound good to me based on what they have been doing in the NFL. I wonder how strong Mangini’s input was. It would be nice to know that he suggested them.

    1. Position – Before – Now

      HC – Jim Harbaugh – Jim Tomsula
      OC – Greg Roman – Geep Chryst
      DC – Vic Fangio – Eric Mangini
      OL – Mike Solari – Chris Foerster
      DL – Jim Tomsula – TBD
      LB – Jim Leavitt – Jason Tarver, Clancy Pendergast
      DB – Ed Donatell – Tim Lewis
      ST – Brad Seely – Thomas McGaughey
      QB- Geep Chryst – Steve Logan
      TE – Eric Mangini – Tony Sparano
      RB – Tom Rathman – Tom Rathman
      WR – John Morton – Curry?

      I prefer the old staff, but the new staff many solid additions.

      1. B2W ..

        Listed at George’s link is a very familiar
        “Asst. Defensive Line” – coach ..

        What’s your take on him ?

        1. Bringing Franklin in as an assistant DL coach makes sense. Its just an entry level position, but he’s familiar with the way Tomsula coaches.

          I’d love to see BY brought in as the DL coach. He was coaching the DL for the Florida Gators in 2011 and 2012, but quit to spend more time with his family. May be worth giving him a call to see if he’s interested in returning to the coaching ranks.

          1. What I’m really hoping for is that the 49ers not only stay a 3-4… be keep their style of 3-4 (some call 4-3 Under).

            I’m talking over my head here… but it looks like the 49ers shade the NT over the centers shoulder. The NT still fulfills his 3-4 role as a space eater allowing MLBs to hit gaps, but it seems to simplify the NTs role, letting him to play more aggressively, almost like a 4-3.

            The 49ers seem to have a nack for finding great NTs in low draft picks that thrive in this system. In a straight 2-gap 3-4 NT role they might not.

            1. I don’t think there is any need to fear Brodie. I don’t see them changing anything too drastically. I expect the under front will remain the staple.

        2. Loved Aubrayo Franklin as a player. I really don’t know about coaching.

          Hacksaw Reynolds was considered by many to be a certain future LB coach after he retired. (I think his contract stipulated this). But he really wasn’t very effective. Football smarts don’t always translate to coaching.

      1. Definitely happy with bringing Pendergast on board, but Tim Lewis excites me a bit more. Successful DC for the Steelers, also did pretty well with the Giants as their DC.

        He did a good job with a young Panthers secondary in 2007 and 2008, which included three big, physical CBs in Chris Gamble, Ken Lucas and Richard Marshall.

        He’s also done some good work with the Falcons secondary since 2010, including the development of Brent Grimes, William Moore and Desmond Trufant.

        1. Solid hire in a very critical position group due to the shift to a more aggressive blitzing scheme defensively….

        2. Scooter:

          I’m not familiar with Lewis so I started doing a little research. He spent the last 5 years with the Atlanta Falcons. Using DVOA from Football Outsiders, the Falcons defense ranked 31st in 2014. Passing defense was 31st and Rushing defense was 30th. In contrast, SF defense was 5th with passing defense ranked 4th and rushing defense ranked 10th.

          In 2013 Atlanta was ranked 29th on defense, with passing defense ranking 32nd and rushing defense ranking 26th. SF ranked 13th with pass defense ranked 10th and rushing defense ranked 14th.

          In 2012 Atlanta was ranked 12th on defense, with passing defense ranking 11th and rushing defense ranking 20th. SF ranked 3rd with pass defense ranked 6th and rushing defense ranked 2nd.

          In 2011 Atlanta was ranked 8th on defense, with passing defense ranking 11th and rushing defense ranking 3rd. SF ranked 3rd with pass defense ranked 6th and rushing defense ranked 2nd.

          http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef

          The Falcons passing defense has experienced a steep decline starting in 2013. Looks to me more like Atlanta is glad to get rid of him. You can argue that the player personnel may have changed quite a bit (which I don’t know if that is true or not); but Donatell molded replacements and rookies into a top group in 2014.

