The 49ers will pay Jim Tomsula $14 million for his one season as head coach.
Tomsula, who was fired after the season finale on Sunday, will get every cent of the $14 million in his four-year contract, 49ers owner Jed York said.
“I would say this: We’ve got several years of Jimmy T’s salary left and we’re going to eat it,” York said. “Whether he’s coaching somewhere else or not, we owe him that. That’s not a concern.”
With Tomsula making $14 million for one 5-11 season, the 49ers will end up paying Tomsula $2.8 million per victory as 49ers head coach. Jim Harbaugh, the coach York ran off to make room for the more compliant Tomsula, was a relative bargain at about $400,000 per victory.
But York is right: The money is not a concern. Every NFL team is awash in money and can afford to buy out a coach. The concern is that York and General Manager Trent Baalke don’t have a great track record of finding competent coaches. Most 49ers fans don’t care how many millions the next coach costs York, but they do care whether the next coach can win more than five games.