San Francisco 49ers Owner Jed York Has Turned Team Into Laughing Stock of NFL
USA TODAY Sports-Kyle Terada
Jed York deserves every bit of flack that has been and will continue to be sent his way this offseason. After the firing, and I say firing because by no means was it a “mutual parting of ways,” of the best coach the team has had in decades in Jim Harbaugh, the San Francisco 49ers are in complete disarray and look completely and utterly lost.
After missing out on the playoffs from 2003-2010, San Francisco seemed to have found its savior and looked primed for an extended run of success after hiring Harbaugh from Stanford. In Harbaugh’s first three seasons, he led the team to two Conference Championship game appearances and one narrow Super Bowl defeat. The organization had not advanced as far as the Conference Championship game since the 1997 season, so Harbaugh quickly became a rock star in the Bay Area and developed almost a cult-like following amongst 49ers fans.
Instead of holding on to the man that turned the franchise around and back on to the path that once made the 49ers the crown jewel of the NFL, York forced Harbaugh out. In the month since the coach’s departure, very little has happened to ease the concerns of the fans. General Manager Trent Baalke led the team on an extensive search for a new head coach, which ultimately was settled by the promotion of the team’s long-tenured and fiery defensive line coach, Jim Tomsula.
If going from a proven top-notch coach like Harbaugh to a man without even any experience as a coordinator in the NFL in Tomsula wasn’t discouraging enough, what has transpired since is cause for extreme concern. Any coach with as little experience as Tomsula absolutely must hire a coaching staff, especially coordinators, of the highest degree.
After firing player-favorite and highly-regarded defensive coordinator Vic Fangio as part of the plan to distance themselves as far as they could from the Harbaugh regime, the 49ers were in need of a new man to lead the talented San Francisco defense. York and Baalke struck out on several high-profile candidates before having to settle for a man they had fired just a week earlier from his position of tight ends coach, Eric Mangini. Transitioning from Fangio to a fired tight ends coach isn’t going to inspire a whole lot of confidence in the fan base now is it?
With the two men who ran the offense long gone in Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman, filling the vacant offensive coordinator position with a proven commodity was a must. Colin Kaepernick’s development at quarterback is the No. 1 thing that needs to happen for the 49ers to continue as one of the top teams in the league.
By this point, after the Harbaugh debacle and the questionable promotion of Tomsula over an abundance of more qualified candidates, York had tarnished the team’s reputation and it quickly became abundantly clear other coaches were hesitant to join Tomsula’s staff. One offensive coordinator candidate after another turned down offers to interview for the position, the latest being Eagles’ wide receivers coach Bob Bicknell reportedly choosing to stay in Philadelphia over becoming the coordinator in Santa Clara. With no more viable options to choose from, York and Baalke once again were forced to settle on one of the few Harbaugh holdovers — former quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst.
So, after attempting to rid themselves of everything that reminded of Jim Harbaugh, the 49ers enter the 2015 season with three men that coached under the current University of Michigan head coach at the three most critical coaching positions. If York had a plan prior to firing Harbaugh, it’s impossible to see. My best guess is he was just so giddy over the thought of potentially being free from Harbaugh that he didn’t even take the time to think about the next step.
No one has any clue what is going on in 49er land, and the only clear thing is the organization has lost a lot of the respect they worked hard over the past several years to earn in NFL circles. York rid himself of the previous elite-level coaching staff due to a desire to “win with class,” but he may have a hard time winning at all in 2015. If the 49ers do not win under Tomsula, and win at the same rate Harbaugh did, York will rightfully lose whatever lingering support he had from 49ers’ fans.
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