49ers Coach Mike Singletary Press Conference Transcript

49ers Coach Mike Singletary had his morning after press conference at 11:45 this morning and spent most of it discussing the decision to fire Jimmy Raye and install Mike Johnson as offensive coordinator. If you missed it, I've posted the transcript and a link to the audio after the jump.

It's not the most inspiring of press conferences and Singletary's struggles to articulate himself in relationship to the offense shows through at times. However, Singletary did have a helpful comment in regards to the offensive scheme.

On how he and Mike Johnson will work together on the offensive scheme:

"I think we will work hand-in-hand, but it is his offense, and when I say it is his offense, I know that Mike will do a great job of involving every coach on the offensive staff. I knew he would do a great job of making sure that everyone has input, and it's a collaborative effort. And I know he will work his tail off to make this the best offense that it can possibly be. So I'm excited about that."

I realize he went to his cliche well about working his tail off, but hopefully his comments about this being Johnson's offense allows Johnson to really open things up. While we'll likely see some changes this Sunday, it will take a bit longer for things to truly shake out.

Also, if you get a chance to check it out, Matt Barrows posted some comments from Alex Smith about the offense, Jimmy Raye's departure, and Mike Johnson's promotion.

Head Coach Mike Singletary
Monday Press Conference - September 27, 2010
San Francisco 49ers

Listen to Audio I Media Center

On changing his mind about Jimmy Raye:

"Well after I got back here I went home, and I said you know what, I'm just going to go back and look at the film. So, I came back here and basically spent the night here looking at film. And just kind of looked at the overall view of where we are, and looking at where we need to go, and felt that I needed to make the change. And so that's really all it was."

On whether he was prompted by Front Office staff to make the move:

"No. One thing I want you to understand is if I make a decision, it's my decision. The thing that I have control over is the 53 man staff, the 53 man roster and the staff, who is on my coaching staff. That is my decision."

On what he saw in the film:

"That I need to make a change."

On what he saw specifically that prompted the change:

"Not going there. Just needed to make a change."

On whether he sought advice on the move or whether he did it by himself:

"Just me sitting here by myself."

On his primary reasons for making the coaching change:

"Well I just felt that for the overall scheme of things, where we are, I just felt that right now that Mike Johnson would do a good job."

On whether he can confirm that the Chiefs seemed to know the 49ers signals:

"No, I can't confirm that, and as far as the Chiefs knowing our signals and all the other things, I didn't hear anything about that."

On whether making the change had to do with player frustrations:

"No, I would not make a decision based on the players. I think that can get real tricky if the players don't like coaches. I think yesterday we all had a hand in that loss. In fact, we all had a hand in all three losses. It's the coaches and the players, it's never just one or the other."

On the qualities newly-appointed Offensive Coordinator Mike Johnson has that lead him to believe the offense will get better under his direction:

"Well, I think the thing that when I look at Mike, I think Mike will do a good job of bringing the staff together. I think Mike is a great communicator. I think Mike is a great teacher. I think he's a visionary. I think he understands what we're trying to accomplish and I think the players will embrace him."

On how difficult it was to break the news to Jimmy Raye:

"It was very difficult."

On how Raye took the news:

"Uh, you know, I think he took it well."

On whether he and Raye had any disagreements on what to do with the offense this season: 

"I wouldn't say a disagreement. I think Jimmy worked really hard to try and do what I asked him to do, so no, there was no fall-out or disagreement or anything like that."

On whether he watched just yesterday's game or all three games to make the decision:

"All three games."

On what needs to be done to get the offense on track:

"I think first and foremost, just from the progression of the week, the practice, and just making sure that everybody is on the same page, the detail in what we're doing in both the run and the pass, and then the teaching progression throughout practice and the bottom line is the accountability of every coach and every player doing their job. And that's what I see."

On whether there will be a shift in the offensive philosophy:

"No. No."

On whether QB Alex Smith will still be the starting quarterback:

"Yes."

On his response to the report that he is going to bench LB Takeo Spikes and S Michael Lewis and whether there will be any changes:

"I don't know where that came from."

On whether he anticipates making changes in the starting lineup:

"There could be some changes, but don't know where that came from."

On whether the move could inspire confidence in the players:

"This move? I don't - maybe - sometimes change can bring about false confidence, simply by the hope of something changing, but I think more than anything else is just staying focused on the vision that we have of being a very good football team and winning football games. And that's the thought process in mind."

On when he first talked to OC Mike Johnson about this possibility:

"I talked to Mike late last night."

On why he has confidence in Johnson:

"I just think he would do a good job."

On the offensive philosophy:

"The thing that I want to do, the most important thing to me is winning. How we do it, I really don't care. Yes, we can talk philosophy, we can talk opening up, closing it up, whatever it is. But the bottom line is winning. I want to do what we need to do to win football games. That's the philosophy that I want to become very familiar with."

On how he and Mike Johnson will work together on the offensive scheme:

"I think we will work hand-in-hand, but it is his offense, and when I say it is his offense, I know that Mike will do a great job of involving every coach on the offensive staff. I knew he would do a great job of making sure that everyone has input, and it's a collaborative effort. And I know he will work his tail off to make this the best offense that it can possibly be. So I'm excited about that."

On how much responsibility of the team's failure falls on Singletary's shoulders:

"I would put all of it on my shoulders."

On whether QB Alex Smith will call more audibles:

"We'll see going forward."

On how much input Offensive Line Coach Mike Solari will have on the offense:

"Mike Solari, I think on any staff that he's on, is going to have a lot of input simply because of his experience and what he brings to the table. I think sometimes coaches can value the ideas of some coaches more than others, but I just feel that Mike Johnson will do a great job of really getting all of the information that he possibly can from every offensive coach in that room and that brings value to him as the coordinator."  

On what the team was feeling when he broke the news to them:

"I didn't break the news to them yet."

On his level of disappointment in the overall performance of the offense:

"I don't really want to get into how disappointed I've been. I think I've been disappointed that we haven't won in the past three weeks. I wouldn't point the finger at the offense, I wouldn't point the finger at the defense, or at special teams. I think that we all have to work together to get better and become a better football team."

On why the team is 0-3:

"It could be any number of reasons. Any number of reasons."

On whether he feels that execution is the biggest problem from yesterday after now having looked at the film:

"When I said execution yesterday, the thing that I mean is this. Coaches call plays and players have to go out there and play. Maybe sometimes you don't call the best play. Maybe sometimes, depending where you are on the field, when you get the football on the ten yard line a few times and you're backed up in your own territory, sometimes that can be tough for a coordinator to come out of the hole. If you try that a few too many times, then it makes it really difficult. Execution in the players doing their jobs, but also you know, the coaches, sometimes calling different things or whatever. I just feel that it's all of us, and I really want to make sure that you guys understand me when I say that it's all of us. Execution of getting the play in, execution of carrying the play out, detail on the field. Execution on the procedure that we use to communicate. So execution, period, over our team is what I'm talking about."

On whether he saw things on the film yesterday that he missed earlier:

"You know what, sometimes when you're going through a season, especially when it's early in the season as it is right now, I've looked at the film, obviously, I've looked at every game we've played a few times, but when you're searching for an answer, sometimes you can look at it in a different way, and you're looking for something specific and it's really difficult to put your finger on, but you see it, and it's hard to describe, but it's there. So I just think that after looking at the film and thinking about it, praying about it, that's the decision that I came to."

On whether it was tough to break the news to Raye:

"It was tough. I mean, you asked me that before, but it was tough. Anytime that you're going to go tell someone that they're no longer fulfilling that role, that's going to be tough."