I feel really bad for you guys. I remember his “prevent” defense (which prevented us from winning) from when he was defensive coordinator of the Redskins. It sucked. Rush the QB? Why? We can just send everyone back into coverage so they can run for 300 yards a game on us. I remember him getting fired and going to (I think) the Jets for a year or two before they figured out why we fired him. Then I remember him going to Baltimore and coaching the receivers before taking over for Marvin Lewis.
So now he’s considered a genius since Baltimore’s defense was 6th in the league this year. Come on now, even I could’ve done that with the core that Lewis left behind. Of course, I’m sure the fact that his dad used to coach the 49ers had nothing to do with it.
I guess you guys can look forward to a few more 2-14 seasons, until York decides to can him.
I say this because the Niners will suck anyway, regardless of who the coach is.
The owner, Dr John York, is a skinflint tightwad cheapskate who won’t spend the money to improve the team, and will probably screw up the GM hiring, which is more important than the coach because the roster needs an overhaul.
Did I mention York is cheap?
We’re back to the Joe Thomas days, and will be for a long time. Sigh . . .
I love the hiring personally. My Cards will no longer be bottom of the Barrel in the weak NFC West!
I agree with AirBlairxxx The problem is the owner, hopefully he will realize he needs to hire someone to overhaul the team or they shall become the new Bengals.
Personally this is one persons ignorance I do not plan of fighting.
I hope I’m wrong (well, maybe not), but Nolan appears to be nothing more than a scapegoat. 49ers are 20 mill under the salary cap and I don’t see them making a push for a major free agent. They may draft a QB (Alex Smith?) with their first pick and keep the backfield the same. If they do that, they will suck next year as well and they will need a patsy just in case they don’t win the year after that.
I’m going to pass on the comments about Nolan, mostly because I don’t know him. I’m not bothered that he’s primarily a defensive guy, both Jim Mora Jr. and Tony Dungy were primarily defensive guys who’s offenses got them to the playoffs. In fact on this very board, I said the Niners should have made Jr head coach when they sacked Mooch. I agree on York though, I wish his wife Denise DeBartlo-York (the real owner, York just runs it) would hand the team back over to her brother.
As for Mooch, I was never enamored with him, he had a tendency for making decisions that cost us plenty of games too. Both Mooch and Erickson shared a unique failing, the inability to adapt. With Mooch it was a hard headed stubborness to go off script. I can’t remember how many times the Niners would dominate on the ground only to have a drive stall by going pass wacky, or vice versa. With Erickson it was a tendency not to adapt at the half. At least 5 games this past season the Niners went into the half with a lead only to have the opposing team adapt to the Niners first half play callling, yet he’d run the exact same plays, scratching his head as the opposing team caught up then passed us on the scoreboard.
I would just like to comment on this part in particular. It’s a sore spot for me that I hear repeated all the time by the local yahoo’s that call into Baltimore sports radio. Not a rant or attack, and I’m not calling you a yahoo, I’m just trying to do my part in the fight against ignorance.
With that said…
In 2002, when Lewis left and Nolan took over as defensive coordinator, the Ravens gutted the team. I think 14 starters were cap causalties. IIRC, the only defensive starters left over from the Superbowl year were Lewis, Boulware, McCrary, & McAllister. McCrary’s knees only held up through 5 games in '02 so he was pretty much a non factor.
In '02 the Ravens had very little veteran talent or leadership and were the youngest team in the legue. Nolan switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 base and schemed around his players instead of trying to force a particular shceme on his players. Very important as a headcoach to be able to do this as I’m sure you’ll agree from watching Spurrier’s use of Stephen Davis.
My point is, Nolans defense had very little to do with what Lewis built. His success is his, not Lewis’ leftovers.
As far as how he’ll do in SF, who knows? As others have mentioned it will depend on whether the owner is willing to open up the check book. Not just for players, but for scouting and coaches as well. The one thing I don’t like about the situation is that they haven’t hired a GM yet. If Nolan gets saddled with someone who has a different vision of what he see the 49’ers as then it could get ugly very fast.
Welcome to the boards, Ravenfan! We had a Steelerphan, but he changed his name, I guess because he didn’t like the association. There’s a half a dozen other Stiller fans though, so the obnoxiousness factor hasn’t diminished much. There’s a couple of other Ravens fans here, myself and Mhendo spring immediately to mind, I hope you decide to stick around for a while.
I remember when Nolan was the DC for the Redskins. It was not a fun time, then again, none of the Norv Turner years were. I haven’t followed his career closely enough (ok, I haven’t followed it at all) to comment on how he’ll do in SF. As others have pointed out, the 49ers have ownership and management problems that will probably doom him anyway.
Ah yes, the Mike Nolan years. His last team defense ranked 26th against the pass and 27th against the run and 30th overall. The only team to allow more total yards per game in 1999 were the then expansion Cleveland Browns. Nolan totally ran that defense as Norv Turner was clueless how to handle it.
Enter Ray Rhodes* who took those losers and improved the Redskins defensive ranking to fourth in the NFL. His defense allowed the fewest first downs (254), total net yards (4,474), and points (269) by a Redskins team since 1992, and produced more sacks than any Washington club since 1991.
*To be fair: The Redskins Drafted Lavar Arington, signed 36yo Bruce Smith and old Deon Sanders and Mark Carrier(listed in descending order of impact). Those were some weapons Nolan didn’t have. Still…Scheme, system and coaching were part of the 99 disaster - there is no question about it.
I have a wait-and-see attitude about Nolan. Gotta be better than Erickson. I also want to ditto that York sucks ass as an owner. When can Eddie D. come back?
On a side note, I think the NFL should yank teams owners if they don’t have at least one winning season in five. There are some owners that don’t deserve teams.
Eddie turned over his shares of ownership to the team when he was going through that Criminal Investigation. I think he’s assumed that Denise would turn it back over after the dust cleared, but York was happy playing owner so…
Thanks for the welcome Weirddave . I’m a long time lurker, usually from work so that’s why I haven’t posted. I enjoy hating on the Steelers almost as much as I enjoy rooting for the Ravens.
To stay on topic, I read something last night that implied Nolan would be part of the interview process for SF’s GM so my concerns I mentioned above may be unfounded.
There’s a half a dozen other Stiller fans though, so the obnoxiousness factor hasn’t diminished much. There’s a couple of other Ravens fans here, myself and Mhendo spring immediately to mind, I hope you decide to stick around for a while.