In what appears to be a power move by John Lynch, the San Francisco 49ers continued cleaning house Wednesday by saying goodbye to assistant general manager Tom Gamble.
The 49ers announced the move on the team website, with Lynch making the following statement:
“The 49ers organization has tremendous respect and appreciation for Tom Gamble and his many years of service,” said General Manager John Lynch. “He is a class act who has helped a great deal in this transition, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him. After working together over the last month, Tom and I agreed that it would be in both of our best interests for him to pursue other opportunities. Tom is a true professional and we wish him and his family great success in the future.”
Clearly, Lynch wants to run things his way, and it seems apparent he and Gamble didn’t see eye to eye on some things.
For his part, Gamble is leaving gracefully.
“I must thank Jed, the York family and the entire 49ers organization for the wonderful memories they provided me and my family, but it is time I move on,” said Gamble. “This past month, I have had the pleasure of working alongside John Lynch and the talented staff he has assembled. The team is in capable hands and I wish them nothing but the best.”
When things started falling apart early last year, it seemed like Gamble would be a logical replacement for Trent Baalke when the time came. He took over as assistant general manager before the 2016 season began in what appeared to be a preemptive move to secure Baalke’s replacement.
That obviously didn’t happen. Now it’s clearly John Lynch’s way or the highway. Time will tell how this experiment will work out, being that Lynch has no front-office experience, but there are some highly talented people surrounding him to get him headed in the right direction.