Good article from today's Chronicle by Hall of Fame writer Ira Miller, in which he makes a case for avoiding NFL retreads a lot of local pundits are speculating about, such as Pete Carroll, Mike Holmgren and Jeff Fisher (who's definitely out as a candidate at this point). 49ers clean house: Strong coach candidates aren't marquee names by Ira Miller While Fisher would've been interesting, he's staying in Tennessee. I have no idea why Holmgren's name keeps popping up. First, everybody who was associated with the "49er family" when Holmgren was here is now gone, so he has no tie-in with the team. Second, he's been mediocre in Seattle. The Niners just fired a coach who was mediocre in four years in Seattle, why would we want another retread from up there? Before Niner fans get too worked up about Carroll, I don't know why he'd leave USC at this point. He seems better suited for college. Oh, ask Patriot fans about Carroll as an NFL coach, too. One guy I would like to see them speak with is Romeo Crennel (the Pats' defensive coordinator), but Miller doesn't list him, and I'm not sure he'd be interested after being used as one of the token black candidates two years ago before SF settled on Erickson.
Jets Fans too. Good luck to you guys. York strikes me as being in the Leon Hess/William Clay Ford/Bill Bidwell class of owners. I hope for your sake I am wrong about that.
Interesting choice, as his father Dick Nolan coached the Niners in 1968-75, coached with the best 49ers quarterback (prior to Joe Montana) in John Brodie, and coached the 49ers through its last playoff run (1970-72) prior to 1981. I doubt there'll be much pressure on Mike Nolan because of that, though, as none of you young folk even remember his dad's accomplishments anyway (damn, I'm old! ). I guess they now have to agree on a contract. -G
He certainly sounded very good on the interviews yesterday. A HUGE change from Erickson. Just his energy alone should get at least 2 more wins. Last year's crop of young players never showed any intensity at all. Now rumor has it that Mike Singletary is being considered as an assistant head coach for defense. THAT should take care of the intensity part, if it works out to be true.
Wow. I was a kid in Chicago watching the Bears because they were local, and the Niners because they're basically my family's team (my parents are from northern California; Fort Ord and Lodi, to be exact), so to have Mike Singletary with the 49ers...that's just amazing. There's also a report from ESPN. Says pretty much the same thing, with the addition that this is more than likely all the talent San Francisco is going to be able to drain from Baltimore.
Rumor has it (started by Mel Kiper Jr, no less) that Alex Smith of Utah is going to be picked first overall. Thoughts?
That could be a good pick. Unfortunately for the Niners, though, the team needs to upgrade so many positions at the moment that it's hard to say exactly who they should pick up first. I guess we'll find out soon enough. -G
True. But I think they should start at the top--QB. As for the rest, well, the team doesn't have much choice but to rely on their draft picks, not unless they can sell some FAs on a reconstruction effort. Fortunately, this isn't like the NBA draft, with a sudden, steep dropoff of talent after the first half of the first round. There are always guys with some skills floating around, waiting to get picked up. Heck, the Patriots just picked up Poteat not even two weeks ago, and that already looks like a smart move.
"Scot McCloughan To Run Player Personnel" (Wednesday, 2/2/05) The Press Conference Video can be viewed from here. -G
I think picking a QB could be a mistake, bc you put him in a no win situation. Inexperience, behind a horrible offensive line and the running game isnt going to give much run support. I think Alex Smith is the best QB he can do anything mainly bc he ran the option run and that helped his mobility and he always had an arm. So if they do pick him, they should do wut the Bengels did with Palmer.
I say throw the kid to the lions. It won't be a quick fix, but considering the new personnel man's track record in Seattle (25 out of the 28 picks still with the team) I think there's hope to be held.
This might be good or kind of sad but the 49ers have a player in the pro bowl. Long snapper Brian Jennings was grabbed by NFC coach Jim Mora as the squad's "need" player. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/04/SPGT9B5L3K1.DTL
Steve Young to be inducted to the Hall of Fame. After replacing the great Joe Montana 1992, I thought this would never happen. Congrats, Steve!
You can find both the audio and the video, as well as the press packet, for Steve Young's election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame here. -G