The San Francisco 49ers are set to interview ESPN analyst Louis Riddick later this week, and it would appear he has an idea of who he wants as his head coach. Matt Maiocco came across some comments Riddick made recently regarding the 49ers job, and the massive overhaul the organization needed.

The most interesting comment was Riddick’s point that the new general manager and head coach must join the 49ers with as Maiocco put it, “a deep understanding of each man’s preferences.” Riddick had the following to say in that regard

“You can’t be learning along with your head coach -- ‘What does he like?’ ‘What do you like?’ – when you have that much work to do,” Riddick said. “Then, from a personal perspective, you’re going to spend massive amounts of hours with this individual as you’re trying to retool this organization. “Obviously, a lot of time is going to be needed and patience is going to be needed. But relationships – and I say it all the time – it drives the bus in the NFL. And that’s where that one is crucial.”

Riddick and head coach candidate Josh McDaniels are friends according to a couple different people I’ve spoken with. In the past week, Albert Breer and Jason Cole both reported that Riddick and McDaniels are being discussed as a pair. And in the article discussing the Breer report, I posted some of the tweets Riddick has had praising McDaniels.

It is entirely possible Riddick has a good relationship with another head coaching candidate, but given what we’ve heard thus far, it seems like McDaniels is the guy. And my guess is this Tuesday, when Riddick interviews with the 49ers, he likely pushes more on McDaniels as a head coach. We’ve heard McDaniels likes the job, and if he thinks he can build something with Riddick, maybe that pushes things over the top in getting these two hired. If neither ends up, then I suppose it was not meant to be.