If anything, I'm normally guilty of giving young players too much rope in hoping that they will improve and reach their potential, but Lance was one guy that I watched his first preseason and thought immediately "This guy sucks." If not for Purdy, Shanahan and Lynch would have been deservedly fired for that trade.
I respect all that. I guess my position is, I don't think any current candidates will be able to do much more than Shanahan has already done.
The 49ers got rid of Harbaugh to hire Jim Tomsula. If teams didn't make so many stupid coach hires, fans wouldn't criticize them for firing winning coaches.
They didn't when they fired Mike Nolan and Scot McCloughan took over. Same power sharing situation. Nolan drafted Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers.
He did. Technically, Nolan had both the coach and the GM title when he was first hired and McCloughan was the vice-president of player personnel and then Nolan lost the GM title and McCloughan was promoted to GM before McCloughan was ultimately fired.
This is a pretty reductive take on the complexity of being a professional head coach in any sport. It goes well beyond being a brilliant football mind, you are managing the egos for 80+ young adult/adult males as they navigate not just football, but their lives. Look at how many franchises, particularly in the NFL, that are constantly replacing head coaches and finding little to no success. I don't think you can definitively say there is or is not someone better to replace him. Shanahan has had too much success for that to be clear, even with his warts.
The thing that bothers me about Shanahan the most is that beneath the mostly nice guy persona he projects to the public, I think the guy is incredibly arrogant. I think he thinks his system is hot shit, but it only really started functioning at a high level once they got McAffrey and replaced Garropolo with a competent QB. Other offenses produces at similar levels without needing as many skill level Pro Bowl players as the 49ers have. Most of his career, it's the defense that's been carrying his offense and not the other way around.
My only point is that you’re oversimplifying how hard it is to build and maintain a winning team culture from the head coach down. Regardless of how you feel about Shanahan, you’re taking a big risk getting rid of someone who has made 4 NFC championships and 2 super bowls in the past 6 years.
He absolutely has his warts, and he needs to learn how to finish. I was recently asked if I would take Ben Johnson as head coach right now, which is at least an interesting discussion. Doubtful that’s even on the table since I don’t see Kyle being removed yet.
