San Francisco 49ers Set up Former Head Coach Jim Tomsula to Fail in 2015

Jim Tomsula is no longer the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers following his dismissal after a forgettable 2015 season. But the 49ers didn’t exactly help his efforts, and the former coach was set up to fail from the beginning.

The San Francisco 49ers’ decision to part ways with head coach Jim Tomsula at the conclusion of the 2015 regular season marks the end of two eras: one long and one short.

Tomsula, who had spent the last nine years serving the organization in one form or another, saw his brief one-year tenure as head coach come to an end Sunday night following a 5-11 record and a forgettable season in San Francisco. 49ers CEO Jed York issued the following statement, via the team’s website, regarding Tomsula’s tenure with the team:

"Jimmy has been a valuable member of the 49ers organization for the last nine years. 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."

Even though Tomsula’s brief tenure as head coach was marked by general ineptitude, lackluster performance and poor decision-making, it’s impossible to place the blame entirely on his shoulders. In nearly every sense, the former head coach was set up to fail from the beginning.

The vast majority of Tomsula’s time with the 49ers was spent coaching the defensive line — a unit that, during this period, was one of the stalwart strengths of San Francisco’s defense.

True, Tomsula had served as an interim head coach for one game following the firing of former head coach Mike Singletary at the end of the 2010 campaign as well as a head coach for a season in NFL Europe.

But the demands of the 49ers’ vacant position after their parting of ways with former head coach Jim Harbaugh after 2014 called for more than just an “out of the box” approach to steer what would become a turbulent San Francisco franchise through one of the worst years in the team’s history. The 49ers needed a clear leader with a solid vision.

Instead, York and general manager Trent Baalke elected to go with Tomsula.

Think about everything Tomsula inherited. He would be receiving a team having lost a overwhelming chunk of roster talent, either via free agency or retirement, which placed young, inexperienced players into roles for which they were not quite prepared.

Gone were players like defensive ends Justin Smith and Ray McDonald, cornerbacks Chris Culliver and Perrish Cox, running back Frank Gore, offensive linemen Mike Iupati and Anthony Davis, wide receiver Michael Crabtree as well as linebackers Patrick Willis and Chris Borland.

And gone was one of the team’s best coordinators in recent history: Vic Fangio.

An inexperienced coach was paired with a team in utter transition. Add on top of that the difficulty in tabbing an experienced offensive coordinator — the 49ers promoted quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst — and Tomsula was set up to fail.

San Francisco’s offense finished dead last in 2015, in case you were wondering.

The 49ers ended the season with a 5-11 record and a last-place seed in the NFC West. Tomsula failed to help his own cause for sure, but this is an admission of failure and ineptitude from the very top of the organization even if York and Baalke don’t come out and say so.

Ray Ratto of CSN Bay Area goes into further detail:

"Not that Tomsula had anything else coming. His team was dull, dry, inconsistent, losing and most scandalous of all, defiantly unentertaining. They were a deadly chore to watch, bereft of talent and inspiration. Not unlike their superiors.The 49ers are as they are because nobody in the present football hierarchy that begins with York is capable of proactive thinking. The York-Trent Baalke partnership has developed a seemingly limitless ability to react at the expense of proacting, and that company failing has presented York with this new conundrum – how the coach he is about to fire for being exactly who he is gets whacked while Baalke, who built this roster and is being charged with replacing that coach, survives, maybe even getting a contract extension for his trouble."

Yes, you read that right. Baalke seems to be safe for now. But he’ll be on the watch list in 2016. Like previous seasons, he’ll be armed with a slew of picks for the upcoming NFL draft — 12, likely — and, unlike previous seasons, will have a high draft slot — No. 7, overall. In addition, the 49ers will be armed with plenty of cap space to target some NFL-ready talent via free agency.

But the Tomsula debacle has to draw its roots back to Baalke and York. There isn’t any other way to explain it.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, York will finally meet with the media at 1:30 p.m. ET on January 4, per Dieter Kurtenbach of KNBR.

York’s comments will certainly draw plenty of criticism, scrutiny and additional question marks. In the meantime, the 49ers are left without a head coach and no clear direction in which the team will head beyond what takes place in the very immediate future.

Could Tomsula still wind up being an effective head coach at the NFL level? Sure. Anything is possible. A high school student could go on to be a successful brain surgeon, Fortune 500 business owner or even President of the United States. But that same student won’t be doing anything of the sort anytime soon.

Such was the case with Tomsula. He wasn’t cut out for this job at a time when the 49ers needed a headstrong, effective head coach with a crystal-clear vision.

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And you can’t blame him for accepting the position either. Saying no to the money and to the elite fraternity of NFL head coaches is idiotic.

So that leads us back to the clear conclusion: Tomsula was set up to fail thanks to what the 49ers front office put in place around him.

And the 49ers are no better off right now than they were not so long ago.

Next: Should the 49ers Pursue Chip Kelly as Head Coach in 2016?

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com and ESPN.com unless otherwise indicated. Contractual information courtesy of Over the Cap.