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26 Oct 2008

Singletary Steams After Loss

Anyone who ever saw Mike Singletary on the field, or knew of his motivational work as an assistant coach in Baltimore and San Francisco, had a pretty good idea that he wouldn't ease into his first game as the 49ers' interim head coach. After benching quarterback J.T. O'SmellingSalts and kicking tight end Vernon Davis off the field, Singletary held a mesmerizing post-game press conference in which he laid out just exactly how the heck it's going to be as long as he's the lead dog.

"I'd rather play with 10 people and just get penalized all the way until we have to do something else rather than play with 11 when I know that right now that person is not sold out to be a part of this team. It is more about them than it is about the team. Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win."

This is how it is in the SF now, everybody, Better get used to it. It's the rare individual who can pull this kind of thing off so soon in his coaching career, but Singletary is not, and never was, your average Bear.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the press conference video.

Posted by: Doug Farrar on 26 Oct 2008

22 comments, Last at 28 Oct 2008, 9:01am by ammek

Comments

1
by el plaga :: Sun, 10/26/2008 - 9:40pm

the post game speech was pretty awesome motivating speaking. But the niners have a talent issue more than a motivational issue as to why they are bad. seriously leonard weaver caught two td's over 40 yards.

2
by el plaga :: Sun, 10/26/2008 - 9:41pm

motivational not motivating. my bad

3
by John Morgan (not verified) :: Sun, 10/26/2008 - 9:56pm

BS. Funny how we gloss over his team, favored, getting brutalized by a bad Seahawks team. Singletary is a great player, but Davis was not the difference. This is deflecting blame. I don't see how this is admirable. To me it reeks of scapegoating. How do we know Brian Russell didn't say something that really, really deserved a slap. His team was crushed and somehow Mike Singletary rises above as the story. That, to me, is selfish.

5
by Doug Farrar :: Sun, 10/26/2008 - 10:15pm

My sense is that the Davis move was cumulative -- he'd had this coming for a while. If you look at the numbers and the games (which I know you do), the 49ers aren't exactly "better" than the Seahawks in any tangible way. Brian Russell might suck the Wilson logo off a football, but he's not known for mouthing off. Davis has been using his estimable but unfinished athletic talent as a pass to act like a jackass for a good long time now.

I think that Singletary has X number of games to act as an agent of change, and this is how he does things. If the front office wanted someone who was going to work more on schematic concerns as opposed to competitive mindset, Martz was right there. Singletary's very presence as the head coach is a statement in itself.

6
by Independent George :: Sun, 10/26/2008 - 11:07pm

But why air it out in public like that?

Players are - rightfully - criticized when they trash a coach or teammate in public instead of inside the locker room. Coaches should be held to the same - or even higher - standard. Bench him, fine him, suspend him, whatever; I've no problem with any of those options. Calling him out in public like that doesn't seem likely to produce anything but humiliation and grievance.

8
by Insancipitory :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 12:28am

Once you send a guy to the showers in the 3rd quarter after he just flagrantly kicked your offense in the nuts during a winnable game, every nuance of which was captured live as it happened, something is going to need to be said at the press conference. It's the nature of the media. It's not like it was something that happened in the confines of the locker room. It happened in the middle of the field and continued on to the sidelines. With commentary.

Also, I miss Boulware :(

10
by Mungo (not verified) :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 6:33am

It's admirable because deflecting the attention away from how the 9ers got killed by a poor team is very much in the interests of the HC. Now, if he was scapegoating some player who gave a lot and just didn't perform on the day, then fair enough, that would be extremely unfair. However, Singletary has been in San Fran for all of VD's career. He knows, as well as any 9er fans, that VD is in desperate need of pulling his head out of his ass before he becomes an irreversible bust. The guy is just a jackass, and he needs to grow up very fast. The fact that Singletary got to publicly humiliate him, lay down a marker to the rest of the players and deflect attention away from their decidedly crappy all-round performance all at the same time made it a pretty astute move in my book.

4
by Scott P. (not verified) :: Sun, 10/26/2008 - 10:03pm

Las Vegas may have had the 49ers favored over Seattle, but that was a fool's bet. I had Seattle all the way (and I am a San Francisco fan).

