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SF Chronicle Unveils New Look
After dutifully soaking-in the coverage of Samurai Mike Singletary's promotion to head coach, the unfortunate conclusion becomes: it doesn't matter who San Francisco's head coach is.
The single biggest problem hobbling the 49er brand is that the current DeBartolo-York ownership is inept in overseeing the processes of running a football franchise.
Will Singletary do well? That'd be great. In fact, we expect him to give the team a bounce. By all accounts he is a man of integrity who connects with his players on a personal level.
And how does the town in which he became a Hall Of Fame MLB think Samurai Mike will do as head coach? "Probably pretty good," said AFS Chicago correspondent Lauren, "I mean, he has to be better than what you had."
Yuh-huh. But how much of the blame was truly Mike Nolan's to absorb? The observation remains: it won't matter how well Singletary does when all the pieces around him are coming apart.
The list of York-era failings gets trotted out time-and-again: the needless firing of Mooch; the politically-motivated isolation and alienation of Bill Walsh; GM Terry Donahue's reign of terror; the lowest bid-price hiring of Dennis Erickson as head coach; snapping off San Francisco stadium negotiations with Gavin; and alas, poor QB Alex Smith.
How will the future be hewn? How can fans trust the owners to make positive decisions? Will OC Mad Mike Martz be kept? Is Scot McCloughan the answer at general manager? What the hell is going on with getting a new stadium built in San Francisco? Or anywhere? And can you believe that they haven't managed to retire Jerry Rice's number yet?!
Photo via AP.
And no, hometown guy/walrus Mike Holmgren won't be riding to the rescue. He is experienced with the DeBartolo-York family from his years within the 49er organization. Also, he's smart. Why would he get into an untenable situation with a demonstrably inept and unfocused ownership?
The Yorks can't be fired. They've rejected offers to buy the franchise. They won't divest since they want to pass on the team to 27-year-old Jed. Thusly, there is no way that this brand can take on an upward momentum unless Jed is smart enough to do what the Glazer family did with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Robert Kraft has done with the New England Patriots: instill accountability into the program, and make himself an expert at hiring people who know football.
Then stay the hell out of their way.
You gotta better idea? Speak on it in the Comments. How would you get the 49ers to generate better results on-the-field and off-the-field?
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The Yorks can lick my bunghole. F 'em.
Where have you gone Eddie Debartolo? The City turns its lonely eyes to you...
A Fish Rots From The Head First
We're you listening to the Razor and Mr. T yesterday, by any chance?
Anyway, I agree with everything you're saying here. Like most transplants, I'm not a 49ers fan first, but I want to see them and even the Raiders do well, but both are organizational disasters right now, and teams rarely do well on the field when that's the case.