What has Sing done since he became head coach to be a better coach?

Flexibility, Sing has shown tons of it, and it's what any great coach needs to succeed, and everybody still holds the notion that we're a non-balanced 'smashmouth' football team (which will be awesome when opposing teams ignorantly gameplan around us next season).

Sing's coaching/decisions will continue to improve with the overall combined success of our roster/execution/talent.

San Francisco needs to hire an Asian coach. Kailee Wong should be hired and developed to take over as soon as he is ready.

Since bigMike got jump-promoted to HC without coaching TEs, WRs, RBs, QBs, OLs, DLs, DBs, CBs, nor coaching Offense nor being DC, I hope he has spent hours of offseason time reading...Finding the Winning Edge(Bill Walsh) would be a good starter. AFter that, reading anything written by the greats from Lombardi to Bellichek. BigMIke had no favor done him by getting jump promoted, with no experience other than LB coach. His shortcomings can be greatly improved by intensive reading of all the best coaches. True, it doesn't make up for inexperience, but it surely helps.

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:
I doubt anybody here would be able to answer that.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
Since bigMike got jump-promoted to HC without coaching TEs, WRs, RBs, QBs, OLs, DLs, DBs, CBs, nor coaching Offense nor being DC, I hope he has spent hours of offseason time reading...Finding the Winning Edge(Bill Walsh) would be a good starter. AFter that, reading anything written by the greats from Lombardi to Bellichek. BigMIke had no favor done him by getting jump promoted, with no experience other than LB coach. His shortcomings can be greatly improved by intensive reading of all the best coaches. True, it doesn't make up for inexperience, but it surely helps.

Wouldn't it be funny if the first line he reads is, "First, you must understand every position on the team from QB to Equipment Manager."

[Singletary puts the book down, hires himself as the equipment manager and anoints Raye as the interim head coach until Singletary understands all positions on the team.]

The Coach's Spotlight segment on the Network today was about Singletary. The man can speak!

The quesiton, "What has Sing done since he became head coach to be a better coach?" is, inherently, not answerable by anyone posting on this forum(unless you are of course either singletary himself, his wife, or maybe jed york). It's like us trying to answer the question, "what is Clements doing in Arizona to better himself?" That question can only be answered by those involved in the day to days. What we can answer is, has singletary showed the attitude and aptitude to be a better coach? With that, I answer yes.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
Since bigMike got jump-promoted to HC without coaching TEs, WRs, RBs, QBs, OLs, DLs, DBs, CBs, nor coaching Offense nor being DC, I hope he has spent hours of offseason time reading...Finding the Winning Edge(Bill Walsh) would be a good starter. AFter that, reading anything written by the greats from Lombardi to Bellichek. BigMIke had no favor done him by getting jump promoted, with no experience other than LB coach. His shortcomings can be greatly improved by intensive reading of all the best coaches. True, it doesn't make up for inexperience, but it surely helps.

He's had conversations with Bill Walsh for f**k's sake!

JoeC, you are a pistol. I got a great belly laugh out of that.

Godsleftsock(great handle btw), it is admirable that bigMike had conversations with Coach Walsh, and hopefully he learned from those encounters. There is nothing that can help bigMike with the experience shortfall he labors under. Personally, and i have said this before, i think it was a disservice to him to be jump promoted as he was. There is no substitute for coaching every position on the field at one time or another, which gives that coach(MS) a full understanding of the demands, intricacies, and "specialness"of each position on the team. A logical elevation for bigMIke would have been DC, a position at which we already had a pretty fair coach. Nonetheless, that would have helped MS immensely over the long haul.

Coaching is like being an atty, a builder, an engineer, a fireman, etc. You can read all you want, but until you do it, you don't really get a good feel for all the different positions. Frankly, a guy i always have admired was dealt a bad hand from my perspective. Without the essential coaching background experience, it is as if he were set up to fail. If he does so, it would not be his fault, it would be on the owners who hired him. I want to see him succeed. But jump promotions without requisite experience...that is not a formula for success, even for the GOAT HOF LB.

