Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-10797017-20130624101208/@comment-11051098-20130708144428

Makes sense.

As for Urahara's captaincy being planned, maybe. Apparently he achieved Bankai quite some time before he was made captain, maybe he had even mastered it at the time. So he could have been considered by Yamamoto long before it happened.

Also, as the head of the Detention Unit of the Onmitsukidô, he was likely a very capable option for a captaincy.