          1. Correction. In 2014 Atlanta defense was ranked 32nd, with passing defense ranked 31st and rushing defense ranked 30th.

            1. Not sure where to look up pass rushing stats. It looks like SF had 36 sacks in 2014 and Atl had 22 sacks (2nd lowest). Still Lewis’ pass defense went down with the rushing defense (rushing defense actually declined steeply one year earlier).

              My point is that despite substantial hardship, Donatell fielded a top notch unit in 2014. Lewis’ results at Atlanta don’t show any significant positive accomplishment in the face of a declining defense. I’m just not feeling a great sense of relief that we hired a very good secondary coach.

              1. “Still Lewis’ pass defense went down with the rushing defense (rushing defense actually declined steeply one year earlier).”

                Exactly. This screams front 7 problems to me. And it’s well documented that Atl needs to fix their pass rush.

              2. I wish we had an edit button. Anyway, I should have added that in 2013 SF had 38 sacks and Atlanta had 32 sacks. In 2012 SF had 38 sacks and Atlanta had 29 sacks. In 2011 SF had 42 sacks and Atlanta had 33 sacks. I know that number of sacks isn’t the only measure of a strong pass rush, but it is the most visible indicator.

                By comparison, the Seahawks had 37 sacks in 2014, 44 in 2013, 36 in 2012 and 33 in 2011.

                The highest number of sacks in the NFL was 54 in 2014, 60 in 2013, 52 in 2012 and 50 in 2011. Average number of sacks was 38 in 2014, 40.5 in 2013, 36.5 in 2012 and 37 in 2011.

                So SF and Seattle had about an average number of sacks yet generally fielded much higher rated than average secondaries.

              3. “Still Lewis’ pass defense went down with the rushing defense (rushing defense actually declined steeply one year earlier).

                Exactly. This screams front 7 problems to me. And it’s well documented that Atl needs to fix their pass rush.”

                Grimey: You’re right about that with regards to Atlanta, but it suggests to me that Lewis is currently nothing special, i.e a downgrade from Donatell and perhaps a significant one. He just doesn’t seem like an exciting hire to me.

              4. Cubus, the main issue with the Falcons defense the past two seasons wasn’t the secondary. They had their fair share of missed assignments this season, but they received very little help from the front 7. He has a good overall track record developing DBs.

                Regardless of what people like to say about the lack of pass rush for the 49ers this past season, they still had more talent than the Falcons in the front 7 despite the injuries, and were able to stop the run.

              5. Scooter:

                Let me summarize what I’m saying. I’m assuming that sacks is a fairly good indicator of the strength of a pass rush. The 49ers and Seahawks have about an average number of sacks over the 2011 through 2014 timeframe. However, they both have top secondaries. I guess I would have liked to have seen that Lewis’ secondary is about average even though Atlanta’s overall defense and pass rush is at the bottom. That would indicate to me that Lewis was as effective in the Atlanta defense as Donatell was in the SF defense. Maybe not a fair comparison, but would be nice to see to get a warm and fuzzy.

              6. The Falcons secondary played better in 2010 through 2012, despite the Falcons not having much of a pass rush. You need to keep in mind that with the offense they had, opponents were often chasing the game and looking to pass, so they gave up some yards. But generally played pretty well.

                The past couple of years they’ve not played that well as a group, but its been a secondary with a lot of young guys playing in it, they’ve had to deal with a lot of injuries, and the front 7 has been diabolical.

                I wouldn’t read too much into the Falcons letting him go. That happens a lot when there is a HC change.

              7. “They had their fair share of missed assignments this season”

                Seems like the better a unit is coached, the less of these you see.

                based on that anecdote and the evidence Cubus provides, it looks like Lewis is nothing to write home about and is a severe downgrade from Donatell.

                but maybe he was dealing w/ poor talent and guys w/o football smarts or poor work ethics.

                how disciplined were they and was their technique fundamentally sound? did their technique improve?

