Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive co-ordinator Dirk Koetter interviewed Saturday for the San Francisco 49ers coaching vacancy, a person with direct knowledge of the meeting said.
The interview took place in Tampa, Florida, the person said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the process and scheduled interviews are not being made public by the franchise. Chip Kelly, fired by the Eagles, interviewed with San Francisco on Thursday.
San Francisco is expected to interview Bengals offensive co-ordinator Hue Jackson on Sunday, though his agent, John Thornton, hasn’t returned requests to confirm the meeting.
Former Oakland Raiders coach Jackson very well could emerge as the leading candidate for CEO Jed York and general manager Trent Baalke as they search for an experienced coach to replace Jim Tomsula, the former defensive line coach fired after one season as head coach and a 5-11 record.
"This is going to be a very competitive off-season," York said in a news conference Monday.
"I’m not going to get into specifics on where we are and what we’re looking for. You can certainly speculate all you would like, but I’m not going to get into that right now. Again, we want somebody that has leadership ability and a clear vision of what the San Francisco 49ers are and a clear vision on how to get us back to a championship calibre."
The 50-year-old Jackson went 8-8 coaching the Raiders in 2011.
The 49ers have said they made a mistake with Tomsula, who replaced now-Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh last January. Tomsula was dismissed within a couple of hours after the season-finale 19-16 overtime win against St. Louis on Jan. 3. He was elevated to head coach after never working as an NFL co-ordinator.
"You’re going to make mistakes and if you learn from them, that’s what you hope to do," Baalke said.
In 2011 as offensive co-ordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Koetter worked with current 49ers quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who has said he expects to earn the starting job for 2016 after being promoted for the benched Colin Kaepernick in November.
An offensive-minded coach is something the Niners acknowledge could be important.
This past season was Koetter’s first with Tampa Bay following three seasons as offensive co-ordinator of the Falcons. That came after five seasons as offensive co-ordinator with Jacksonville.
Koetter even has some Bay Area ties. He was offensive co-ordinator at San Francisco State in 1985, one of his 22 years coaching in college football that included three seasons as head coach at Boise State.
