The 49ers general manager does not want to talk about Jim Harbaugh and the past

INDIANAPOLIS -- Trent Baalke does not want to talk about the past. It’s the one thing the San Francisco 49ers general manager made clear dodging questions about parting ways this year with Jim Harbaugh and more recent reports of not hiring Adam Gase as Harbaugh’s replacement over a disagreement on who to make defensive coordinator.

“I’ve got no response to that,” Baalke said when asked about Harbaugh’s recent revelation that his departure was not mutual despite the team’s insistence otherwise. “Jim’s moved on. We’ve moved on.”

He added, “Head football coach at Michigan is a heckuva job. I know that’s something that Jim’s always wanted to do.”

And that was all he said on the matter, despite being repeatedly grilled about it from several corners of the room.

But it was something that came up later in the press conference that raised an eyebrow. Someone asked Baalke about the team’s offensive struggles last season, and specifically about Greg Roman, the former offensive coordinator. Baalke praised the coaching staff’s effort, standard procedure. However, immediately after that Baalke was asked why the team opted to replace the coaching staff given his praise.

Flustered, Baalke went back to the line he’d been dropping all morning, the one about not wanting to look backward.

Dysfunctional leadership has been a theme for the 49ers since the beginning of the 2014 season when rumors of friction between former head coach Harbaugh and Baalke and team president Jed York first surfaced. Harbaugh was in the news last week too. In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Michigan’s new football coach said, “I didn’t leave the 49ers. The 49ers hierarchy left me.”

Reports last week said that the 49ers were set to hire Gase, but the two sides couldn’t come to terms on who would get the defensive coordinator job. A report from the San Jose Mercury News said that the deal fell apart when Gase rebuffed his would-be bosses’ suggestion to make Jim Tomsula defensive coordinator. Gase reportedly wanted to keep Vic Fangio or hire Bengals defensive backs coach Vance Joseph for the job.

He went back to the same playbook to address the assertion about Gase and the defensive coordinator situation.

“The job was offered to one person and one person only ... Jim Tomsula.”

He covered himself with that response, which is technically true.

Baalke may be technically correct, but his responses don’t inspire much confidence for the team’s immediate future and a healthy, functional front office.

Niners Nation echoed recent cynicism in describing the situation:

Management decided it was better to promote a position coach to head coach than hire an offensive minded coach and keep one, if not the best defensive coordinators in the NFL. Doesn’t make management look very good right about now, but that’s not really news, is it?