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San Francisco 49ers: Who Will Be The Next Head Coach?

By Andrew Greenblatt

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Nov 22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kell prior to action against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kell prior to action against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

The San Francisco 49ers are currently looking high and low to find a new head coach to replace the short-tenured Jim Tomsula. Will the 49ers go for a big name or an unproven rookie once more?

San Francisco 49ers fans, oh how far we’ve come. Less than three years removed from coming so close to winning a Super Bowl title, the team is looking for its third head coach in those same three years.

How did they get to this point? Such a storied franchise, with such successful (and long-tenured) coaches like Bill Walsh and George Seifert, certainly didn’t set out to become a joke of a team in 2015, and is searching once again for a new coach to lead their team to victory.

To give some background, the team has gone through six different coaches since 2000, a number surprisingly not that uncommon for the NFL. As evidenced by that linked chart, each NFL team has gone through an average of 4 coaches since 2000-when the New England Patriots hired Bill Belichick in 2000.

For years, the 49ers tried different styles. There was Steve Mariucci, who was relatively successful, but ultimately lost a power struggle with the front office. Following him, the 49ers erratically hired Dennis Erickson, who also wasn’t given much of a chance to succeed. That was followed by Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary, both of whom had unsatisfying tenures. Finally, the team  hired Jim Harbaugh in 2011. Harbaugh had immediate success with the 49ers, and eventually was pushed out by an incompetent front office mutually parted ways with the team in 2014.

After what felt like a lazy internal hire, Tomsula took the reigns of the team, who had lost nearly every big name on the roster during the offseason. The regular season obviously didn’t go much better, as the 49ers went 5-11 and were really not competitive most of the year.

In a sea of talented prospects, the 49ers will have to wade through and find someone to right the ship and bring back the success and professionalism the 49ers used to be known for. No one really knows who the true frontrunner is, and the candidates are all extremely distinct in personality and coaching style. Now, as the 2016 NFL Draft looms, the 49ers are on the clock, not only for a draft pick but also for a new head coach.

Next: Hues of Bay Area Past