15
by jebmak :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 10:09am

DVOA had the 49ers better too 1% plus the 17% HFA, I didn't bet on the game either way, but I would hardly call it a fool's bet.

18
by Scott P. (not verified) :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 6:42pm

Vegas had the 49ers by 5. Straight up the bet would make more sense.

DVOA also doesn't take into account the fact that the 49ers fired their head coach.

7
by Anonymous (not verified) (not verified) :: Sun, 10/26/2008 - 11:22pm

I love this story in every way. Managing egos is supposedly a key quality in head coaches in pros sports these days? F that. This is managing egos. Produce or shut up, preferably both. Davis is 3 years into producing nothing. JT has 17 TOs? I'm estatic to see Singletary's approach in action. Will it endure or wear thin? We shall see, but again I'm very excited to see someone not care about managing egos and putting these prima donnas in their places.

9
by Solomon (not verified) :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 12:30am

I do not have a strong opinion on Singletary, but it is really sad to see the 49ers in this mess. I remember most of the glory days of Montana, Young, Rice, Lott, etc., and those days are long gone. Rebuilding to replenish an aging roster is one thing, but this franchise has been a disaster since 2004. Hopefully, the 49ers turn things around.

11
by mawbrew :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 8:20am

If I were a 49ers fan, I would be encouraged by Singletary's actions. He's made a strong statement in his words and actions that he won't accept the prevailing attitude for this team. Now he can't do this forever, but he needed to do it early and he has. I think the 49ers can look forward to better days ahead (just maybe not this year).

12
by mrh (not verified) :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 9:12am

I think the HC needs to call out players, particularly high draft choices when they hurt the team. Especially in this case where it's not like Singletary is risking the psyche of a playoff contender.

BTW one of the big stories in DC today is Zorn calling out Portis during the game yesterday and then lighting into a reporter at the post game press conference. A lot of the Zorn stories have been about how laid back and different he is from the typical coach. But he and Singletary, who seem like two very different personalities in many ways, have some fire in common.

13
by Kevin N (not verified) :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 9:44am

I think coaches calling out players is a good thing. Look at the relationship Calipari had with Joey Dorsey. It seemed like the only time Dorsey ever had a good game was when Cal blasted him in the media beforehand.

14
by TomC :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 9:48am

If he ever manages to stock the team with guys that buy into the program and will run through walls for him, Singletary should have some success. But until then, the Niners are going to be cover-your-eyes bad.

16
by west_951 (not verified) :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 10:35am

Singletary is good at getting the Mike & Mike's and Peter King's of the world on his side, but winning ball games? Not so good....

17
by Harris :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 1:54pm

You must be joking.

"A little celery is always nice after a good pee."

19
by Theo :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 6:54pm

What he said is just spot on. Get on track or get lost. If Vernon Davis didn't do his assignments, he should be showering, I bet this wasn't the first time.

20
by Will Allen (not verified) :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 8:57pm

I can nearly gurantee that Singletary's blast was more the result of observing Davis in practice for an extended period than it was the result of what happened in yesterday's game. No, Singletary's approach won't be effective if the 49er's don't elvaluate talent better. If they do evaluate talens better, however, Singletary's apporach will be just fine, in good part because he'll have much less cause to repeat yesterday's press conference, and thus have such an approach become way too stale.

I seem to remember many people saying, not too long ago, that Tom Coughlin's way of managing personnel was hopelessly outdated. Oh well.

21
by NF (not verified) :: Mon, 10/27/2008 - 11:52pm

"People of integrity and character care about their job and want to do it well...Remember, when I move, I slice like a ----ing hammer!"

Too obscure?

22
by ammek :: Tue, 10/28/2008 - 9:01am

And Singletary is supposed to be a motivational speaker???...

"When you look at J.T.'s capabilities and the arm strength and all of those things, you'd say, 'Hey, maybe that guy gives us the best chance to win,'" Singletary said. "But if you look around the league, there are guys that are very talented, very smart ... but they can't play quarterback..."

Owch.

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