Former 49ers coach Mike Singletary talks about re-educating himself and a return to coaching

Even coming off a bye week, it's probably safe to say that San Francisco 49ers fans deserve a break. They deserve some time away from having to think about Blaine Gabbert, the struggles of Colin Kaepernick, Jim Tomsula and Jed York, and I'm happy to deliver a piece about less stressful happenings about the team. Let's talk about a lighter topic and a happier time.

Let's talk about Mike Singletary.

Singletary, one of the greatest linebackers and worst head coaches of all time, wants to get back into coaching and I couldn't be happier for him. There were a lot of horror stories about Singletary's tenure as head coach of the 49ers, the worst of which I vaguely recall included a 49ers player remarking that the team only properly game-planned for a single opponent that season -- in the final game after Singletary had been fired.

It was disastrous, and the man clearly needed some work with the X's and O's of football. He is a leader of men, that's for sure, and one of the best motivators in football, but the 49ers were out-coached constantly, and Singletary was the reason.

But he recently spoke with Bleacher Reportabout trying to make his return to coaching and I found it pretty interesting. Singletary is a driven guy, and it sounds like he's put a ton of work into trying to better himself to make a return at coaching. When asked what he's been doing since he left the Minnesota Vikings staff after the 2013 season, Singletary had this to say:

"For the last season-and-a-half, I've just been working my tail off just trying to learn all the things that I know I needed to know as a head coach. I've been traveling, visiting different coaches that I really respected: former head coaches, coordinators and position coaches who really knew the game. They helped me really get to know and understand the things I needed to know."

Singletary noted that he spent time with Mouse Davis, Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves and Howard Mudd, among other coaches. He also said that he was spending a lot of time dealing with offensive coaches, which makes sense because that area is definitely not his expertise. I believe Singletary can impart insanely invaluable information on young defensive players about how an offense works, but he wasn't much for game-planning, that's for certain.

When asked about three players he would build around right now, Singletary named Luke Kuechly, Adrian Peterson and Tom Brady. Kind of easy answers, and not very inspired from a youth standpoint but he had a lot to say on the matter.

It's actually a very interesting interview overall. Singletary is asked about talking to and disciplining players and how the way he does things needed to change. He was asked about his coaching influences and, when asked what kind of coach Mike Singletary is in 2016, he said "He's a winner." That's vintage Singletary, right there.

I highly recommend checking out the full interview. I didn't want to pull a bunch of it for this post, so head over to Bleacher Report and check it out. I don't know how likely it is that Singletary finds another head coaching job in the NFL, but I certainly do hope he returns to the coaching ranks at some point.