When San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke left a long meeting in Colorado with Adam Gase last month an eventual deal to hire the Denver Broncos offensive coordinator as head coach was considered all but a done deal. That done deal quickly fell apart because the team forced an ultimatum on Gase, according to Tim Kawakami of San Jose Mercury News.
49ers reportedly didn’t hire Adam Gase due to defensive coordinator disagreement
After agreeing to Adam Gase’s choices for defensive coordinator, the 49ers reportedly changed their mind and told Gase he had to hire Jim Tomsula in the role.
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During a meeting with Baalke that lasted over seven hours, Gase was reportedly able to list his prospective coaching staff. According to Albert Breer of NFL Network, his choices for defensive coordinator were incumbent Vic Fangio or Cincinnati Bengals secondary coach Vance Joseph. However, when Baalke returned to San Francisco, he decided that Jim Tomsula needed to stay on the staff of the 49ers and that if Gase was unwilling to name Tomsula his defensive coordinator, then no head coaching offer was to remain on the table.
That's why Gase turned down a subsequent offer to become the offensive coordinator for the 49ers under Tomsula and instead accepted the same position with the Chicago Bears.
The story “has been making the coaching rounds,“ according to Kawakami, and doesn’t reflect well on an organization that is managing to look less and less trustworthy.
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While Baalke and the 49ers have said that Jim Harbaugh’s departure from the team was mutual, the Michigan head coach said Friday that it was anything but. In a 30-minute podcast with Kawakami, Harbaugh said he was forced out in San Francisco and the only mutual thing about it was that he didn’t fight the team’s decision.
Baalke still has several months to right the ship and save the 2015 offseason, but right now it looks like a disaster for the 2011 NFL Executive of the Year.
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