Jim Harbaugh is clearly serious about his desire to “keep the band together.”

The 49ers have denied the Buccaneers and their first-year coach Greg Schiano permission to interview secondary coach Ed Donatell for their defensive coordinator opening, NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora reported this morning.

Donatell, 54, has been a defensive coordinator with the Packers (2000-03) and the Falcons (2004-06). He also served in that role at the University of Washington in 2008. He was the secondary coach with the Broncos (2009-10) before joining Harbaugh’s staff last year.

At his season-ending news conference, Harbaugh said he wanted to keep his coaching staff intact. So far, he’s succeeded, with one small exception: Offensive assistant Bobby Engram left to become the wide receivers coach at the University of Pittsburgh.

“It’s a well-coached team,” Harbaugh said on Jan. 23. “And a team that plays their hearts out. So, very pleased on both of those foundations of our team and want to keep the band together. Want to keep this together going forward.”

An obvious question: How can the 49ers prevent one of their coaches an opportunity for career advancement?

Under NFL rules, assistant coaches under contract must receive permission from their current team before interviewing for any other job other than a head-coaching position. As Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic points out here, teams used to be unable to prevent assistants from interviewing for coordinator jobs. However, some teams stretched the bounds when it came to what constituted a “coordinator” on their staff and the rule was changed.

To soothe hard feelings, it’s not uncommon for NFL teams to give a raise or additional responsibilities to assistants denied the opportunity to interview elsewhere.

* Niners director of player personnel Tom Gamble is no longer a candidate to become the Rams next general manager, according to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

After interviewing at least eight candidates, St. Louis has settled on Minnesota director of player personnel George Paton and Atlanta director of player personnel Les Snead as its finalists.