It
’s spelled H-O-L-M-G-R-E-N, folks. It’s not spelled R-O-O-K-I-E,
as in Mike Nolan, the heir apparent to what was once the best head
coaching position in the NFL. As the train wreck that has become
the San Francisco 49er organization searches for a clue to its
coaching and general management ridd
le, there’s only one clear answer. Very simply, the 49ers need
an experienced veteran coach to assume the reins, not a brand new
one.
It’s spelled H-O-L-M-G-R-E-N, folks. It’s not spelled R-O-O-K-I-E, as in Mike Nolan, the heir apparent to what was once the best head coaching position in the NFL.
As the train wreck that has become the San Francisco 49er organization searches for a clue to its coaching and general management riddle, there’s only one clear answer.
Very simply, the 49ers need an experienced veteran coach to assume the reins, not a brand new one.
This was made particularly clear after the long-awaited firings of Dennis Erickson and Terry Donahue, when owner John York inexplicably decided to hire a new coach first, before filling the general manager slot, and grant that coach broad powers regarding personnel. The new GM’s primary duties will be to play the salary cap shell game.
This likely means the Niners will have to hire a brand new GM because no experienced GM will be interested in being a glorified accountant.
Plugging in a virgin coach to that situation is a recipe for disaster.
The 44-year-old Nolan, the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator, is a fine coach but not the seasoned skipper the 49ers so badly need.
Now, it may very well be true that Mike Holmgren wasn’t available, despite enduring a disappointing season in which his team collapsed during the regular season and lost in the first round of the playoffs. He has indicated interest in returning to the Seattle Seahawks for a seventh season and the organization seemed to indicate its commitment to him by recently firing his nemesis, GM Bob Whitsitt, who took over for Holmgren when he was stripped of his GM duties a few seasons ago.
But there are reasons the 49er job would have made sense for Holmgren. It would have been a homecoming for the man who attended Lincoln High in San Francisco, coached at Oak Grove in San Jose, at Sacred Heart in San Francisco and with the 49ers as an assistant coach under Bill Walsh. And, under York’s plan, Holmgren would have been allowed control of player personnel decisions without being forced to devote hours to the bugaboo that forced him out of the GM chair in Seattle – the salary cap.
Bottom line, the Niners should have done whatever they could to get him or someone similar – a veteran NFL head coach who has experienced success but whose team has fallen on hard times. (Jon Gruden or Jeff Fisher would have been intriguing possibilities.)
However, that would undoubtedly have cost big money, which probably means it was never going to happen with the miserly 49ers franchise.
York has shown an utter lack of management style in destroying a once-proud franchise since he and his wife Denise DeBartolo-York snatched it from the mercurial, utterly fascinating and inarguably successful Eddie DeBartolo.
York doesn’t seem to get what Eddie D understood from the moment he took over the franchise in the 1970s – you have to spend money to make money and you have to let people who know what they’re doing run things.
York has repeatedly made ill-conceived, impetuous moves at the 49ers helm.
Firing Steve Mariucci, while the right thing to do, was handled miserably with no backup plan. Leaving doesn’t get-it GM Terry Donahue in charge for far too long and hiring the mediocre and uninspiring Dennis Erickson when York had Jim Mora Jr. right under his nose were major blunders.
While York fiddles around, SF’s hard-won legacy burns.
His ownership has likely cost the franchise more in terms of respect and intrinsic value than anyone can fathom.
It is as likely as not that Matt Leinart returned to school and Pete Carroll spit at the prospect of returning to the franchise where he served as defensive coordinator in the mid-1990’s because both realize the organization is totally clueless.
Ironically, if the 49ers keep going the way they’re going, Leinart may end up in SF after next season anyway, when he has little choice but to turn pro and the Niners again have the No. 1 draft choice.
And, make no mistake about it, Carroll almost certainly has professional coaching aspirations no matter how hunky-dory things are at USC right now.
He, and his quarterback, just don’t think the 49ers are all that professional.
It’s spelled R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and the 49ers have precious little coming their way these days.
They’d better find a way to earn some quick or it will be a long, hideous stay at the bottom.
Jim Johnson is the Morgan Hill Times’ Sports Editor. He can be reached by phone at (408) 779-4106 (ext. 203) or by email at
jj******@mo*************.com