    1. His experience against the spread option could come in handy for both sides of the ball.

      1. Pendergast with the Cardinals, along with Lewis having worked with the Steelers, bring that Zone Blitzing scheme. This would tie in with the 49ers having expressed the desire for a more aggressive defense….

        1. Don’t know that the 49ers have the personnel to be using a lot of zone blitzing concepts. You need athletic OLBs that are adept at dropping into coverage as well as rushing the passer, and even DL that can occasionally drop into coverage.

          More likely we will just see more 5 or even 6 man blitz packages.

            1. They likely will, but do you see Baalke changing his preference for pass rushers in the Aldon Smith/ Aaron Lynch mold? The Steelers, who are the biggest proponents of the zone blitz, have OLBs that are a fair bit smaller and more mobile than the OLBs Baalke covets.

              1. Okeafor was 6-4 270 under Pendergast in Arizona, LaBoy wasn’t small either at 6-4 250. So, I don’t know Scooter, Baalke will give his staff the best player to fit what they want I imagine, if he’s to do his job correctly. Not sure that would preclude him from adding more talent like Aldon or Aaron. Could be a hybrid type of Zone Blitzing scheme. They have the collective minds to go into the lab and create a lot of different ways to attack….

              2. Okeafor was 6-4 270 under Pendergast in Arizona, LaBoy wasn’t small either at 6-4 250. So, I don’t know Scooter, Baalke will give his staff the best player to fit what they want I imagine, if he’s to do his job correctly. Not sure that would preclude him from adding more talent like Aldon or Aaron. Could be a hybrid type of Zone Blitzing scheme. They have the collective minds to go into the lab and create a lot of different ways to attack….

              3. Okeafor was closer to 255lbs than 270lbs when they played him OLB. LaBoy is exactly the type of smaller, more athletic OLB I am talking about. Like Joey Porter. And they had Darnell Dockett as an athletic DE/DT, and Antonio Smith and Bertrand Berry as athletic DEs that can drop in coverage if needed.

                I’m sure zone blitzing concepts will be used, but I don’t think it will be a full on zone blitzing team like the Dick LeBeau coaching tree employ. I don’t think the DL in particular are athletic enough to allow that.

    1. Who cares! The guy is a tool.. Great coach but a problem in every stop he has been. Everyone wants to pretend like jim is innocent and that our ownership and GM are completely responsible for what happened. Truth be told that Jim deserved to get fired.. The job he did this past year was pathetic.. I’m not saying tomsula is better, he clearly is not but let’s not forget what a crappy year we just went through.. Jim is to blame for our offense being as bad as it was.. Also the last coaching staff got out coached in second half of games consistently.. I can’t wait to come back on this board and talk about our niners not losing a beat next year… Health is the only thing stopping this team from competing for a title.

      1. If health is the only thing keeping “your” 49ers from winning the Superbowl after the 2015 season, what kept “your” 49ers from winning the Superbowl tomorrow?

        Harbaugh? I guess Harbaugh didn’t have to deal with the 2014 injuries? Right? Or nine game suspensions? Oh, right, that was his fault too.

      2. CK elite-That is true. Harbaugh much like Trent was a hard headed control freak with his own blind spots and failings as well. That is why they couldn’t get along. I would say that a coach should be allowed to call more of the shots since they are the ones that must produce with the personal they have. Authority should be in balance with your Responsibility. If someone is going to fail- then let them fail on their own merits. You don’t sabotage them to prove your own point.

      3. Two NFCC appearances plus one Super Bowl appearance and no losing record is a problem? Okay.

      4. nah, outside of the QB, Baalke is to blame for the offense.

        He never got the 2nd TE to replace Delanie that made this offense so difficult to defend the 1st 2 seasons (despite the strike in 2011 which made it difficult to implement everything. They were up to 2nd in dvoa with essentially the same personnel as the last two seasons by 2012, b4 Colin replaced Smith.

