Welcome to a New Year! If you look around and 2015 feels more like 2011, you are excused.

Four years ago on Jan. 1, the Bay Area’s football panorama was exactly the same. The 49ers and Raiders were conducting searches for new head coaches. The 49ers wound up hiring Jim Harbaugh. The Raiders wound up hiring Hue Jackson.

Harbaugh lasted three years longer than Jackson. I imagine you know the story. But no matter how we got back to this point, each team is in the market for a new man again.

And bizarre as it sounds, the Raiders job might be the better opportunity for a coach to come in and make his mark on a franchise.

It takes no genius mastermind to conclude this. Which is good. Because I am just a befuddled daily sports columnist.

But I can see the same things that you see with the 49ers and Raiders.

The 49ers, from what we witnessed this week in the Harbaugh aftermath, prefer a stringent front office setup. Team CEO Jed York and general manager Trent Baalke do not want another coach who goes rogue on them, the way Harbaugh did. York and Baalke want someone who stays in his lane and fits prescribed parameters.

The Raiders, by contrast, seem to be more of a nebulous Wild West show. Owner Mark Davis has not even officially announced that general manager Reggie McKenzie will return. It’s presumed he will. But if a top-tier candidate wants the coaching job and asks to have McKenzie replaced with a more palatable general manager, will Davis yield? He might.

Even if McKenzie stays, he is known as a G.M. who is hands off and doesn’t issue strict rules to his coaches. One experienced NFL hand who visited the Raiders offices this season was surprised to observe how McKenzie seldom left his office, where he likes to watch scouting video and make phone calls. Other general managers like to visit the coaching offices or watch practice. Let’s just say that the new Raiders coach will not be micromanaged.

Who will that man be? Tony Sparano, the Raiders’ interim head coach, has applied for the full-time job. Sparano did win three home games down the stretch this season — but also lost nine of the 12 games he coached. It’s difficult to believe that Davis, who has promised to be personally involved in the search, will go that route.

The 49ers roster is in much better shape than the Raiders’. The defensive side of the ball has strong personnel, which is why defensive coordinator Vic Fangio deserves a serious look as head coach. There are enough offensive pieces to be effective, especially if quarterback Colin Kaepernick can be retooled into a more consistent performer. You can see why an old quarterback whisperer such as Mike Shanahan (who reportedly has been interviewed by Baalke) might be interested.

But not so fast.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr shows great promise on the other side of the Bay. Carr also outperformed Kaepernick in their head-to-head meeting this season. Khalil Mack and Sio Moore are impressive young Raiders linebackers. Plus, it all depends how you spin a lousy situation. Oakland had the league’s worst-ranked offense and 21st-ranked defense. But that means the only way a new coach can take the units is upward. The Raiders have draft choices and free agent money to spend.

So far, Seattle offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is a confirmed Raiders applicant. But others reputed to be in the mix are Denver defensive coordinator and former Jacksonville head coach Jack Del Rio, fired Jets coach Rex Ryan, and 49ers assistant coach Eric Mangini, who once coached the Browns and Jets.

My reaction to this list: Really? Because if we’re talking about seasoned coaches on their second and third laps of the gig, there is a name that I wish the 49ers and Raiders would consider — though perhaps in different roles: Mike Holmgren.

You might recall that Holmgren was the 49ers quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator before going off to build Super Bowl teams in Green Bay and Seattle (as well as be far less successful in Cleveland). But anyone who knows Holmgren, a San Francisco native, knows that he still has a warm and fuzzy feeling about the 49ers and would be interested in coaching them. Baalke and York would be crazy not to at least call him and pick his brain about the opening.

The Raiders could use Holmgren, too — for an alternate reason. McKenzie worked as a scout for Holmgren in Green Bay. Last October, McKenzie invited Holmgren to Raiders headquarters for some consulting work, with Davis’ assent. If the Raiders’ front office architecture is less formulated — and it is — then why not offer Holmgren a job in which he can work on the architecture? Some might have reservations about Holmgren’s age, but at 66, he’s just one year older than Tom Coughlin was when he won his last Super Bowl with the New York Giants.

Holmgren is one of the brightest coaches I have ever covered. (Full disclosure: Our daughters played on the same softball team in San Jose as grade school kids, and we often sat in folding chairs together along the right field line to discuss world affairs and the best local pizza.) Holmgren lives in Seattle and is seemingly content with his part-time radio gig and charity work there. But he might be getting itchy. I know this much: He would walk into either the Raiders building or 49ers building with automatic credibility in terms of creating the right “culture,” this season’s apparent buzz word.

But if I’m picking which team’s prospective culture shift might most intrigue any potential coach, my surprising conclusion would be painted Silver and Black.

Read Mark Purdy’s blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/purdy. Contact him at mpurdy@mercurynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MercPurdy.