Well Tomsula has the most consistent tier of players of any unit on the club. He's been a DC as well as HC before. Granted it was short tenure but even still, no other position coach maybe besides Callahan receives as much praise from players.
Edit: Bet you can't name another coach who busts ass during a presser without care either.
[video]https://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/10/2/9442425/nfl-video-49ers-jim-tomsula-fart-mystery[/video]
I like Tomsula. But he's really on the same level as Manusky. He hasn't been a DC in the NFL. He has been a DL coach almost his entire career except for taking over as interim HC for one game for the 49ers after Mike Singletary got fired, and then he was the legit HC for the 49ers in 2015 but was fired after going 5-11. He was also a HC for a single year in NFL Europe (2006) for the Rhein Fire going 6-4.
His only DC experience was in NFL Europe for the Berlin Thunder 2004-2005. They did win the league championship his first year.
I like Tomsula a lot. But Manusky has 12 years of NFL experience as a DC. Most of his defenses were middle of the road (or more often, worse) statistically, although he did field a top 10 defense a few times during that stretch.
I don't think Manusky is a very good DC. His record screams mediocrity. In 11 previous years as a DC for 4 different teams, his D's have had an average rank of 18th for yds given up, and 17th for points given up. He's absolutely a below-average DC. Why we cannot do better than guys like Joe Barry and Greg Manusky, I will never understand.
I'm just saying there's no reason to assume Tomsula is the answer. His group is loaded with talent and yet (so far) seems to underperform. He shouldn't get any more of a pass than Manusky does. I don't care how 'rah rah' and motivational his personality is.
Bottom line. Our defensive coaches have not had great success anywhere they've coached (at least in the real NFL). That's a huge problem and I don't see anything changing dramatically despite better talent until we get some defensive coaches that are smarter and more innovative than the ones we have.