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San Francisco 49ers fire Jim Tomsula after first season as coach
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- After one strange season, the San Francisco 49ers fired rookie coach Jim Tomsula.
"Jimmy has been a valuable member of the 49ers organization for the last nine years," CEO Jed York said in a statement. "We all know he is a man of high character, and his contributions on the field and in our community have always been greatly appreciated. This entire organization is proud and grateful to have worked so closely alongside Jimmy. We all wish him and his family great success in the future."
The Niners went 5-11 in Tomsula's lone season as head coach, ending it with a 19-16 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday in front of a sparse crowd at Levi's Stadium.
When Tomsula was hired last Jan. 14, the move was looked upon with skeptical eyes around the league since he had never been more than a position coach in the NFL, having coached the Niners' defensive line since 2007.
But York lauded Tomsula's teaching and mentoring of players as a reason for promoting him. Tomsula's only head coaching experience at the professional level was in NFL Europe with the Rhein Fire.
Many times this season, though, Tomsula looked overmatched as an in-game strategist. Alas, that was not supposed to be his strength. Rather, as former Niners coach Mike Nolan, who initially hired Tomsula in Santa Clara, told ESPN, that general manager Trent Baalke would put together a strong roster, Tomsula's coordinators would do the "football" things and Tomsula would be the motivator.
In fact, Drew Henson, who played for Tomsula in Europe, said that Tomsula compared favorably to Lloyd Carr, Joe Torre and Bill Parcells as a motivator.
And despite an offseason of free-agent defections (Frank Gore, Mike Iupati, Michael Crabtree) and retirements (Patrick Willis, Chris Borland, Justin Smith, Anthony Davis) things got off to a promising start with a dominating 20-3 defeat of the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.
But a four-game losing streak followed and the injuries piled up -- 12 players were on Injured Reserve, including 10 key guys -- before Colin Kaepernick was benched following eight starts.
Blaine Gabbert took over under center, Kaepernick was placed on season-ending injured reserve and he elected to undergo surgery on a torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder.
At that time, it looked as though Tomsula was a safer bet to return to Santa Clara than Kaepernick.
But an embarrassing letdown loss to the Cleveland Browns, 24-10, following an improbable overtime victory at the Chicago Bears was followed by more undisciplined play, which was on exhibit with seven offsides/neutral zone penalties in a Week 16 loss at the Detroit Lions.
"Obviously, it sucks to go through this kind of season," left tackle Joe Staley, the longest-tenured member of the 49ers, said this week.
"I want to be able to finish it off the right way and then kind of put a ... end to this season. Sorry for my language."
Tomsula himself said his team practiced well during the week but could not translate it into victories on Sunday.
"I see (York) every week," Tomsula said Wednesday. "We just talk about the week and where we're going and our conversations haven't changed a bit."
"Jimmy has been a valuable member of the 49ers organization for the last nine years," CEO Jed York said in a statement. "We all know he is a man of high character, and his contributions on the field and in our community have always been greatly appreciated. This entire organization is proud and grateful to have worked so closely alongside Jimmy. We all wish him and his family great success in the future."
The Niners went 5-11 in Tomsula's lone season as head coach, ending it with a 19-16 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday in front of a sparse crowd at Levi's Stadium.
When Tomsula was hired last Jan. 14, the move was looked upon with skeptical eyes around the league since he had never been more than a position coach in the NFL, having coached the Niners' defensive line since 2007.
But York lauded Tomsula's teaching and mentoring of players as a reason for promoting him. Tomsula's only head coaching experience at the professional level was in NFL Europe with the Rhein Fire.
Many times this season, though, Tomsula looked overmatched as an in-game strategist. Alas, that was not supposed to be his strength. Rather, as former Niners coach Mike Nolan, who initially hired Tomsula in Santa Clara, told ESPN, that general manager Trent Baalke would put together a strong roster, Tomsula's coordinators would do the "football" things and Tomsula would be the motivator.
In fact, Drew Henson, who played for Tomsula in Europe, said that Tomsula compared favorably to Lloyd Carr, Joe Torre and Bill Parcells as a motivator.
And despite an offseason of free-agent defections (Frank Gore, Mike Iupati, Michael Crabtree) and retirements (Patrick Willis, Chris Borland, Justin Smith, Anthony Davis) things got off to a promising start with a dominating 20-3 defeat of the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.
But a four-game losing streak followed and the injuries piled up -- 12 players were on Injured Reserve, including 10 key guys -- before Colin Kaepernick was benched following eight starts.
Blaine Gabbert took over under center, Kaepernick was placed on season-ending injured reserve and he elected to undergo surgery on a torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder.
At that time, it looked as though Tomsula was a safer bet to return to Santa Clara than Kaepernick.
But an embarrassing letdown loss to the Cleveland Browns, 24-10, following an improbable overtime victory at the Chicago Bears was followed by more undisciplined play, which was on exhibit with seven offsides/neutral zone penalties in a Week 16 loss at the Detroit Lions.
"Obviously, it sucks to go through this kind of season," left tackle Joe Staley, the longest-tenured member of the 49ers, said this week.
"I want to be able to finish it off the right way and then kind of put a ... end to this season. Sorry for my language."
Tomsula himself said his team practiced well during the week but could not translate it into victories on Sunday.
"I see (York) every week," Tomsula said Wednesday. "We just talk about the week and where we're going and our conversations haven't changed a bit."