Who was the worst 49er HC?

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
I'll go with Singletary, although Erickson is very close.

Singletary was a motivator, that's it. Not a coach in any capacity. The team fed off his energy initially and pulled out a few wins based solely on change and player talent. Once they needed him to actually coach, he couldn't in any fashion.

Erickson, much like Singletary, got by on player talent alone in the beginning. That 2003 team still had Garcia and Owens, and that combo was only enough to get the 49ers to 7 wins. The following year might as well have been a winless season, with two wins coming against the lowly Cardinals, both by FG's, in overtime. Truly dismal. In his defense though, the team gutted the roster down to one that was equivalent or worse than a expansion team. So he really didn't have a snowball's chance in hell.

Nolan certainly had his issues, but he seemed much more competent than the other two. His shortcoming centered around lack of offensive knowledge and more so, the inability to keep competent offensive coordinators on board (McCarthy, Turner). He knew he needed an offensive guru, which was smart of him. The issue was that they couldn't hold onto anyone. As for defense, he wasn't great at that either. The Niners failed miserably at making the big stop when they needed it most and routinely failed to shut down offenses on 3rd downs. So lack of offensive intellect, the big nickel (ugh), inability to make in-game/game-to-game adjustments, and undermining his QB ultimately did him in.

Ahhh Harbaugh, our savior, so glad to have you here. We've paid our dues!

Agree with this for the most part but am not willing to give Nolan a break. He grew up in NFL circles and still couldn't find a young OC who would be loyal to him. Is he that much of a jerk? Or did other coaches realize his limitations better than niner management (rhetorical question)?

Erickson is treated unfairly by Niner fans. Does anyone (other than myself) remember that the team had FOUR different kickers during Erickson's first year? That was because each kept losing close games for the team. With an "average" kicker, that team would have made the playoffs. And unlike Nolan and Singletary, Erickson actually won some big games, and gave fans several blowout victories. Before Erickson's second year, Donahue gutted the team by releasing or trading Garcia, TO, Hearst, Deese, etc.

Nolan and Singletary were both terrible, and in spite of his failings, Erickson was not as bad as either of them.

Sing did not know the X's and O's , that is what got us in trouble and firing Martz !

Originally posted by SBinMT:
Erickson is treated unfairly by Niner fans. Does anyone (other than myself) remember that the team had FOUR different kickers during Erickson's first year? That was because each kept losing close games for the team. With an "average" kicker, that team would have made the playoffs. And unlike Nolan and Singletary, Erickson actually won some big games, and gave fans several blowout victories. Before Erickson's second year, Donahue gutted the team by releasing or trading Garcia, TO, Hearst, Deese, etc.

Nolan and Singletary were both terrible, and in spite of his failings, Erickson was not as bad as either of them.

the kicking game was unfortunate, but under Erickson the niners were a much less discipline team. stupid turnovers, bad penalties.... marks of a bad coaching.

Originally posted by 49erfeeeever808:
the kicking game was unfortunate, but under Erickson the niners were a much less discipline team. stupid turnovers, bad penalties.... marks of a bad coaching.

I can concede this. But were those "...marks of bad coaching" really any more pronounced under Erickson than the other clowns in question?

honestly, i think if singletary climbed up the coaching ladder properly rather than going straight from position coach to hc, while working under a good coaching stuff he would have been the least crappiest of the three..... but then of course he lives too much into the "how we used to play" mind set.....

Originally posted by SBinMT:

Originally posted by 49erfeeeever808:
the kicking game was unfortunate, but under Erickson the niners were a much less discipline team. stupid turnovers, bad penalties.... marks of a bad coaching.

I can concede this. But were those "...marks of bad coaching" really any more pronounced under Erickson than the other clowns in question?

definately not. lol. SMH @ the last 10 years....................

Originally posted by SBinMT:
I can concede this. But were those "...marks of bad coaching" really any more pronounced under Erickson than the other clowns in question?

it had its roots with erickson and flourished under nolan and sing.we had the same talent under erickson in the first year that we had with mooch and we all of a sudden after a few games, forgot how to tackle, started to make mental and physical mistakes which would define us for the next ten years

Originally posted by Jakemall:

Originally posted by 49ersalldaway126:
singeltary

we basically had a talent level of 12 to 13 wins and he got us 6

Yes, but Erickson took a team that went to the NFC championship and turned it into a team that took a decade to rebuild.

The disatrous salary-cap issues at the time and the incompetence of Terry Donahue may have also played a part in it.

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:
Wow...So much Singletary bashing and it it really is unwarranted. Nolan/Erickson have been much worse for the 49ers.

It's pretty funny, I remember when Singletary tried to instill this run first - play physical on both sides of the ball - and protect the football - type of philosophy ,and most just scoffed at it (doesn't Harbaugh have a similar philosophy?). Yes, Singletary wasn't that football savvy on offense like Jim is, but when it comes to "how to win games" and even their personality, they aren't that different.

Singletary deserves credit from turning this team around, especially when it came to helping players grow up, mature, and play the game with tenacity. This was a very young team when Singletary took over and he had a lot to do with creating this physical beast we have. Remember the "Big Tickle"? We were a joke under Nolan, and especially Erickson. At least Singletary got this team ready for battle and gave it a tough mindset.

