San Francisco 49ers: A Primer on Offensive Coordinator Candidates

The vast majority of candidates the San Francisco 49ers have interviewed or are scheduled to interview for their head coaching position are defensive-minded men, according to CSN Bay Area's Matt Maiocco.  Both in-house candidates, Vic Fangio and Jim Tomsula, come from the defensive side of the ball, as do at least four of the reported candidates.

However, possibly the most important on-field question the new head coach will have to answer is how to get Colin Kaepernick and the offense into gear.  If the 49ers go with an offensive coach, such as Mike Shanahan or Adam Gase, then the question can be answered by looking at that coach’s history. 

However, if the 49ers do go with a coach on the defensive side of the ball, the question gets passed to whoever the new offensive coordinator is.

Vic Fangio or Dan Quinn's regime success would be incredibly dependent on who he got to run the offense.

Many of the top teams in football have a great mind at offensive coordinator to go along with a defensive-minded head coach—think Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels in New England, Pete Carroll and Darrell Bevell in Seattle or John Fox and Adam Gase in Denver. 

There’s a reason McDaniels and Gase are part of the 49ers’ head coaching search, and Bevell is getting looks around the league as well, according to The Seattle Time's Bob Condotta.

Who would the 49ers’ version of McDaniels or Gase be?  Who would a defensive head coach hand the reins over to?  While it’s possible an in-house candidate could be considered, such as running backs coach Tom Rathman or quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst, I feel it’s more likely that an external candidate would be brought in for the role.

With that in mind, I thought I’d do a quick primer on potential offensive coordinator candidates, in the same vein as the head coaching primer I put together last week.  There’s a much wider pool of candidates for this position, as we won’t even begin to hear about interviews until a head coach is picked.  Still, we can look at some of the higher-profile candidates and see what they might bring to the team.

Rob Chudzinski, Ex-Head Coach, Cleveland Browns

Don Wright/Associated Press

Candidate: Rob Chudzinski

Age: 46

Offensive Coordinator Experience: three years at the University of Miami, three in Cleveland and two in Carolina

Recent Experience

2011-2012: Offensive Coordinator, Carolina Panthers
Chudzinski’s Panthers, led by a running quarterback in Cam Newton, ranked in the top 10 in terms of rushing yards in both of Chudzinski’s two seasons running the show in Carolina.  In 2011, Carolina had a top-10 offense overall.  It scored 406 points, which was the fifth-most in the NFL and topped 6,200 total yards.  The Panthers declined a little in 2012, but they were still in the top half of the league in terms of yards gained.

2013: Head Coach, Cleveland Browns
The Browns stumbled to a 4-12 record in Chudzinski’s one year as a head coach and couldn’t score very much.  This can partially be blamed on their quarterback situation, as Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden made 13 starts, combining for a 1-12 record.  

The team looked better with Brian Hoyer until he tore his ACL.  The Browns featured the league-leading receiver in Josh Gordon and finished in the top 11 in terms of passing offense.

2014: Special Assistant, Indianapolis Colts
Reuniting with Chuck Pagano, Chudzinski has been helping the defense work against the read-option and other offensive formations.  He’s been a sort of offensive guru, explaining to the defense what the offense is thinking and how they can exploit it.

Positives: With head coaching experience, Chudzinski would be well-equipped to have full run of the offense, which would help a first-time head coach like Fangio or Quinn.  He worked well with a running quarterback in Cam Newton in Carolina and can certainly design a strong running game.  He has the same agent as Vic Fangio. 

Negatives: He has had a top-10 offense only two years out of six as a coordinator or NFL head coach.  He may prefer another chance at a head coaching role after being turfed out of Cleveland after only one season.

Scott Frost, Offensive Coordinator, Oregon

Nick Ut/Associated Press

Candidate: Scott Frost

Age: 40

Offensive Coordinator Experience: two years at Oregon

Recent Experience

2008: Co-Defensive Coordinator, Northern Iowa
That’s right; despite being a college quarterback, Frost had his first coaching roles on the defensive side of the ball—fitting, as he was converted to safety in the NFL.  At Northern Iowa, Frost’s defense tied for third in takeaways at the FCS level and finished ninth in scoring defense with 17.7 points per game.

2009-2012: Wide Receivers Coach, Oregon
Chip Kelly brought Frost in to coach the receivers in his high-tempo, high-octane offense.  Frost helped develop Jeffrey Maehl into a 1,000-yard receiver, and several of his other players—namely Josh Huff and Drew Davis—have found their way onto NFL rosters as well.

