Whoa.



Mariucci, out of San Francisco? That's a big surprise to me, especially with the announcement so soon. I thought they'd at least try to work something out. This is how I feel about the subject, so many of you can stop reading now as it is not important.



Unlike many people, I liked Mooch and saw some justification for his calls. Sometimes. I do think he lacked the killer instinct and it's very unfortunate. As writer Skip Bayless put it, Mooch was Coach Kumbaya. And I miss the days of a more involved passing game, but at the same time I actually kind of liked the running game.



I would've liked to see Mooch stay because right now, I don't really see anyone else I'd rather have as coach. Mooch's record was pretty good. I don't think he gets enough credit for bringing the 49ers back from salary cap hell. What ultimately did him in, in my opinion, was his offensive philosophy and the fact that it wasn't Terry Donahue or John York that brought him into the organization. In fact, I think they just used him to rebuild the team so they could hire another coach who would win the big one and then take credit for it and win Executive of the Year. Shame on them.



So who's the next coach? If they made the announcement this early, there must be someone they have in mind. Mooch has to be considered one of the top ten, if not the top five, coaches in the league right now. He's a valuable commodity and I'm sure he'll be able to find a job soon, and all indications point to a job with the Jaguars. We could've gotten compensation in a trade or something. But I guess that's not happening now.



There's speculation that Dennis Green might become coach. You know what I say to that? POPPYCOCK! Don't bring in that guy! He had talent in Minnesota and couldn't bring them to the Super Bowl. Who cares if he has history here in the Bay Area? I don't think he matches.



Jim Mora, Jr., current defensive coordinator, is also thought to be an option. While I think he's cool and all, I'm not sure if he's ready for a head coaching job. Sure, we had a lot of injuries to the defense this year and he made some fine adjustments, but so did the Raiders. And I think they had a better defense. He'll be a head coach in the NFL eventually. I don't think now would be a good time. But then again, continuity with this young team would be really good. They're coming off two winning seasons are still a relatively young team. We can't have someone come in and tear all that down.



I'm guessing Greg Knapp, current offensive coordinator, might also get consideration. He seems like he has the same philosophy as Mooch, so I don't think he'd be a good fit.



One person who I think I would like to see get interviewed is Mike Mularkey, offensive coordinator of the Steelers. Sure, it might not be pure West Coast Offense, but nothing now really is. It's all variations. What I like about his offense though is that it's wide open. I think at times, it's aggressive too. We need agressiveness.



So yeah. Long blog. I missed class because of it. But it's the Niners! And this is gigantimungus news.