This is just an opinion, but ideally i would have liked to have seen him as DC for 2-3 yrs, (and interacting with the O as much as possible). Then i would have liked to see him become HC. I just can't believe he wouldn't have had a significantly better shot at succeeding under that scenario. The way it happened, it just makes it harder on him to be a success...something he has been his entire life. Somehow that seems unfair to him, but that's just my opinion.

In the meantime reading Coach Walsh's writings again and again, couldn't hurt.

I really wonder just how much the coaching had to do with the inept run blocking on critical downs. I saw some plays that opened up beautiful holes for Gore. If the guys were bad, they would hardly ever look good. The sheer stupidity of many playcalls were so obvious, teams could have stacked players for particular plays. If the running and pass blocking continue to have problems, I think they really need to can Raye and Singletary. Raye for being so lame and Singletary for letting him be so. I actually think many of Rayes plays are good but some series are so lame that even the worst coaches might commit suicide then pull such stunts. You can hardly blame many who feel Raye is into the late stages of dotage during those times. I feel if Mike Johnson has the ability, now is the time for him to step up and take over. When I saw the erratic line play in preseason, I was really concerned. OL play should look coordinated but breakdowns were thruout the OL. I was certainly not impressed with the coaching. Individually I liked Boone but no one else on the reserves. I am very glad to see Solari and Brown. Just the fact Solari and Brown are here indicates that more then players were involved in last years stinko events. Perhaps the new coaches will can parts of Rayes giveaway offense.

He transformed Vernon Davis into one of the league's top tight ends... no big deal.

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
He transformed Vernon Davis into one of the league's top tight ends... no big deal.

Exactly, he's given this team an ideology and they have bought into it. I think his best asset is getting guys to reach their potential (VD, Brooks). And he is smart enough to surround himself with good coaches like Solari, Manusky... and depending on your opinion of Raye who even though he is predictable... Im still hoping he is just a place holder to help get Mike Johnson ready to step up and be OC.

I've already posted about things bigMike might do to be a better coach. Generally. Specifically, here are a few things he COULD do to become a much better coach:

Offense: is obviously the weakest link in our chain. If we go 6-10, 7-9, maybe even repeat 8-8, i will be so bummed that i will eat my shoes. For bigMike, i think it ends his HC career, so he has to get the O right this yr. No question where the problem lies---it's the OL. So here are some thots on how bigMike can guarantee his job, and become a better coach.

The old dictum, "build lines 1st" is just as true today as it was 30 yrs ago. Okay, staley played well until hurt, and then sims came on to play like a starter the last 5 games. That leaves chilo who has backslid, instead of progressing, and our center. (I am assuming that AD and poti play to their capabilities and are bonafide starters).

Yes, this is an OL problem, but it is bigMIke's job to see it is fixed. Here's where i would look: Briefly, Chilo---have solari, bigRay, and bigMIke drag out chilo's last yr at USC films and see what he did to be so effective. Then see (from tapes) what he isn't doing now that he did then, or vice versa , to make himself less effective today than 2 yrs ago. I think he is fast enough, but may need to work on quickness, maybe strength, technique(is he too high, too low, too slow to get his hand under a DLs pads, whatever). Maybe needs to get smarter, too, and needs to study his adversary and their D play with bigRay, bigmike, solari on a weekly basis. What happened to his patented "pancake blocks". Something is wrong and the 3 guys mentioned above, need to help him rediscover it. I think this is going to happen, but bigMike needs to be personally involved, too, in a very big way. It is essential he understands what is wrong and how to fix it.

Center: Okay, i have another complete thread on this, but here would be some things to look at for heitmann:faster, bigger, stronger, quicker, smarter:

Faster: i think film will show he is fast enough.

Bigger: Don't know on this one. Is he giving away 30 lbs to NTs or DTs? If so , then he needs to change technique when outsized by a particular opponent.

Stronger: Don't know here either, but coaches will know. If this is a problem then more work with weight and training coaches. Also film will help identify if a problem or not.

Quicker: If i had to bet money this would certainly be one of the problem areas. True it is hard teach "quick" , but there are certain drills that can improve on this. Maybe his left hand comes up too slow to meet his opponent. Maybe he plays too low: maybe too high. Maybe he needs to re-set his feet position. Against a guy who is much quicker, maybe his stance could be altered to counter this, if even a fraction.

