Why hire a coach before a GM?

From Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun:

The offer to Ron Wilson to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs comes with no shortage of questions. Starting with: why hire a coach before you hire a general manager? Cliff Fletcher contends that any GM would be happy to have Wilson as coach, but if that's the case, why have none of the five teams who replaced coaches at the end of the season chosen to interview him?

Read the entire piece here.

I have raised the same point Simmons does here. It just does not make sense to hire a coach before a GM.