2013-2014: Offensive Coordinator, Oregon
When Kelly was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles, Oregon just promoted everyone up a slot at Oregon, giving Frost the offensive coordinator role.  Frost’s Ducks have been in the top four in points scored each of the last two seasons, and they set a school record for yards, with 7,345 in 2013.  They then topped that mark this season, with 7,740 yards, as they prepare to play for the national championship.

Positives: Oregon’s offense is the most innovative in the country, and getting some of that flair into the NFL is a very tempting proposition.  In addition, Frost was a scrambling quarterback himself at the University of Nebraska; one of only a handful of quarterbacks to run and pass for 1,000 yards in a single season.  He’d be an excellent choice to work with Colin Kaepernick.

Negatives: Frost has no NFL coaching experience whatsoever.  According to the Tulsa World's Kelly Hines and John E. Hoover (h/t The Oregonian's Tyson Alger), he also has been rumored as a head coaching candidate.  How much of Oregon’s success is Frost, and how much is head coach Mark Helfrich—or ex-head coach Chip Kelly, for that matter?

Dirk Koetter, Offensive Coordinator, Atlanta Falcons

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

Candidate: Dirk Koetter

Age: 55

Offensive Coordinator Experience: five years in Jacksonville, three years in Atlanta and 13 years at various colleges

Recent Experience:

2001-2006: Head Coach, Arizona State
Koetter put together four winning seasons in six years at Arizona State, finishing with a 40-34 record and wins in the Sun and Insight Bowls.  Without a boatload of NFL-caliber talent, he finished in the top 25 in terms of points scored in three of his six seasons, though he struggled to beat the likes of Oregon and USC.

2007-2011: Offensive Coordinator, Jacksonville Jaguars
Put together a top-10 offense in his first season in Jacksonville, thanks to the two-headed rushing attack of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew.  His offenses finished in the top 10 in terms of rushing yards gained three times in his five years in Jacksonville.

2012-Present: Offensive Coordinator, Atlanta Falcons
Has had a top-10 offense in two of his three seasons in Atlanta—specifically, the two where Julio Jones didn’t miss the majority of the season.  Atlanta’s offense has consistently been one of the top passing offenses in the game throughout Koetter’s tenure, rivaled in consistency only by the Denver Broncos and New Orleans Saints, both of whom boast future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

Positives: He knows how to play to his team’s strengths—though he was known as a passing guy at Arizona State and has put up big numbers through the air in Atlanta, he wisely leaned on his run game in Jacksonville while working with David Garrard and Blaine Gabbert.  He has head coaching experience. 

Negatives: He has never really put together a complete offense, working with both the run game and passing game.  Moving to San Francisco would be a lateral move, though one that might be appealing to him, thanks to the firing of Mike Smith.  Emulating the Jaguars’ offense has not been a good strategy in recent years.

Scott Linehan, Passing Game Coordinator, Dallas Cowboys

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

Candidate: Scott Linehan

Age: 51

Offensive Coordinator Experience: three years in Minnesota, one in Miami, five years in Detroit and eight years in college

Recent Experience

2006-2008: Head Coach, St. Louis Rams
Linehan’s Rams finished with an 11-25 record in his three seasons in St. Louis, but that includes an 8-8 record in his first season, good for second place in the NFC West. 

That 2006 Rams team featured a top-10 offense led by its passing game; that was the season Marc Bulger topped 4,000 yards and made the Pro Bowl.  As Bulger’s effectiveness wore off, the Rams tanked.  Linehan feuded with Torry Holt and Steven Jackson and was let go.

2009-2013: Offensive Coordinator, Detroit Lions
Linehan inherited an offense that had led the Lions to an 0-16 record the year before and gradually turned it around.  He helped develop Matthew Stafford, and in his third season, the passing game clicked.  It was in the top five in terms of yards in each of his last three seasons, led by Stafford to Calvin Johnson.  Linehan left in the staff shakeup that saw Jim Schwartz fired.

2014: Passing Game Coordinator, Dallas Cowboys
What, precisely, is a “passing game coordinator”?  The Cowboys have a unique arrangement with two offensive coordinators, but it’s Linehan actually calling the plays—he’s the defacto coordinator over Bill Callahan.  The Cowboys, of course, ranked fifth in points scored and seventh in yards gained this season, excelling more in the running game than through the air.

Positives: He has head coaching experience.  Despite being a passing guy, he is not at all afraid to lean on the running game—the Cowboys run on 69.5 percent of their first-down plays, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com, most in the league.  He developed Matthew Stafford into one of the best quarterbacks in terms of gross passing, if not in efficiency.

