Mike Singletary 2009 Approval Rating: Game Management
by David Fucillo on Jan 15, 2010 7:00 AM PST
in 49ers Approval Ratings
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Earlier this week we rolled out a Jimmy Raye Approval Rating for the 2009 season. We'll get a Manusky poll at some point next week, but I thought we'd start the Mike Singletary evaluation this morning. Throughout the season I would ask whether folks approved of the job Mike Singletary was doing as head coach. It was a simple yes/no question and it was very broad. I'd imagine some people voted based on their opinion of his work in the previous game. Others voted based on how he was performing over the course of the year. And still others might have just been voting based on whether they liked him or not (no matter the team's record).
Now that we're evaluating the season that was, I thought we'd mix things up a little bit. Coach Singletary's job involves so many different tasks, that a single approval rating would seem to be a rather weak measurement of what he's done as head coach. After all, the man has been amazing in some areas, and fairly bad in other areas. To ask whether people approve of his job just won't suffice. Instead, I thought we'd break it down into several different categories. Today we start with game management. I'm not quite sure yet what other categories we'll measure, but this is one that I strongly suspect will inspire a variety of opinions.
It seemed as though throughout the season, the 49ers had issues arise quite frequently related to game management. There were times when the team would burn through timeouts like they were going out of style. There was one game where the team was on defense and burned a timeout before their opponent snapped the ball on their first offensive play from scrimmage. On the other hand, when Alex Smith took over as QB we saw timeouts being called left and right. Was this something where Mike Singletary did not have the team sufficiently prepared, or was it something that was bound to happen because of the change at QB?
Mike Singletary didn't always burn through the team's timeouts, but he certainly had his moments. Is the whole idea of "game management" something he'll improve at as he gains experience?
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4
It’s no secret this is an area he needs to work on.
Ouch
that’s harsh. I gave him a 6—he started out with bad game management but it got much better as the year went on.
Yes Drew K, Tim Tebow will get picked in the first round.
Delay of game penalties went way down
use of time outs went way down (can’t blame the Seattle game on him—the first time out he had to take because Seattle was switching their offensive personnel around and not giving us a chance to switch ours).
Yes Drew K, Tim Tebow will get picked in the first round.
and....
the way he managed the clock at the end of that game was the reason we gave the ball up and lost it before OT….and allowing raye to call some of those dumb plays. I know you know that at the very least we should have been flipping the coin for the ball in OT, we should have never had to give that ball back up.
I like the idea of separating the various aspects of Singletary's job Fooch
It gives a better overall picture of where we think he stands.
Yes Drew K, Tim Tebow will get picked in the first round.
speaking of which
Any thoughts on other areas to rate?
by David Fucillo on Jan 15, 2010 8:17 AM PST up reply actions
Hm
Game Management
Game Prepareation (Gameplan)
Motivation
Integrity (Press Conference stuff)
Roster Management (including game day actives, personnel, stuff like with Rossum etc)
General Player Management (including things like days given off, practice drills used like the nutcracker and their effectiveness)
oh and of course… Style (clothing, of course. I think Mike Nolan may best him here.)
I chose water over wine... Jars of formaldehyde... think of all the things I missed... Why'd you make me a scientist?
This list makes me wonder why it is, exactly, that I think he's any good at all as a head coach.
Apart from the mythical “motivation factor”, I think he’s been pretty bad at everything. Though, as a rookie head coach (and only a few years into coaching of any kind), I’m sure that some of that is to be expected.
"It came down like a punt, Coach!" - Josh Morgan
5
he is a rookie coach dealing with a lot of dysfunction but he often did a poor job after alex came in.
I don't need an Educashun............................................................-W Paige
by rlott#42 on Jan 15, 2010 7:29 AM PST via mobile reply actions
3
An mean vote of 7? Is there just some kind of uncertainty as to what “game management” means?
"It came down like a punt, Coach!" - Josh Morgan
Well what do you think game management means?
since you’re so critical?
Yes Drew K, Tim Tebow will get picked in the first round.
Game Management, to me, implies…
-Proper handling of the game clock. This includes use of timeouts (an area that Singletary received widely justified criticism for during much of the season), challenges, and decisions to play ball control or aggressive football. Singletary was only a slight improvement over Nolan’s horrendous clock-management. He wasted timeouts regularly, played to punt in games where the emphasis should have been on getting points on every possession, and (while he may not have actually had any direct effect) simply sat quietly cross-armed on the sideline during multiple possessions where clock-related mistakes were being made pre-snap and in between plays.
-Situational/strategic football. This covers a head coaches’ decisions to go for it on 4th down, punt, kick a field goal, attempt an onside kick, etc. I, for one, think that Singletary was far too aggressive with 4th down conversion attempts – especially considering the fact that he has a below average offense that struggled mightily all year on third downs. He was especially unwilling to settle inside the opponent’s 40 yard line.
