Rubino: Jim Tomsula's coaching debut, take 2

When Jim Tomsula made his 49ers head-coaching debut for the final game of a forgettable 2010 season, he was given only a few days to prepare. When he makes what amounts to be his second debut Monday night, he will have had some eight months of preparation.

That first time, he had been suddenly promoted from defensive line coach to replace the fired Mike Singletary, and the Niners responded with a 38-7 rout at home against the Arizona Cardinals. It was a positive first impression, if nothing else.

And it was nothing else. He was strictly a one-day stand. The Niners would go on to hire Jim Harbaugh, and Tomsula would return to assistant coaching's trenches.

Fast forward to Monday night and once again Tomsula has been promoted, but this is presumably for more than one game, although in the NFL you never know. Hall of Fame coach George Allen was hired in 1978 for what would have been his second stint with the Los Angeles Rams but was fired during the exhibition season. At least Tomsula has survived longer than that.

His previous experience aside, it will be Monday night's result that will be judged as Tomsula's real 49ers head coaching debut, and he's under pressure to score a second positive first impression.

But how valid are first impressions for 49ers coaches? Can the result of that first game offer a reliable indication as to how successful that coach's tenure will be? You be the judge.

Excluding Tomsula, there have been 17 head coaches in 49ers history. Six — Harbaugh, Mike Nolan, Dennis Erickson, George Seifert, Monte Clark and Red Hickey — won in their debuts. But of that group, only Harbaugh and Seifert had truly successful tenures, with Harbaugh taking the 49ers to the NFC championship game three times in four years and to the Super Bowl once, and Seifert owning a 98-30 regular-season record and two Super Bowl titles in an eight-season span. Clark did have a winning record, 8-6, but he was one-and-done, 1976 being his only season with the 49ers. Nolan and Erickson never came close to the promise of their winning debuts, and Hickey went 27-27-1 in four-plus years.

Of the 11 coaches who lost in their debuts with the 49ers, only Bill Walsh, Steve Mariucci and Buck Shaw went on to have distinguished careers.

Walsh, of course, remains the gold standard, and his influence can still be felt within the franchise and among the faithful, and possibly throughout the NFL. He resurrected a moribund franchise, drafted and developed Joe Montana, traded for Steve Young, drafted other future Hall of Famers Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice and Charles Haley, and won 61 percent of his regular-season games and three Super Bowls in 10 years.

Mariucci posted a 57-39 regular-season record and took the Niners into the postseason in four of his six seasons.

As for Shaw, he debuted as the 49ers first coach in the upstart All America Football Conference in 1946. That first-ever 49ers game was a loss, as was Shaw's and the team's NFL debut in 1950. But Shaw (who won an NFL title as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1960, beating Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers) would lead the Niners to a 71-39-4 record over eight seasons and was their most influential coach until Walsh came along.

Frankie Albert, the team's first quarterback and one of the most popular 49ers of the post-war era, lost in his coaching debut but would lead the team to its first postseason appearance — a division playoff against the Detroit Lions in 1957. Unfortunately, the 49ers lost that game by blowing a 20-point third-quarter lead, and Albert's record was a tepid 19-16-1 over three seasons.

Dick Nolan, who lost in his 49ers' head coaching debut, led the team to three consecutive playoff appearances (1970-72, all ending in losses to the Dallas Cowboys), but his eight-year record of 54-53-1 is less than distinguished.

Among the other coaches who lost in their 49ers' debut, several can qualify as trivia answers. Ken Meyer (1977), Pete McCulley (1978) and Fred O'Connor (also 1978), combined for a two-year record of 7-23. It was a less than inspiring beginning to the Eddie DeBartolo ownership era.

This trivia question might be too difficult even for the most knowledgeable fans: Who coached the 49ers after Buck Shaw and before Frankie Albert? Answer: Red Strader, another coach who lost in his debut. His 1955 Niners finished 4-8.

What does this review of past 49ers coaches mean for Tomsula? Not much, probably.

Still, win or lose on Monday night, fans will wonder. Is he destined for greatness, distinction, mediocrity or obscurity?

Robert Rubino can be reached at RobertoRubino@comcast.net