The hiring of Jim Tomula as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers is not as unexpected in Santa Clara as it is in the rest of the known free world.

In fact, Tomsula's promotion by the 49ers from defensive line coach to head coach over defensive coordinator Vic Fangio makes perfect sense ... from a certain perspective.

Oh, sure, the cynic will say Tomsula is more of a yes-man than Fangio, and that ultimately doomed the candidacy of the more outspoken Fangio, who interviewed on Dec. 30.

But, looking at it from a different perspective -- perhaps from that of CEO Jed York, who said he wanted a "teacher,"and general manager Trent Baalke, who said the Niners were reloading rather than rebuilding -- Tomsula is the textbook hire.

Now hear me out ...

Consider: Tomsula represents continuity (having been with the organization since 2007) without being tied to Jim Harbaugh. Tomsula actually was with the 49ers before Harbaugh.

Not saying I endorse it, but I understand (using my Chris Rock voice).

Former defensive back Eric Wright, meanwhile, weighed in on Twitter:

But with Tomsula's promotion over Fangio, the Niners figure to lose the architect of their defense. Fangio's unit was ranked No. 5 in total defense, despite being wracked by injuries this past season. It was in the top five all four years of Fangio’s stewardship.

Plus, Tomsula, who was not publicly known to have interviewed for the job but obviously was the best-known candidate, has to have a strong offensive coordinator in mind to replace Greg Roman, who left for the Buffalo Bills, and help jump-start quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

The next offensive coordinator also will likely want to go back to the Niners’ roots as a ground-and-pound power-running offense. The 49ers tried to fashion their offense into more of a spread passing unit, but with the personnel on the roster, it often stalled.

All of which made the chase of Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase more confounding, given his pass-happy-though-ultra successful offenses. He simply didn't make sense.

Tomsula, who turns 47 on April 14, might bring questions with him, like, on a national level, who is he besides a former NFL Europe coach with the Rhein Fire? It seems the answers he gave York and Baalke were enough.

And that makes enough sense for them.