Negatives: He might want to return to the situation he finds himself in now, only with the full offensive coordinator title.  He does best with a Calvin Johnson- or Dez Bryant-type player, whom the 49ers do not have.  Already turned the 49ers down in 2009, the last time they promoted a defensive guy to head coach. 

He might be a head coaching candidate in Oakland, according to an ESPN report (h/t Wire Reports, via the Los Angeles Times) making a coordinator job less appealing.

Marc Trestman, Ex-Head Coach, Chicago Bears

Jim Mone/Associated Press

Candidate: Marc Trestman

Age: 58

Offensive Coordinator Experience: one year in Cleveland, two years in San Francisco, three years in Arizona, three years in Oakland, two years at North Carolina State

Recent Experience

Pre-2008: NFL QB Guru (including two years as Offensive Coordinator, San Francisco 49ers)
I’m cheating by combining all of Trestman’s previous stops into one gig here, but Trestman, as a quarterbacks coach and an offensive coordinator, has squeezed the best seasons out of a number of players.  Under his tutelage, he helped at least five quarterbacks have some of their best NFL seasons: Bernie Kosar, Rich Gannon, Steve Young, Scott Mitchell and Jake Plummer.

2008-2012: Head Coach, Montreal Alouettes
One of the best coaches in recent Canadian Football League history, Trestman put together a 59-31 record in Montreal, winning the Grey Cup (the CFL Championship) in two seasons and reaching it one other time.  He never had a losing season and was named Coach of the Year in 2009. 

He coached the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player, Anthony Calvillo, over that time; Calvillo retired as the CFL leader in passing yards, touchdown passes and completions.

2013-2014: Head Coach, Chicago Bears
Trestman arrived in Chicago to much fanfare, and in his first season, the offense lived up to it.  The Bears finished in the top 10 in both yards and points in 2013, led by the passing game. 

The 445 points scored was the second-most in franchise history.  They finished 8-8, thanks to a collapse by the defense, and hopes were high for 2014—hopes that were dashed by the 21st-ranked offense,

30th-ranked defense and a 5-11 record.  Trestman was fired.

Positives: A well-deserved reputation as a quarterback guru makes him an intriguing candidate to work with Kaepernick; both Steve Young and Jake Plummer are good examples of players Kaepernick could emulate.  There's probably no better choice out there to work one-on-one with Kaepernick.  He has head coaching experience.

Negatives: There's plenty of bad blood between him and the 49ers.  Jed York’s godfather, Eddie DeBartolo, famously fired Trestman, saying “he’s gone” at a press conference—and it was widely considered a good move at the time.  It would be a dramatic shift from the run-first offense the 49ers are built around.

Alex Van Pelt, Quarterbacks Coach, Green Bay Packers

Uncredited/Associated Press

Candidate: Alex Van Pelt

Age: 44

Offensive Coordinator Experience: one year in Buffalo

Recent Experience

2010-2011: Quarterbacks Coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Remember that one season when Josh Freeman looked like the next big young passing sensation?  That was under Van Pelt’s reign in Tampa Bay.  In 2010, Freeman threw for 3,451 yards with 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions.  The 10-6 Buccaneers just missed the playoffs.  However, he regressed the next season and tossed 26 interceptions, and Van Pelt was fired with the rest of Raheem Morris’ staff.

2012-2013: Running Backs Coach, Green Bay Packers
In 2013, the Packers drafted Eddie Lacy, who became Green Bay’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2009.  The team averaged 133.5 yards per game, which was the team’s best total since 2003. 

Even when Lacy was having an off day, Van Pelt’s other running backs, Johnathan Franklin and James Starks, stepped up.  The year before, Van Pelt’s unit dealt with injuries, and five different running backs had to start a game.  All five ran for at least 125 yards in that season.

2014: Quarterbacks Coach, Green Bay Packers
As the position coach for the presumptive 2014 MVP, Van Pelt has been getting some attention around the league for another promotion.  According to CBS Sports' Jason LaCanfora (h/t TotalPackers.com), last season Mike Pettine considered Van Pelt for his coordinator position, and certainly, nothing about his performance this season would do anything to diminish his stock.

Positives: He works with Dom Capers, who was Vic Fangio’s boss in Houston—a potential connection.  He squeezed the best possible seasons out of Josh Freeman and Trent Edwards, so he’s used to working with less-than-stellar quarterbacks.

Negatives: He has almost no coordinator experience and no head coaching experience.  How difficult can it be to coach Aaron Rodgers? That’s more of a maintenance role rather than the teaching role the front office is looking for.

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers.  Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.