Per Tim Kawakami, 49ers' Tom Gamble to join Harbaugh in AA
Per a tweet by Tim Kawakami (well, a retweet by Nick Baumgardner since I'm blocked by Kawakami along with half of Twitter), Tom Gamble is going to join Harbaugh. Not clear yet in what capacity.
He's currently the 49ers' assistant GM. Pretty lengthy NFL resume as a player personnel guy:
http://www.49ers.com/team/staff/tom-gamble/17f5afbb-6679-4250-bc18-6bfb…
this seems weird
No matter what capacity this is a great move, and I love seeing this. Having a handful of guys that have NFL experience on the coaching staff I believe does wonders for recruiting.
could be very effective.
"Hi, I'm Tom Gamble. (runs through his NFL resume) Jim Harbaugh brought me on board to help him identify and develop future NFL stars. We worked together in SF. (puffs up Harbaugh and staff). I have a different perspective than coaches. I know what NFL teams look for in players, what can help you get into the league and what could hurt you. (Add some comments about the player's potential.) Working together, we're going to maximize your chances of success."
But why not roll the dice?
I like to use the term "student athlete" every chance I get because so few of our rivals have them.
Copyright pending...
It may be a bit risky, but it came down to him or Southern Utah DB coach Rod Chance.
Bob Wager.
Take a chance on MSU graduate assistant, Dewey Craps.
A Dewey Craps is when you poop on your neighbors lawn at 6 AM...
Perfhaps he knows when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em, when to walk away & when to run.
He was also Chip Kelly's right hand man in Philly before getting canned by ownership/Howie.
Adding a front office NFL guy to the staff? This seems like a home run just based on saying that! It has to help recruiting to have a guy say I know all these guys making decisions in the NFL. I know what they look for to make it to the league.
He's the former 49ers personnel exec. Left the team in February. Sounds like he has a lot of experience with scouting and talent evaluation.
#CROOTIN
Edit: MLive link
Recruiting!!
Having an experienced NFL personnel / scouting guy on staff seems like.....a really nice move indeed. Counted me in as intrigued on this hire. Having the program on the front end set up with NFL folks....I mean, it seems like you're really preparing kids for the environment of the pros on some level too, which if that's the case is great.
As an Eagles fan, I can confirm that Gamble is WAY over-qualified for this job. He's a GREAT hire.
Harbaugh wants M to be 33rd NFL team. Well, hiring an assist-GM is another step there. I'm sure he'll only stick around for a couple years before going back to NFL, but I'm interested in seeing what he does. Harbaugh seems to be headed on a different path than the other college teams. If this works out it could build a massive foundation for many years.
M has the financial resources. Employing it with an NFL mindset could be really interesting.
Gamble has a ton of experience that would enable him to handle a bunch of other tasks in addition to recruiting - operations, logistics of off-site games/practices, compliance, media, facilities improvements/maintenance, etc.
Edge of the Internet reporting additional details:
Apparently Gamble was seen as an up & comer in NFL circles, and that Harbaugh reportedly would have wanted him as his GM at his next NFL coaching gig.
EOTI also reporting that Harbaugh has hired Rich Rod's former Director of Player Personnel in Arizona, Matt Dudek. Dudek did all sorts of recruiting stuff for RichRod and was involved in a few top 25 recruiting classes when he was at AZ and when he worked for Pitt.
So between the Gamble hire & the Dudek hire, it sounds like Harbaugh is upgrading/reorganizing the recruiting department.
I've never heard of EOTI, but I like this! Although, I'm not really sure how you 'upgrade' a recruiting outfit that just gave you two consecutive top 5 classes in two tries. But I guess reorg'ing it like an NFL front office might be a good start...
EOTI is this discussion board with design elements circa 1995 and populated with some insider-type old school Michigan guys. They had alot of advanced info when it came to the Harbaugh coaching search.
The problem is, it's now been overrun by a bunch of super-political posters who all hate each other and just troll each other brutally. So like 94% of the content is just absolute garbage, flame wars, etc., and has nothing to do with Michigan football, but then the remaining 6% is solid gold insights & insider information.
Usually any insider stuff gleaned from that website is pretty reliable.
Yeah, I used to read & occasionally post there years ago, but the signal-to-noise ratio has gotten so low I gave up. If you go against one of the cliques there you're in for a rough time. Course some of the same stuff happens here with the needless negging, but it can be far rougher there. The fact that they split into two message boards says a lot.
delete double post
But nobody leaves the NFL for college?! Amiwrite Tim?!
Would you say its a gamble to get Gamble?
I'll show myself out....
I bet this guy does consistent scouting reports on our own players along with mock NFL interviews in order to give feedback to our players on where their draft stock is and how it could be improved.