The 49ers’ request to the New York Giants to speak with Tom Coughlin for their head-coaching vacancy brings their list of known candidates to six.
Mike Shanahan, whom the club interviewed for the opening last year, also remains a possibility along with the others who have engaged in formal interviews with the 49ers within the past week.
The 49ers have yet to make an offer to any coach to replace Jim Tomsula, who was fired Jan. 3, just hours after his one and only season resulted in a 5-11 record.
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There might be no such thing as a perfect candidate, and this group is no different. Here are looks at the positives and negatives with each individual:
[RELATED: Coughlin, 49ers' Baalke and the Parcells connection]
Tom Coughlin
Ex-N.Y. Giants head coach
Pros: While CEO Jed York is in Houston for the NFL owners meetings, general manager Trent Baalke is scheduled to meet with Coughlin on Tuesday. Coughlin’s teams have won two Super Bowls in the past decade. If the 49ers need more experienced, respected football men in the organization, Coughlin would bring that. He would surround himself with a strong coaching staff and, potentially, hire his successor as one of his coordinators. Coughlin’s final press conference upon his resignation with the Giants last week was impressive. Said Coughlin, “Winning, losing, playing hard, playing well, doing it for each other, winning the right way . . . winning the right way is a very, very important thing to me and all of our coaches. That’s what motivates and inspires us.”
Cons: The 49ers’ focus has been on offensive play-callers and those who have the ability to draw up innovative offenses. Coughlin comes from an offensive background, but he would not bring a dynamic system. He would delegate to his assistants. Coughlin is 69 years old, and it would not be expected that he could remain in a head-coaching position for a second contract. The Giants did not win more than nine regular-season games the past five seasons, including the Super Bowl-winning year of 2011, when they finished 9-7.
Hue Jackson
Cincinnati offensive coordinator
Pros: He is known as a very good play-caller and a good offensive mind. Under Jackson’s direction, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton was having far-and-away his best NFL season until a fractured thumb ended his season in the 13th game. Jackson has previous head-coaching experience with his one-and-done season with the Raiders in 2011. Then, he built his way back up to get into the head-coaching mix. That's certainly a positive. He is also reportedly drawing strong consideration from Cleveland and the Giants, so the 49ers are certainly not alone in their interest.
Cons: Jackson is brash and confident and a bit of a showman. Jackson’s ability to keep things together through adversity is a legitimate concern after publicly blasting his team and deflecting criticism during the end of his stay with the Raiders. Jackson may also want a large say in personnel matters. While 49ers general manager Trent Baalke has worked closely with the team’s head coaches on personnel decisions, he will retain contractual control over the 53-man roster. The Browns do not have a general manager, so their head coach clearly will be the organization’s top football man.
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Chip Kelly
Ex-Philadelphia head coach
Pros: Kelly might have been the best coach the 49ers have interviewed, according to one source. He got immediate results with the Eagles with two 10-win seasons and top-five statistical offenses in his first two seasons. The 49ers’ clear focus during this coaching search has been turning around the offense. Kelly can do that. He did not get along with many people in Philadelphia, but one of his allies was Tom Gamble, who is now working under Baalke in the 49ers’ personnel department.
Cons: Kelly’s up-tempo offense puts pressure on opposing defenses, but it also stresses his own defense because of potential quick turnarounds in the area of time of possession. Most troubling about Kelly is his reputation – deserved or not. Ex-Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson referred to Kelly’s “bad karma” after the Eagles fired him with one game remaining in the season. The 49ers will have somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million cap room, and if players don’t want to play for Kelly, that’s a problem.
Dirk Koetter
Tampa Bay offensive coordinator
Pros: Koetter interviewed with the 49ers on Saturday and had a good showing, according to a source. He is a very good coordinator and has nine NFL seasons in that role. Under Koetter's direction, the Buccaneers ranked fifth in the NFL in total offense with rookie quarterback Jameis Winston. While he has not been an NFL head coach, he has previous head-coaching experience in college at Boise State and Arizona State.
Cons: It was widely reported that Tampa Bay fired Lovie Smith because the organization feared losing Koetter, who turns 57 next month. So, if given that opportunity, he might want to stick around and continue to develop Winston. While Koetter would probably be a solid hiring, he certainly would not generate much-needed buzz from the 49ers’ fan base.
Anthony Lynn
Buffalo assistant head coach/running backs
Pros: Lynn played a couple of seasons with the 49ers in the mid-1990s. Lynn came highly recommended as one of the top minority coaching candidates from the Fritz Pollard Alliance.
Cons: Lynn has never been a coordinator, so he has no track record of designing or implementing the kind of offensive improvement the 49ers are seeking from their next coaching staff.
John DeFilippo
Cleveland offensive coordinator
Pros: DeFilippo was known in the AFC North as being a very good play-caller. He is one of just four Browns assistant coaches that ownership has asked to stay if the new head coach wants them, a league source told cleveland.com. He has a very bright future.
Cons: The 49ers were not completely sold on Adam Gase last year because they did not believe he was ready. DeFilippo, 37, is not believed to be ready, either. The York family has known DeFilippo, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, for a long time. The more likely scenario is that the 49ers’ next head coach pursues DeFilippo as his offensive coordinator. DeFilippo served on Coughlin’s staff with the Giants in an entry-level position in 2005 and ’06.
Mike Shanahan
Ex-Washington head coach
Pros: Shanahan has plenty of experience being in charge of successful offenses. From 1992, when he was 49ers’ offensive coordinator, through his seasons as head coach at Denver and Washington, Shanahan’s offenses ranked in the NFL’s top five 13 times in 21 seasons. He won back-to-back Super Bowls as Broncos head coach in 1997 and ’98.
Cons: In his final 14 seasons as head coach, after the retirement of John Elway, Shanahan’s teams won just one playoff game. His four-year tenure with Washington, which included a strong rookie season from quarterback Robert Griffin, ended with missteps and an extremely messy split. He is 63, and he has not coached in two seasons.