San Francisco’s brass doesn’t wait until bye week, fires head
coach Mike Nolan Monday; Mike Singletary takes over
SANTA CLARA
Although the San Francisco 49ers apparently fired coach Mike Nolan on Monday, they seemed inexplicably determined to keep it a secret.
Nolan told FOXsports.com he was dismissed seven games into his fourth consecutive dismal season, after four consecutive losses culminating in Sunday’s 29-17 loss to the New York Giants.
Assistant head coach Mike Singletary is expected to take over the 49ers (2-5), who got off to a 2-1 start this season before slumping. Singletary was at the 49ers’ training complex late Monday night, apparently working out a new contract.
Yet the 49ers made no public announcement about Nolan’s fate, and many members of the organization clearly had been forbidden from saying anything about the drama.
Nolan, who seemed to have no idea he would be fired when he conducted his usual news conference earlier Monday, didn’t return a phone call from The Associated Press. Several team executives – including owner Jed York – and coaches either wouldn’t comment or didn’t return phone messages, e-mails or text messages. Most 49ers players only knew what they heard on television.
Such curious behavior is no surprise from an organization run by the mercurial York family, which took over the 49ers after beloved owner Eddie DeBartolo lost control of the team in 2000.
Instead of delaying a decision on Nolan’s fate until the 49ers’ bye week following Sunday’s home game against Seattle, Jed York and his father, John, apparently couldn’t wait to get rid of the family’s choice to revive the five-time Super Bowl champions, who have endured five consecutive losing seasons and haven’t made the playoffs since 2002.
Nolan is 18-37 in 3½ seasons with the 49ers, who hired the veteran defensive coordinator to run every aspect of the club in January 2005. He has the worst winning percentage (.327) among any 49ers coaches who made it through more than one season with the team.
Although Nolan brought back a measure of respectability to the franchise, which had the NFL’s worst record in 2004 before his arrival, the 49ers haven’t managed a winning season or made a significant impact on the league in his tenure.
The 49ers’ fortunes have declined considerably under York, who improbably gave power over every aspect of his football operations to a career assistant who had never been a personnel executive. The unorthodox arrangement hasn’t thrived on the field or the front office, and Nolan ceded some power to general manager Scot McCloughan last January to avoid being fired after the 49ers finished 5-11.
In fact, Nolan might end up being best remembered in San Francisco for his insistence on wearing a suit and tie on the sideline for the 49ers’ home games. After two years of protracted negotiations with Reebok, which has a contract to supply clothing to all the league’s coaches, Nolan got permission to wear his specially designed suits for two games in 2006 and a full home season last year.
Nolan claimed his snazzy outfits were a way to project an image of authority while paying tribute to the league’s former coaching greats, including his late father, Dick, who coached the 49ers and New Orleans Saints.
Nolan was the third NFL coach to be dismissed during the season, joining Oakland’s Lane Kiffin and St. Louis’ Scott Linehan. The Rams have won two straight games under interim coach Jim Haslett, and the Raiders are 1-1 under Tom Cable.
Earlier Monday, Nolan deflected questions about his job security. John and Jed York attended the 49ers’ loss at the Giants, which featured a miserable offensive performance and another defensive struggle.
“It’s talked about,” Nolan said. “It’s a reality, just on the outside. I can’t let it affect what my job is. It’s just speculation until something is acted upon. … You always want to have support, but I know what my job is, by having a job. My job is to work with our players and coaches and try to put together the best game plan to win games.”
Nolan is in the fourth season of a five-year, $8 million contract.
The 49ers fielded the NFL’s worst offense during two of Nolan’s first three seasons, including last year. Nolan’s first two offensive coordinators – Mike McCarthy and Norv Turner – both left the club after one season for head coaching jobs, and Mike Martz became his fourth offensive coordinator last winter.
Nolan’s future also was heavily tied to quarterback Alex Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in 2005. Smith never became a consistent starter in his first three seasons, and had an embarrassing public spat with Nolan last year over the severity of the quarterback’s shoulder injuries, which forced him onto injured reserve despite Nolan’s prior insistence that the injury wasn’t serious.
Smith’s shoulder gave him more problems this year, and the quarterback went on injured reserve before the season began. The 49ers promoted veteran journeyman J.T. O’Sullivan to their starting job this year, but a decent offense under Martz’s direction hasn’t been able to counteract a defense that has yielded a league-high 196 points.
Singletary was a Hall of Fame linebacker with the Chicago Bears who has been at Nolan’s side since 2003, when he joined the Baltimore Ravens’ coaching staff. Singletary interviewed for a handful of head coaching vacancies in recent years, but was out of the NFL from the end of his playing career in 1992 until joining the Ravens.