Agree with most of this, Singletary is part of the reason this team is where it's at right now. I think he is still a bad coach but he's better than Nolan and Erickson, Erickson being the worst.

I remember when Erickson was asked on his way to the locker room at halftime down by a touchdown or 2 why he didn't try to score when they had the ball before haftime with time on the clock, he said "I didn't want to turn the ball over". After having coaches like Walsh and Seifert, I knew the 9ers were in trouble.

Nolan was much more competent than Erickson but he's second worst in this list. It's his fault Alex Smith and the offense was so terrible. He had no confidence in any of his players and routinely ran "trick" plays that weren't gonna get the team anywhere, instead of realizing he need to work with what he had and teach players from the ground up how to play basic NFL football 1st.

Singletary came in and reversed what Nolan was doing. Everyone on offense and defense lined up in the positions they were supposed and got back to playing basic football and the team was better for it. It didn't translate to wins but aside from QB, players started developing at their positions. Because of this I believed like others did that he could be a good couch.

There were other good things he did. His 1st full season he wanted to run a smash mouth style but that wasn't winning games and the players asked him to switch to a shotgun style that Alex was used to. He did and they won a few games. That flexibility also had me thinking we had a good coach, we just didn't have enough good players on offense yet, but maybe he figured out how to use Alex Smith and next year 9ers would be better.

His second season is where he went wrong. They drafted a couple of offensive lineman and for some reason he believed that was enough to run the smashmouth football he wanted to. The problem is, this time, he chose not to accept the teams limitations and adjust when it wasn't working. He totally mishandled his QB, the same way Nolan had done. He helped Vernon Davis because he understood him and knew what VD needed to hear. He did not understand Alex Smith or the QB position. QB's do not will themselves wins. They bear most of the responsibility for the offense's success but they are the most dependant. Good coaches understand this and do things to help their QB be successful. Singletary tried to handle it the same way he handled VD and it didn't work because Alex already had taken responsiblitity and was doing the best he could, so it just put more pressure on him and made things worse.

Singletary had other things he did right and wrong. But I think if he figures out what he did wrong in SF, and maybe get some experience as a coordinator, he could be a good coach. He's just too green right now.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
I'll go with Singletary, although Erickson is very close.

Singletary was a motivator, that's it. Not a coach in any capacity. The team fed off his energy initially and pulled out a few wins based solely on change and player talent. Once they needed him to actually coach, he couldn't in any fashion.

Erickson, much like Singletary, got by on player talent alone in the beginning. That 2003 team still had Garcia and Owens, and that combo was only enough to get the 49ers to 7 wins. The following year might as well have been a winless season, with two wins coming against the lowly Cardinals, both by FG's, in overtime. Truly dismal. In his defense though, the team gutted the roster down to one that was equivalent or worse than a expansion team. So he really didn't have a snowball's chance in hell.

Nolan certainly had his issues, but he seemed much more competent than the other two. His shortcoming centered around lack of offensive knowledge and more so, the inability to keep competent offensive coordinators on board (McCarthy, Turner). He knew he needed an offensive guru, which was smart of him. The issue was that they couldn't hold onto anyone. As for defense, he wasn't great at that either. The Niners failed miserably at making the big stop when they needed it most and routinely failed to shut down offenses on 3rd downs. So lack of offensive intellect, the big nickel (ugh), inability to make in-game/game-to-game adjustments, and undermining his QB ultimately did him in.

Ahhh Harbaugh, our savior, so glad to have you here. We've paid our dues!

Agree with this for the most part but am not willing to give Nolan a break. He grew up in NFL circles and still couldn't find a young OC who would be loyal to him. Is he that much of a jerk? Or did other coaches realize his limitations better than niner management (rhetorical question)?

Upon re-reading my post, I realize that I left Nolan off the hook too much, which was a big mistake on my part.

My post makes it sound like he was alright and just got a raw deal when in actuality, he was almost just a horrible as the other two. He was BARELY the lesser of 3 evils. Funny thing is, I don't think I wanted a coach booted out of SF more badly than I did Nolan. Maybe it was just because he had the longest tenure of the three, but I distinctly remember getting a text during class my 3rd year of college and being overjoyed that he was finally kicked to the curb.

His blatant unwillingness to address obvious issues (much like Singletary) drove me insane.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Originally posted by dcsham:
Lol, exactly...

Originally posted by dcsham:

Originally posted by ghostrider:

Originally posted by dcsham:
None of the above. Back before Bill Walsh, we had a one year combo of Ken Meyer and Pete McCulley. I would take any of the three you list over those two.

Lol, exactly...

Nolan built the core of this team... Singletary didnt do jack

Looking back, I really think Nolan did a lot of good for our team. Nolan inherited a 2-14 loser team, and he changed the mindset to be hardworking, tough, and high-character. Without those changes, I don't see us going 13-3 last year. Nolan definitely had coaching deficiencies, but he did set a foundation that allows the team to now excel.

As for worst coach, I chose Singletary, although Erickson was close. I decided on Singletary as Harbaugh showed what the team was capable of doing, and Singletary was so far below that mark.

Originally posted by modninerfan:
Nolan built the core of this team... Singletary didnt do jack

McCloughan built the core of this team, Nolan brought in Alex Smith