Smarter: Is this a recognition problem, ie is he going thru his sequence, DT plays straight up, to the side (ie, 3-4 vs 4-3)? Basically he has the 0 hole, and the 1 & 2 holes to contend with. If he gets beat, was it because he didn't recognize who he has to block...or, who he has to help block? Is his lower body (leg) strength adequate? Same for upper body...if not, strength and training coaches should be able to help.
I am not well versed in OL play, but can recognize when it isn't working, say, the last 5 yrs. Altho this is truly the OL coaches jobs, bigMike is the one getting fired if his OL doesn't perform, especially since we just took two first rd OLs. Hence he has to become an expert in our most pressing need department.

Most of the above will be obvious from reviewing with heitmann his game tapes over past 4-5 yrs. What he does best is just as important at what he does worst, but the weaknesses have to be identified and then "fixed" to the extent they can be. If our C play is in the middle of the pack, say 15-18, then so goes our team, and so goes bigMIke's job. With the talent we now have, he has to produce. Fixing chilo and heitmann are at the top of his list as HC must do items. We are talking lots of game film review and finding what it is that makes our C play subpar. This has to be fixed, and when so, by definition , bigMike will become a better coach. This is not his area of expertise, but as HC it now has to be, especially after we just pulled off a miraculous draft with two very good OL starters.

If our C play can't be fixed, then we have to look elsewhere. My guess is that with solari, bigRay and bigmike all working with our C, we can get good to adequate center play. But this "issue" is not one where bigMike can work at it, toy with it, and then settle for whatever happens. This "issue" needs to be straightend out, not so MS can become a better coach, but more importantly, so he can keep his job as HC. Bigmike is responsible. It is his job. He needs to become an OL expert(with plenty of help from bigray and solari), so he can make this star studded OL one of the best. If fixed, it will go a long way towards MS retaining his HC job for a long time. If not fixed...then i don't see him retaining his job.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
JoeC, you are a pistol. I got a great belly laugh out of that.

Godsleftsock(great handle btw), it is admirable that bigMike had conversations with Coach Walsh, and hopefully he learned from those encounters. There is nothing that can help bigMike with the experience shortfall he labors under. Personally, and i have said this before, i think it was a disservice to him to be jump promoted as he was. There is no substitute for coaching every position on the field at one time or another, which gives that coach(MS) a full understanding of the demands, intricacies, and "specialness"of each position on the team. A logical elevation for bigMIke would have been DC, a position at which we already had a pretty fair coach. Nonetheless, that would have helped MS immensely over the long haul.

Coaching is like being an atty, a builder, an engineer, a fireman, etc. You can read all you want, but until you do it, you don't really get a good feel for all the different positions. Frankly, a guy i always have admired was dealt a bad hand from my perspective. Without the essential coaching background experience, it is as if he were set up to fail. If he does so, it would not be his fault, it would be on the owners who hired him. I want to see him succeed. But jump promotions without requisite experience...that is not a formula for success, even for the GOAT HOF LB.

This is just an opinion, but ideally i would have liked to have seen him as DC for 2-3 yrs, (and interacting with the O as much as possible). Then i would have liked to see him become HC. I just can't believe he wouldn't have had a significantly better shot at succeeding under that scenario. The way it happened, it just makes it harder on him to be a success...something he has been his entire life. Somehow that seems unfair to him, but that's just my opinion.

In the meantime reading Coach Walsh's writings again and again, couldn't hurt.

The main issue I see is that we have, once again, hired a HC with zero experience and given him complete control over the organization. If you hire a newbie, you need to provide organizational structure, support, guidance and mentoring. Sing has none of that in place. Couple that with the fact that his ego is certainly as grand in scale as Nolan's was, and you just have a recipe for disaster. I just think it's terrible that we can make the same mistake two times in a row.

This falls on the thriftiness, inexperience, and general incompetence of the York family.

A: Turned these young kids into No Limit Soldiers ready to rip some heads off and kick some ass!