Former 49ers coach Jim Tomsula trying to boost American football in Europe

MADRID (AP) — A former San Francisco 49ers head coach who lasted one season on the job after replacing Jim Harbaugh is trying to make American football work in Europe.

Jim Tomsula, who coached the 49ers to a 5-11 season in 2015, is leading one of the European leagues trying to capitalize on the growing interest in the sport abroad. Tomsula recently moved into the role of CEO of the American Football League Europe, nearly three decades after his pro coaching career originally began with the now-defunct NFL Europe.

The 58-year-old native of Pennsylvania had served as president of the AFLE, which recently completed its first season, since the summer and takes on his new responsibilities in a landscape of uncertainty as two different leagues compete for fans, players and sponsors.

“Just trying to help,” Tomsula told The Associated Press. “Obviously, startup, first year coming off the problems from the other league and teams in financial distress and all that stuff, a lot of cleanup, and ended up the season getting things balanced out. Settling everything down, getting some consistency, and now we’re on a springboard and I’m just really excited about it.”

Tomsula said his approach is not to "shove the American way of life" and the “American way of doing business” down “people’s throats.”

“I think that’s wrong,” he said. “My approach, with the years I’ve been over here … It’s an American game that we want to adapt to the European cultures with the different countries. That’s what we want to do.”

The NFL is playing a record nine games internationally this season, with six in Europe. The Cincinnati Bengals will face the Atlanta Falcons at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid on Sunday.

Tomsula said he had been asked to get involved in running American football in Europe other times, but decided to accept the offer now after being convinced by his wife.

“My wife actually told me, ‘They’ve been asking you to take this job. Why don’t you do it and go all in?’” Tomsula said. “She said, ‘What the hell? Maybe you can help some people. We got a great life out of football. Why can’t you help some other people?’ So I did.”

Tomsula knows the landscape of American football in Europe better than most, having come to the continent in the late 1990s as a coach with the England Monarchs. He then had stints with the Scottish Claymores and the Berlin Thunder before taking over as the head coach of the Rhein Fire in 2006.

Tomsula also helped develop European players through NFL Europe’s National Player Development program.

“It’s completely different (now),” he said about the current state of the sport in Europe. “It’s so much bigger, better and widely accepted, and I think it’s growing in leaps and bounds.”

Joel Nagel, founder and owner of the AFLE, called Tomsula “a football man through and through.”

“He knows European football like few others, and the teams trust him,” he said in a statement announcing Tomsula as the league’s CEO.

In between his stints in Europe, Tomsula spent more than a decade in the NFL, mostly as a defensive line coach. He was with the 49ers (2007-15), Washington (2017-19) and Dallas Cowboys (2020).

His brief term as a head coach came after the 49ers parted ways with Harbaugh following the 2014 season. During his time in charge, Tomsula benched quarterback Colin Kaepernick in favor of Blaine Gabbert midway through the season. The coach also became known for introducing breaks during team meetings so players could use their cellphones.

Tomsula served as an interim head coach for the 49ers in the final game of the 2010 season, after Mike Singletary was fired.

Tomsula returned to Europe in 2022 and led the Rhein Fire to consecutive titles in the European League of Football in 2023 and 2024.

Now he is hoping to succeed as an executive, looking to boost American football in a place he knows well.

“Dude, 1997 to 2026 is a hell of a long time being involved with football in Europe, you know what I mean?” Tomsula said.

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