It has become abundantly clear as the 2014 season as rolled on that San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh most likely won’t be back with the team after this season. His contract has him signed through next season but Harbaugh and the 49ers front office, particularly General Manager Trent Baalke and President Jed York, don’t mesh well at all. Harbaugh is a notoriously hard person to get along with and can certainly wear out his welcome in an organization. With the 49ers officially out of the playoffs the question now shifts to who will the 49ers bring in to replace him?

According to Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News, the leading candidate to take over the impending head coaching vacancy is current defensive line coach Jim Tomsula. Tomsula is one of the most popular people in the organization, both players and front office included. He is a known motivator and is well aware who would be making all the personnel decisions if he were the head coach (Baalke would be making all those decisions in case there was any confusion). Personally I don’t think they should go this route. If they promote Tomsula, I don’t see any way they would be able to keep current defensive coordinator Vic Fangio on board after promoting his defensive line coach over him. Also, this would still leave a major problem to be fixed: who do they bring in for their offense?

Another potential candidate whose name is always floated around at the end of football seasons when coaches start to get fired: Bill Cowher. Cowher knows what it takes to win and how to work in unison with the front office. The 49ers would also know that they’re getting stability with Cowher considering he was with the Steelers for 15 years. In those 15 years Cowher won eight division titles, went to the playoffs ten times, played in six AFC Championship games, made it to the Super Bowl twice, and won one of those. The biggest problem with bringing in Cowher would be that he would most likely want control of the personnel, something Baalke is not willing to give up.

There was a report that came out earlier in the year that said Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton was a leading candidate with a few teams who will most likely be in the search for a new head coach this offseason. Hamilton would certainly be the offensive mind this team needs. If the 49ers could retain Fangio as their defensive coordinator and bring in Hamilton, it could certainly be the combination they have been searching for. Executives, scouts, and fellow coaches all around the league have nothing but great respect for Hamilton. Mike Freeman from Bleacher Report quoted a general manager in the league as saying this about Hamilton, “He is almost as good a head coaching prospect as Luck was a quarterback prospect coming out of Stanford.” That’s quite a ringing endorsement. The problem with Hamilton might be that Indianapolis might be making a deep run into the playoffs and San Francisco will be eager to start their hiring process before that.

An obvious choice for the 49ers would be New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. If the 49ers weren’t able to land Harbaugh in 2011, it was believed that they would have went with McDaniels instead. He also comes from the Bill Belechick coaching tree has head coaching experience. While he’s obviously benefited from having Tom Brady as his quarterback during his time with the Patriots, he made the playoffs and won a playoff game with Tim Tebow as his quarterback. It would certainly be interesting to see what he could do with Colin Kaepernick running his offense. However, for McDaniel to come on board he would have to be willing to let Baalke make all the personnel decisions, something I don’t know if McDaniel would be willing to do.

Another hot commodity this offseason will be Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase. Gase is considered one of the premiere offensive minds in football at the moment. The 49ers would get the offensive mind they are needing with Gase and they’d also be getting someone not likely to bump heads with management. However, the big question about Gase is exactly how much of the Broncos’ offensive success is due to Gase and how much is due to Peyton Manning. If the 49ers are looking to replace such a successful coach as Jim Harbaugh, I don’t know if you can take a chance on someone like Gase.

This coaching search is most likely going to be quite extensive. If the 49ers front office is going through this much trouble and bad PR, they’re going to make sure they don’t whiff on Harbaugh’s replacement. No one likes egg on their face. Along with being an extensive search, I also would imagine they’re going to make sure it’s quick. There could end up being a complete overhaul of their coaching staff, so the longer they take to make a hire, the more possible coordinators and assistants will get snatched off the market. It is certainly going to be a roller coaster offseason for the 49ers in 2015.