Inexperienced coach Singletary losing his sizzle in San Francisco

[madinmaryland]

Mike Singletary is out of moves. Just three weeks into the NFL season, the 49ers coach has played his entire hand.

Singletary went for broke on Monday. He fired his hand-picked offensive coordinator, Jimmy Raye, just 18 hours after giving Raye a vote of confidence. It was a full-throated admission that Singletary's vision for his football team is not working. Not at all.

It was about the only bullet Singletary had left in his arsenal. In the exhausting, disappointing first 16 days of the 49ers season, Singletary has:

• Thanked Pete Carroll for whipping his team.

• Called a Sunday night team meeting after the 49ers arrived home from their first road trip.

• Battled with a local television sportscaster, resulting in the sportscaster's removal from Singletary's weekly segment on the station.

• Tried to teach his team a lesson, when trailing 31-3 in the final moments Sunday in Kansas City, he used all three timeouts on a meaningless, punitive touchdown drive.

• Fired his offensive coordinator -- putting not only his vision in doubt, but also his convictions.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/ann_killion/09/28/mike.singletary/index.html

Fits in well with the York regime in Frisco!!

[thatsrightimirish]

1. all i can say is

they are lucky they opted for the stadium measure in June rather than November

[Auggie]

2. Unfair to single out Mike as such, IMO

Buried paragraphs down:

"Trent Baalke (no fucking experience) got his job last spring when general manager Scot McCloughan was fired."

"Add in an owner, Jed York, who was handed the team by his parents at age 27, and a quarterback, Alex Smith, whose main qualification seems to be that he represents a huge financial investment, and the 49ers are 5-for-5 in important positions filled through means other than expertise."

"The 49ers (you mean, The Yorks) seem allergic to the idea of bringing in experienced, successful football people."

The Yorks Suck! That's the fucking lead...

They had the perfect opportunity to bring in Mike Holmren and blew it. Horribly. They're still suffering from a decade of miserable draft choices too. I like Singletary. And I like his methods, even if he's been thrown into the positon of learning as he goes along. He'll only improve. And admitting he made a mistake with Raye is proof.

ON EDIT:

The more I think about this, the more pissed-off I get at this writer. Singletary coached maturity and ability into a lot of these players where it was lacking. He's introduced better conditioning and training methods. They play better fundamentals and hit harder than ever. As a 49er faithful I appreciate his candor, humility, integrity and insights. It's his second goddamn year of full-time coaching -- yeah, he's going to make mistakes.

What's the big deal?

:rant:

[trumad]

3. maturity and ability

well he didn't coach winning and that's what it takes. He may be candid and a wonderful human being---but can he coach to win? So far the answer is no.

[Auggie]

5. A true GM may have helped

surround Singletary with a better support staff, but you're point is well-taken. Success is measured in wins. Singletary said as much in the his press conference this week.

[JonLP24]

6. He currently

has a coach killer playing QB right now. Unless Alex Smith hurries up and improves, Singletary won't be there long. He is only 2 games below .500 right now for his career which isn't bad at all for a coach starting out. Look at any coach in their second or third season and you'll see similar records. I believe Whisenhunt has one himself, Derek Anderson. Whisenhunt will be able to get away with it for awhile because of playoff appearances and he signed a contract extension this year, but after 3 weeks of "He has to play better" is going to get old. I really hope DA improves but so far he is very inaccurate. I get very nervous everytime the ball leaves his hands. It also doesn't help he has inexperienced rookie receivers he has to throw to with Early Doucet missing a few games. Also Steve Breaston is expected to miss this weekend's game(I miss Boldin). Anyways I'm rambling about my team. Back to Singletary.

I agree with you about how he does get the team to play better. I recall two years ago he sends Vernon Davis to the locker room, next week he scores a TD against my Cardinals and he matured so much before last season his teammates voted him team captain and has shown leadership abilities, something people who were aware of the situation could not see that one coming. The Cardinals ripped off Singletary's off-season training program by having players run Camelback Mountain. I also like the little things he does. I recall the season opener last year when the Cardinals were hosting the 49ers, a game the 49ers pretty much dominated from start to finish. Well in the second half of that game the Cardinals were rolling down field, you could feel the momentum in the Cards favor. You just had this feeling they were going to score. Well Singletary calls a timeout and you could see him give a firery speech to the defense. I just knew that was going to help and sure enough it did. The defense stopped them from getting any further and eventually winning the game. I also recall he was citicized for making the same decision by an ESPN talking head in a more high profile game.

I wonder if what he does for the 49ers help them play better than they normally would. I'm not sure. I do know he took a 2-5 team and turned that team into a 7-9 team in his first season of coaching. Unless Alex Smith improves or they find a pretty good QB on their roster I don't think Singletary or any coach will be there long.

[trumad]

7. My team had Wannstedt for 5 years...

So I know what I knows about bad coaches.

You're right about a QB Coach killer. Wanny stuck with a guy for Jay Fiedler for almost his entire tenure and Fiedler plain sucked. Oh sure he had a few good games---but all in all---he sucked.

I think Mike would be a good assistant coach---but head coach?

[Auggie]

8. It's no secret about Alex Smith

And we haven't a clue what's happening in the front office and who is really calling shots.

I think their plan -- that of the front office -- is since Smith never had much consistency in offensive coaching, and since he'd been injured a lot, and since there was already so much money invested in him (I can imagine John York using this rationale), that they'd give him one more chance to prove himself.

Singletary bought into that plan and tried to establish a power running game to augment how Smith was going to be used, at the same time signing David Carr in case it backfired. It looked in pre-season that it might work, though, you know, pre-season is just that. Teams adjusted and O.C. Jimmy Raye did -- or could -- not.

Was it a good plan? Many say the power running game is an anachronism in today's NFL. Maybe. If that was Mike's vision he was way off given the talent he had to work with. I believe you mold the game plan to fit the talent you have, not the other way around. The 49ers don't have the muscle to run up the middle. Never did.

Singletray inherited a pig and has done his best to dress it up. It would be tough for even an experienced coach. I'll reiterate though Mike is still learning, he's learning in a good way. It's too early to give up. 8W - 8L might still win this division, as ugly as that would be.

[trumad]

9. Problem is--- the team is regressing...

[Auggie]

10. No doubt about it

This is a pivotal week for every one on that team.

[madinmaryland]

4. Well, the whole 49er organization seems to be pretty disfunctional

these days. It obviously is not all Singletary's fault, but he seems to be fitting in well with the Yorks!

[SargeUNN]

11. Part of the perils of coaching is dealing with Fans and Media

Both expect the title on day 2 and since you can't get it they start saying why you should go. I guess it is our society but thank goodness some organizations have enough to realize you have to be realistic. Sean Payton was probably helped that his first year the Saints went to the NFC Title game but the following two seasons he went 7-9 and 8-8 with a Super Bowl win in his fourth season. That is a very fast turnaround considering how far down the Saints Franchise was, and hopefully 49ers fans will give Singletary a little more time to work. I see an improving team in the Niners and while I won't go so far as to say Singletary will bring them a Super Bowl win, he seems like he is doing well enough to stay with a little longer.