-Halftime adjustments. This one’s pretty simple: when a team drills you in the first half of a football game, you should be able to address those issues coming out of the tunnel for the final two quarters. While, on paper, we may have performed “better” in the second half of games, I’m more willing to say that we simply came out flat in the first half in the majority of our losses. For the most part, teams that beat us early on were able to continue doing so.
Overall, “game management” is just a phrase to describe gameday coaching – which, I think we all know, is Singletary’s glaring weakness. He’s been hailed as a great motivator, and the players seem to be in his corner before and after games, but he’s completely useless as a football strategist and he hasn’t shown the ability to make sound, informed decisions during football games that turn out in his favor.
I don’t think Singletary is a bad head coach, but I do think he’s pretty abysmal as a sideline presence in relation to positive impact on the games themselves.
"It came down like a punt, Coach!" - Josh Morgan
I agree with some but not all of this, still a good angle on the subject
You can say it however you want, talk about it all day I don't care, bottom line is it needs to be done now. Hesitation is an asset of the WEAK, and around here Mutha(site decorum) we get (site decorum) done!!!
Actually
The mean is 6.14, at the current vote total of 232. Just because the 7 bar is the biggest doesn’t mean it is the “mean.” It is, however, the “mode” of the distribution. =)
Uh... why would you say "Actually,"
in correction of something you can’t possibly know? The mean could have been 7 at the time of posting. You don’t say “actually, at the current vote total…” when he wasn’t referring to the current vote total.
I chose water over wine... Jars of formaldehyde... think of all the things I missed... Why'd you make me a scientist?
by James Brady on Jan 15, 2010 10:13 AM PST up reply actions
Because
He didn’t say it was 7.00, or 7.1, or 7.02, or anything similar, which means it is highly unlikely that he did the math and calculated the true mean. Why in the world would you be so uptight about this? Goodness…
I'm uptight about it because you incorrectly attempted to correct someone.
No reason to get upset with me, it just seemed incredibly condescending to be correcting a user on something you couldn’t possibly know.
Wasn’t trying to insult you or anything, apologies.
I chose water over wine... Jars of formaldehyde... think of all the things I missed... Why'd you make me a scientist?
by James Brady on Jan 15, 2010 10:47 AM PST up reply actions
Hmm
Perhaps I jumped the gun a bit on my assumption but I have noticed that more often than not people tend to get things like this wrong and I wasn’t trying to correct so much as inform. Knowing the difference between mode and mean can make a difference later on when trying to analyze statistical trends with regards to football and other sports =).
It was a harmless comment, to be honest.
As was my response. It was mostly the use of the word “actually,” I just pictured the most pretentious sounding pronunciation of the word I possibly could, aha.
It’s all good, though.
I chose water over wine... Jars of formaldehyde... think of all the things I missed... Why'd you make me a scientist?
by James Brady on Jan 15, 2010 11:02 AM PST up reply actions
No condescension interpreted by me. Mean, mode, median – I always got those mixed up. Also, the presence of the “=)” in the comment making the correction (as simple as it may sound) pretty much implies harmless intent to point out a minor error, imo.
"It came down like a punt, Coach!" - Josh Morgan
>__>
I chose water over wine... Jars of formaldehyde... think of all the things I missed... Why'd you make me a scientist?
by James Brady on Jan 15, 2010 11:26 PM PST up reply actions
1
He was awful.
Definitely not as bad as, say Andy Reid, but to say he was anything better than awful is foolish.
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
yeah I gave him a 5 though, I blame some of the problems on miscom
our electronics were always on the fritz!
One thing is for sure however. WE CANNOT PREPARE!! How is it that we get 2 weeks to prepare for a game and go three and out, over and over again?
I took 3 points off just for allowing Raye to call that GD fullback in the flat crap. UGH I hate that play… but you never know, nimble norris could break one off.
I gave him a 6
Personally, I loved that he would use what my dad called “basketball timeouts” to collect the team when it seemed like they were on the ropes. I was really disappointed that he stopped doing it after the Falcons game.
Sharlon Schoop - de favoriete Nederlandse honkbalspeler van McCovey Chronicles.
You always have to be one step ahead of your drunk friends
--Daisy Owl
You know why he stopped doing it after the Falcons game?
Because this is not basketball.
And right after he gathered the defense together, the defense gives up a wide open TD pass, game over.
TO’s are precious, motivation and preparation are for practice and pregame\halftime.
That TD ws given up because our defenses biggest weakness was on display.
I don't need an Educashun............................................................-W Paige
So, then, the timeout had absolutely no chance of being effective to begin with?
I’m not sure I see how this excuses his choice to waste it.
