Which coach was worse?

Originally posted by darkknight49:

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:

Originally posted by VA49er:

Originally posted by SWAGG-ER:
Worst: Erickson

Worse: Sing

Bad: Nolan

At least nolan knew his x's and o's. His problem was he didn't know how to manage a qb and maybe got a little too power hungry

How exactly did Nolan know his X's and O's better than sing? THis seems subjective. Both guys had decent defenses. Take a look at any nolan D and you will see early perfromance followed by mid to late season meltdowns.

They both got fired for the same thing. The offense sucked!!! It is debateable which one of those guys was a worse coach from the standpoint of offensive XO's. Which are the XO's that sing sucked at too.

It's well documented that Singletary did jack on defense. I always viewed Singletary as a "hands-off" overseer type headcoach. Nolan on the other hand, actually called the defensive plays (IIRC) and game planned on the defensive side of the ball. Singletary did none of that.

-9fA

There were a few reports from the beat writers that sing would sit in on offensive meetings and give his two cents. There was that game last year against seattle where the niners were killing the seahawks and Sing was telling MJ to go back to running even when the passing was working.

Then there was manusky who felt like he didn't have the freedom to do what he wanted as a DC. He said that during his introduction (i believe) as SD's DC. Sing wasn't as hands off as he should have been.

Singletary has often been asked by the beat writers about his knowledge of Xs and Os given that he has not been a coordinator. As I recall he would consistently reply that he would advise his coordinators and simply offer input in the sense that during opposition scouting meetings, he would simply ask "how about we do it this way" etc. I'm not quite sure if you can classify that as "game planning" lol.

I personally don't believe that Singletary had a large of a voice. I always looked at Singletary as simply a "Motivation Coordinator" and nothing more. In addition, while Singletary did dictate the playcalling, he never himself called the plays on either side of the ball. I personally believe that his coordinators had an ample degree of freedom.

I'm not quite sure what to think about Manusky saying "I'm not just shuffling my feet, "I've been doing that in San Francisco for four years." I believe that quote was his only direct allusion to the 49ers. I did not interpret that quote to mean that Manusky was unhappy about the amount of power that he yielded over the direction of the defense during his time in San Francisco.

-9fA

The only thing that saved Sing from an 0-16 season was a few lucky breaks to be honest. Other than the a$$ whupping we gave Seattle and Arizona @ the end of the season we had NO convincing wins based on "brilliant" game planning. Oh and the game vs AZ was coached by Tomsula. So there you go...1 game in the + category for Sing.


Nolan's problem wasn't knowledge more than it was his ego and way of thinking. He was given too much power and tried to control way too much. He was also a douchebag which didn't help with his players or his #1 overall pick. Now that said...I still think Norv Turner leaving ultimately set us back a few years. Sure Alex wasn't a world beater....but he showed progress and I'm pretty sure EVERYONE at the end of 06 was saying..."hey..a couple more years under Norv and a few more weapons and this team is going to take off." Well, Norv left, Smith went on IR after starting 2-1 (under the great Hostler) and the rest is history. I noticed too that Nolan tended to stay out of Norv's way. The only issue I had with Norv and Nolan @ that time was the conservative playcalling but then again we still had a young 21-22 year old QB who was still learning.

Anyway...what's done is done.

I voted Sing. because I actually bought into his crap and thought he'd lead us back into the playoffs. THEN, I had to watch the craphole 2010 Niners NOT WIN THE WORST division in the modern-era. WTF SINGLETARY. WTF.
At least with Nolan, I didn't feel hoodwinked.

Originally posted by rage49:
You forgot "mouth-breather" boy...


You can catch a lot of flies that way

He looks like he could play that fly dude from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.... ugh Baxter I think

dingleberry

Originally posted by Frisco69ers:

Originally posted by wolfpack52:
Singletary.... He had a better team and didnt do anything. He fired Martz for Raye and alienated good players and pick favorites. He didnt know how to deal with players problems on and off the field. Imo Sing was worse then Erickson.

exactly, at the very least Nolan drafted well and built the team up

(Gore, VD, Willis, Morgan, Walker, Spencer, Lawson, Staley, Baas, RayMac,)

Spencer was a Donahue pick...

I will admit I liked the Dingletary hire after he finished up 5-4 with Nolan's 2-5 squad. Then instead of learning on the job he seemed to get dumber by the day, I found that baffling to say the least.

Originally posted by BobS:
I will admit I liked the Dingletary hire after he finished up 5-4 with Nolan's 2-5 squad. Then instead of learning on the job he seemed to get dumber by the day, I found that baffling to say the least.

I liked his "knock em in the mouf" speech, it's too bad that's not all you need to win football games.

Oh and that must have been the only advice he gave to a.davis since he got all of those penalties loll.

They both were bad, but only singletary takes a team as talented as ours in a division this horrible and runs it in to the ground.

Originally posted by LambdaChi49:
The only thing that saved Sing from an 0-16 season was a few lucky breaks to be honest. Other than the a$$ whupping we gave Seattle and Arizona @ the end of the season we had NO convincing wins based on "brilliant" game planning. Oh and the game vs AZ was coached by Tomsula. So there you go...1 game in the + category for Sing.


Nolan's problem wasn't knowledge more than it was his ego and way of thinking. He was given too much power and tried to control way too much. He was also a douchebag which didn't help with his players or his #1 overall pick. Now that said...I still think Norv Turner leaving ultimately set us back a few years. Sure Alex wasn't a world beater....but he showed progress and I'm pretty sure EVERYONE at the end of 06 was saying..."hey..a couple more years under Norv and a few more weapons and this team is going to take off." Well, Norv left, Smith went on IR after starting 2-1 (under the great Hostler) and the rest is history. I noticed too that Nolan tended to stay out of Norv's way. The only issue I had with Norv and Nolan @ that time was the conservative playcalling but then again we still had a young 21-22 year old QB who was still learning.

Anyway...what's done is done.

wow...how quickly people forget how terrible we were under Nolan.

I didnt put Erickson in there because he is clearly the worst, i am wondering only about these two

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:
wow...how quickly people forget how terrible we were under Nolan.

Nobody forgot. Nolan was bad but wasn't nearly as putrid and as stupid as Dingleberry. Dingleberry inherited a more talented team, where as Nolan had to work with guys like Mike Rumph, Ken Dorsy, Kwamee Harris, Anthony Celement, Kevin Barlow and etc. Dingleberry had 3 offensive coordinators in 2 1/2 years and wanted to run offense that predates back to the stone age. Furthermore, he adamantly believed in today's NFL you could win without a QB. Not to mention his absurd answer to just about every question "will just have to look at the tape."

Nolan is a better coach and its not even close. He at least made a bad team mediocre and lets be honest, none of his teams underperformed. He certainly was not a very good game coach and was stubborn as hell, but all his teams were pretty mediocre in talent.

Singletary on the other hand clearly had the most talented team in the division and he is the sole reason why they missed the playoffs. He hired the o-coordinator and then fired him. Coaches left the team for "personal reasons." Players outright quit the team and didn't want to play. Granted, those guys were not very important players, but has anyone ever seen this many people run for the hills over the course of a season with ANY football team. I sure as hell haven't

So yes, Singletary was much worse. The one thing I'll give Singletary is that he was so bad that at least they fired him immediately, unlike Nolan where he was okay, but not great and it was basically death by paper cuts.

mike