49ers / Nolan End of Season press conference Postponed: The sky is falling as rumors swirl

by David Fucillo on Dec 31, 2007 4:19 PM PST in San Francisco 49ers News

The end of season press conference scheduled for 4pm local time has been postponed. Naturally, the local writers are jumping all over this and the questions that prevail. Just ask Tim Kawakami and Matt Maiocco. Maiocco pointed out the now familiar York pattern with dismissing coaches:

OK, so what does it mean?

Well, it obviously means the Yorks are not completely convinced that Mike Nolan should be the head coach next season.

-- The 2002 season ended when the 49ers lost to the Buccaneers in the playoffs on Jan. 12, 2003. York called Steve Mariucci, who was home watching "Joe Millionaire" on TV on a Monday night. Finally, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, York fired Mariucci during a meeting that was so long that everybody knew Mariucci had been fired before he left York's office.

-- The 2004 season ended with a road loss to the Patriots on Jan. 2, 2005. York held extensive meetings with Terry Donahue and Dennis Erickson. Finally, on Jan. 6, York decided to fire both men.

I guess this could mean the end of Nolan, or it could just be clarifying some new aspects of Nolan's staff. The way things are happening, I suppose I wouldn't be surprised if this ranged from Nolan being canned to Nolan being forced to make specific changes to his coaching staff. Considering all the openings, this could be the preemptive move to get Mike Singletary in as head coach. Or not. Someone mentioned bringing in Marty Schottenheimer, while others have mentioned Bill Cowher. Personally, I'm just going to wait until a firing actually takes place before putting in my own two cents on other candidates. There have been communication issues involving Nolan that need to be fixed if he's going to stick around. A good coach can get teams through the rough patches and come out smelling like roses. That was not the case with Coach Nolan. I think Nolan deserves another year, but he definitely needs to work on his game managing from the sidelines.

I've just added a new front page poll on Coach Nolan. Vote away.

For now though, the New Year is definitely bringing all sorts of interesting goings-on with the 49ers. We'll certainly have to stay tuned.

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BRIAN BILLICK!!!!!!!!

you know, jus' sayin. Seems like the successful version of Mike Nolan.

by noava22 on Dec 31, 2007 4:34 PM PST reply actions

billick

And wasn't he supposed to have been an offensive guru when he went from Minnesota to Baltimore? What ever actually happened with that? Just crap QBs?

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by David Fucillo on Dec 31, 2007 4:45 PM PST up reply actions

No clue

but one thing working for Nolan: I don't think Billick can pull off the Zoolander face Nolan has in that picture.

by noava22 on Jan 1, 2008 11:10 AM PST up reply actions

Not so fast.

Coach Nolan has only had three years. I think that three years is premature to make a move. He should have at least five years, maybe ten, before we can make a fair evaluation.

I think that maybe if he gets a more conservative offensive coordinator that we can turn this thing around.

by Bob In Pacifica on Dec 31, 2007 5:19 PM PST reply actions

So, It Begins

I see this offseason isn't going to be without its own heaping share of sarcasm. Usually in times like these, I'm happy to lead the way. I'll see what direction this one goes before I decide whether or not to reveal the true extent of my powers.

I keep reliving the moment when Steve Young almost fell down. Over and over. / My Blog, For Writers

by howtheyscored on Dec 31, 2007 5:47 PM PST reply actions

Ugh

I don't know why I even clicked on the Kawakami link, much less actually read it. No surprises there. Tim throws up nothing more than a disgustingly self-important rant that values nothing more than his own fickle, meandering opinion and takes care to ignore facts and circumstances in favor of what supports what he'd prefer to see.

In this case, he might not be wrong. There is a pattern with the Yorks and firings that this chain of events appears to be following, but this once again shows the difference between a guy like Kawakami and a guy like Maiocco. Maiocco also comes to the possible conclusion of a firing, but he explains it by saying "this is what has happened, and this is what is happening now, so it looks like this might be going on," whereas Kawaami says "It happened before and I hate Nolan so it will happen again."

Passing off what you'd like to see as what is actually going on is disingenuous. It's like if I said "The Patriots won't get to the Super Bowl because I don't want them to" as though that were the end all for the discussion. Nolan might get fired, Tim, but geez... have a little respect for honest journalism.

I keep reliving the moment when Steve Young almost fell down. Over and over. / My Blog, For Writers

by howtheyscored on Dec 31, 2007 6:12 PM PST reply actions

The future

Personally, I really like Mike Nolan. First of all, he had NO ONE(except BY) when he got this job. Now we have Alex Smith (hopefully he will be good),Frank Gore,Vernon Davis, Manny Lawson, Larry Alan, Nate Clemens, Walt Harris,Joe Staley, and Patrick Willis. Theses guys are all pro-bowlers who hav the potential to be. And the results showed the first two years. This year, however, we took a set back. Or did we? Alex Smith really only played 3 games healthy, in which we went 2-1, Manny Lawson was done after 2 games which hurt our pass rush. We have only give Gore 17+ carries 6 times and went 5-1 in those games, and we went through 4 QBs. Sounds to me like a team that had tons of injuries and a bad play caller who consistantly refused to give the ball to our playmaker. Now look, we have some wholes: OG,OT,DE,NT and smaller but important WR and OLB. But for the most part we are pretty good. This year, we have 3 or 4 free agents plus a possible retirement or 2. So I think that all we need to do is get 2 draft picks in the first 2 rounds, and 3 would be nice in possible, get a big free agent, and one small free agents. Then we are set. I won't go into detail for who we should get because it takes too long. For the staff, Nolan shouldn't be fired. At most, he should be removed from his head coach job to be an all time GM or the other way around. We do need an offensive coordnator. And look, for head coach, offensive coor, or whatever, everyone wants to bring in thoses sexy big names like Bill Cowher or Mr.Marty but honestly, you have to pick the best personal avalible, not the one with the biggest names. I doubt anyone could have turned Green Bay around as fast as Mike Marcarthy. Those are the kind of guys that we need. I'm interested to see how the niners deal with this, as well as the off-season. I'm looking foward to a good season in 2008. Go niners!!!!!!!!!

by montasmob69 on Dec 31, 2007 11:05 PM PST reply actions

I think

I think we may be in complete agreement. I vote this for post of the day. Or, in webspeak, POTD.

I keep reliving the moment when Steve Young almost fell down. Over and over. / My Blog, For Writers

by howtheyscored on Jan 1, 2008 2:06 AM PST up reply actions

minor thing:

Lawson didn't play at all this year. Was hurt in camp, and never made it onto the playing field.

by shleckothegecko on Jan 1, 2008 1:54 PM PST up reply actions

That's just not true

Lawson played 2 games and had 11 tackles.

Yahoo! confirms.

I keep reliving the moment when Steve Young almost fell down. Over and over. / My Blog, For Writers

by howtheyscored on Jan 1, 2008 2:06 PM PST up reply actions

Another angle

The media is comparing this to previous "instances" of 49ers coaches on their way out but ignore a possibility in their "conclusions." It is very possible the Yorks gave the previous two coaches an opportunity to talk their way into keeping their job, you know, by maybe providing a plan of action and what needs to be done for all parties involved. Maybe Mooch and Erickson weren't able to provide that. Knowing what we DO know of Nolan, he is fully capable of coming up with a plan and sticking with it. Perhaps, just perhaps, he will talk himself into keeping the job, whereas the previous coaches couldn't.

I mean, honestly, meetings shouldn't take this long if you're just firing the guy.

by sfgfan on Jan 1, 2008 11:05 AM PST reply actions