Oct 21 2008
San Francisco 49ers Fire Coach Mike Nolan
The coaching merry-go-round continues in the NFL this week with news out of San Francisco:
The N.F.L. had its third coaching change of the season Monday when the 49ers fired Coach Mike Nolan following Sunday’s loss to the Giants. Previously fired were the Rams’ Scott Linehan and the Raiders’ Lane Kiffin.
Nolan failed to bring respectability back to the team in his three and a half seasons as coach, despite a number of high-priced free agents. He will most likely be replaced by the assistant Mike Singletary, who has been considered a candidate by many teams before.
Mike Singletary will be a fantastic head coach in the league, but this move has some in San Francisco questioning the timing:
There is a certain level of logic in Mike Nolan’s whacking Monday. Not necessarily enough, mind you, but some. The results speak for themselves, and apparently beating Seattle on Sunday wouldn’t change that. The near-universal clamor for Nolan’s head had finally caused John York to face a fact he didn’t want to consider last December.
But choosing Monday rather than the bye week to make the change suggests that this was a knee-jerk decision based on public dissatisfaction rather than a measured plan for the future. In other words, same as it ever was.
There 32 team in the NFL and every one expects to be in the Super Bowl within a year or two. Something has to give and someone has to take the blame. Welcome to life as an NFL head coach. Good luck Mike!