        He never added a playmaker. AJ, LaMichael, Vance, Patton, Lattimore, Hyde, Ellington, Hunter. so far the best player is Hunter and he’s a backup who is always hurt.

        mccloughan was bad at this as well, but at least he had Vernon & Gore. Crabtree is not great, but he’s better than Baalke’s 4th rd and up picks.

        but instead of understanding what Harbaugh’s offenses have always featured (2 multi-dimensional TE’s), Baalke chose to pick up Stevie Johnson & Brandon Lloyd.

        Since Colin is Harbaugh’s pick and Iupati & Anthony Davis were Singletary picks, he’s added 1 starter via draft – Bruce Miller – who was really just a long shot pick that they threw a dart at in the 7th round. And to no surprise, was a defensive player, which is Baalke’s strength.

    2. Not so sure, Mid. By all accounts he was going to get fired anyway, so it’s similar to a two-week notice. Harbaugh now had a chance to start negotiating with Michigan and not lose a potential opportunity (although Michigan really wanted him, so they might have held out another two weeks).

      1. Sounds like an act of loving kindness on the part of Jed York right on the heals hours) of “The Tweet”, and after ten months of leaks.

    3. The 17-7 loss to the Seahawks dropped the 49ers to 7-7 and eliminated San Francisco from playoff contention.
      —————–
      This is why I expected the team to part ways with him after that loss and why I was and am still baffled if they new they wanted to hire Tomsula why they didn’t just fire Harbaugh after the Seattle game and put Tomsula in as the interim coach.

      1. They could have still interviewed a minority after the season and then made the hire they had intended to do all along. Stringing Jim along the final games served zero purpose.

      2. The previous February would have been better, but given the trouble they are having explaining what they did do, they could have never explained making the move when they first wanted to do it.

  31. I would describe the recent coaching searches and hires as an Aircraft cruising into a storm, nose diving to what seems certain disaster, only to have the Parachute System activated at the last minute, gliding the plane to a soft landing….

    1. Exactly.. Let the dust settle.. It’s a solid coaching staff.. Lots of experience.. See what happens in free agency and the draft.. But most importantly lets get healthy and stop getting arrested.

      1. We already know what to expect from the coaching staff having seen this philosophy over the last 15 years, since the York’s owned the team!!!….Smashmouth football-even with (10) men in the box, a quarterback from an option offense (Nevada Reno) who’s slow reading plays and can not go to his second or third read and if he’s forced to, throws the ball behind or above the receiver because he panics (like asking someone without dancing skills to suddenly dance with Ginger Rodgers), A coaching staff that can’t deveop first year wide receivers (AJ Jenkins, Patton, Ellington) or defensive Linemen (Quentin Dial, Tank Carradine) so are red-shirted their first year, and pass patterns that are so elementary, the (DB) jumps them as if he knew what was coming. I’ve been writing the 49ers for the past month that the quick passing game is how to beat Seattle…they’re sticking with smashmouth and hard headed Baalke.

        1. I know that Dial and Carradine were injured their first year. I’m starting from their second year when they still rarely reached the field

    2. Recently a guy actually landed (ditched) his small plane with a parachute around 250 miles short of his destination in the Hawaiian Islands. My main job in SAC was managing fuel consumption on a heavy bomber in order to reach our target. This guys plane sunk into the deep blue moments after he crawled out. He at least had the foresight to call for help before the last drop of gas was gone. Of course there is a video available.

        1. I loved the Dr. Strangelove, but we had our own in-house black humor back in 1952-1956. Actually, I was dodging the Korean draft when I went to flight school.

          One of the benefits we enjoyed was that we were a one and out operation.

            1. “Mutually assured destruction, or mutual assured destruction (MAD), is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of high-yield weapons of mass destruction by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.”

              That’s why Dr. Strangelove was a “black” comedy. ;-}

    1. He was a coach in scouts clothing so to speak having spent quite a number of years as a college defensive assistant. I believe he banged the table hard for Borland….