"It came down like a punt, Coach!" - Josh Morgan
I watched a replay of that timeout and the only player not listening was Goldson
The player that gave up the TD, due to a lack of focus was"Goldson"
You can say it however you want, talk about it all day I don't care, bottom line is it needs to be done now. Hesitation is an asset of the WEAK, and around here Mutha(site decorum) we get (site decorum) done!!!
had to give him a 4 poor use of TO plus his poor use of challenges
We had a few games this year where we were out of challenges before the second half even started. And in the Falcons game, not having a challenge on that clearly non fumble kind of killed that game for the niners, on a series or two after the dumb TO to pump up the defense and then on the next play a like 90 yard TD pass to roddy white (still don’t know why clements was bumping on that play anyway but besides the point).
Could you give examples of bad challenges?
I don’t know his success rate on replay challenges but if memory serves, he did quite well this season, starting with the opening game. I think this is one area where he is quite good and certainly much better than his predecessor. I don’t recall any dumb challenges but could be wrong.
The TO against Atlanta was a mistake and one that he learned from since he never again used a TO for that reason. However, the TD that followed was not the 90 yarder to White but the 31 yarder when Ryan had 5+ seconds to throw.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
too many high scores given
i like singletary as a coach and motivator, but time management is BY FAR his biggest weak point. Shares the same weakness as Cal coach Jeff Tedford. Frustrating to root for two teams so close together, yet neither has the slightest clue how to run the 2 minute offense and when to call timeouts and when not to. maybe they can work together in the offseason? Play some madden???
bye week
You would think especially after a bye week that the coaching would’ve been crisp. With the players taking time off to rest the coach doesn’t. He kept working on his craft. I just have to think that he knows this area needs help. He CAN do this. It is just another thing to work on. Giving him a low score here doesn’t mean the man is incompetent. He’s our coach, pump him up.
Last year’s 2nd loss to the cards showed his lack of game management skills and to his credit that situation was not a factor this season at least. So once again it’s live and learn. I’ll bet next year we see improvement in use of timeouts. I love what goatfather said above about when the appropriate time to pump your guys up is.
I gave him a 5
there were some pretty awful moments, but it’s his first year so I’m going to cut him a little bit of slack and not go lower. You have to think that there are going to be some issues all around for a first year HC, I’ll be pleased if Sing acknowledges that this is one of his major weaknesses and works hard with his staff to get everyone on the same page before the start of next season.
"The Football The 49ers Team has The excitement of the bear, the velocity of the deer and strenght of the buffalo.
4
He had a few stinkers when it came to game management but he wasn’t awful throughout the season. I’m sorta of ignoring all those T.O. when Alex was promoted starter because I don’t think Singletary could have prevented those. The T.O. at the start of the game, half, quarter etc because of having the wrong personnel on the field is on the coach.
5
It started worse, and got to sort of crappy. Also, my 5 is like a 50%, and not like a 5 mean. So he’s still failing.
Some times,
All of the work and research that goes into the opinions and authoritative discussions expressed on NN leads me to start believing NN carries some weight with 49er management. Then I get sensible and remember that it’s just the guys from NN having some fun.
Well if the Niners trade up to get Berry
we’ll know that they’re paying attention to us.
Yes Drew K, Tim Tebow will get picked in the first round.
actually sporting news has us taking berry 13th
by srill waiting on Jan 15, 2010 3:03 PM PST up reply actions
Berry is VERY hard to project.
Safeties aren’t THAT highly rated by most teams. He definitely has the talent and potential, but most teams just value many other positions a lot more. It’ll be interesting to see how early he goes.
they have him playing corner. interesting.
that and there’s bound to be some trading in the top 15 or so.
by srill waiting on Jan 15, 2010 3:32 PM PST up reply actions
I like Walter Football's draft
They’ve got us taking Spiller 13th, Bulaga 16th or 17th & Arenas in the 2nd round. I like this guy!!
newnfldraft.com is ok too. Trent Williams 13th, Spiller 16th or 17th. However, they’ve got us taking Walter Thurmond of Oregon in round 2. Even though he had a pick 6, he only played in the first four games this past season and then blew his knee out. No thanks!
draftcountdown.com & nfldraftdog.com have us taking Bulaga and Williams in the 1st round as well. Either one sounds good.
3
3 is all i can say to many mistakes to list but give him a three because he notices them and takes accountability. to then moving torwards correections on the matters
Not sure
Should we rank Sing based on comparison to the other 31 HCs in the league or on a comparison scale to what any HC should be? I place men like Nolan and Martz as a 1. I would say that Belichick is historically a 9, but he made perhaps the signature coaching game management blunder this season. I have read that Madden is considered by many to be the best game/clock manager of modern history, but he didn’t have to deal with replay or massive player substitutions.
I would put Sing in the top 20 and probably in the top half of HCs but does that equate to a 5, 6 or 7? I’ll give him a 6 with the understanding that he can and should improve. He made no glaring game management decision that cost the Niners a specific game this season but that doesn’t mean that avoidable decisions won’t in the future.
I did find this one article interesting, on the topic of timeouts. He has a small sample size but Sing has certainly done a good job hanging on to them in the second half of games:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=garber_greg&page=hotread17/ClockManagementCoaches
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
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