  32. The Niners have three massive problems
    #1 Jed
    #2 Trent
    #3 Colin K
    We are the new Raiders real coaches and soon to be players will stay away from this team I’m calling it a hunch but I don’t think in the coaching circle getting rid of Jim Harbaugh was very popular and how they did it when you’re the Rolls-Royce of the NFL coaches and players come to your door not the other way around

  33. Jed and Trent have done one hell of a job saving money, while at the same time, retaining the power of control over this football team…..not to worry though….as soon as things go to hell, and they will, the good soldier, Jim Tomsula will be there to deflect all of the bullets from the front office..just what the Bobsey Twins wanted…a scapegoat….sorry, JT….nothing personal here, but facts is facts….the immediate future for the 49ers is pretty bleak….we have an owner and general manager that want a head coach that they can agree with, or more importantly, will agree with them most of the time….we have a starting QB that just signed a multi year contract that is structured on a year to year basis (smart move by the FO), is a great athlete with a howitzer for an arm, but neither of those traits dont automatically make you an NFL QB…..numerous FA’s, some of which are valuable parts of the machine, some of which dont want to be here anymore…..in short there doesnt seem to be any glue to hold this thing together…you can believe Trent Baalke’s statements from the Tomsula presser if you choose, but, talk is cheap….until the unprecedented moves made by the front office equate into wins and playoff appearances, I will remain a 9er faithful, but, reserve the right to express disgust and disdain for the powers that be…..the apple doesnt fall from the tree….Jed York is no different than John York…they own the team, but, have no business calling the shots.

  34. Baalke is trying to be AKA Brian Sabean of the S.F Giants. Wait a minute, is he trying to duplicate how the S. F Giants method how to be a successful frnachise in winning Championships with no name players and coaches?:-)

  35. A look into Belichick’s defense.
    http://grantland.com/features/new-england-patriots-bill-belichick-coaching-legacy-super-bowl-seattle-seahawks/

    I’m convinced that the Niners F.O. works hard to replicate the Patriots / Bellicheck’s approach to building the team through draft, and assembling a solid coaching staff. The Harbaugh disaster has been a big setback. York is immature and has made several wrong decisions. But Baalke, Marathe and Gamble are a very good working team for personnel and contracts, and may still be able to steer the Niners out of this mess.

    1. The key to Bellichick’s success as the only football dynasty in the cap and free agency era is their success with the draft.
      http://grantland.com/the-triangle/bill-belichick-nfl-draft-new-england-patriots/
      “Perhaps the most common characteristic of bad organizations is that they make a habit of giving away draft picks to trade up and acquire a player with an earlier selection. It’s almost always a strong sign that they simply don’t understand the game at hand. The evidence suggests the NFL draft is most likely a crapshoot, so even if your team’s draft board has a first-round grade on a player left in the middle of the second round, chances are that the rest of the league is right and you’re wrong. Teams do trade up and succeed, of course, in the same way that a drunk blackjack player hits on 16 against a five and wins sometimes, but it’s not an optimal strategy.”
      “If any organization in football emulates Belichick’s philosophy of trading down and taking chances on players with short-term issues, it’s the San Francisco 49ers.”

  36. How dare Balke hire coaches with a bunch of football knowledge!? I love the “Best man up philosophy”. Too many whinos and bandwagoners on this site. Some people just need to relax…Balke I still trust in you! Keep finding talent. I’m really sick of fans in San Mateo and Santa Rosa complaining about the trek to the new stadium. What lazy a-holes. Levis is pretty and awesome besides the field that has no grass. Candlestick was historical but it was a dump…

  37. Man, I can’t believe all the idiot hirings this team is making. It’s like we have resurrected Al Davis to be in charge of our team. Can anyone tell me what qualifies Mangini to be a defensive coordinator? We are gonna suck big time.

  38. Baalke is easy to figure out: he and lucky sperm don’t want any REAL MEN (like Jim Harbaugh) to challenge their fragile egos.

  39. rant…I’ll tell you the same thing I’m telling everyone else…the players believe in Tomsula. He’s hired a ton of experience for his coaching staff. Instead of taking the low road, how about his…wait & see how Tomsula and his staff actually PERFORM. Then maybe you can make an INFORMED analysis. Conjecture is cheap and ridiculously easy. Actually seeing a staff perform isn’t.

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