Yesterday it was reported that 49ers head coach Mike Nolan has been fired. San Francisco had lost its last four games after starting 2-1, and he leaves with an 18-37 record as a head coach. The rule in San Francisco is if you don't go far into the playoffs with whoever you have, you leave. See Steve Mariucci, a coach who reached the playoffs with a 10-6 record then was fired. What ultimately did Nolan in was the Alex Smith bust. He joins Steve Linehan and Lane Kiffin as the third head coach to be fired during this season.Nolan was a part of the Billick coaching tree in Baltimore, employing a 3-4 formation and keeping the solid tradition of a strong Ravens defense. And of course, he convinced the NFL to allow him to wear suits on the sidelines during home games in honor of his father. The one year where Ray Lewis got hurt he helped Ed Hartwell to be a solid middle linebacker, who would flame out after he left the Ravens. Maybe he wasn't to be a head coach, but he was a good defensive mind, and I hope he finds a new job soon as someone's defensive coordinator.
In comes Mike Singletary to be the interim head coach, a former Ravens LB coach and "Samurai Mike" to the '85 Chicago Bears. In Baltimore he worked with linebackers Ray Lewis, Jamie Sharper, Peter Boulware, and Ed Hartwell. He is a good leader, and though I'm not sure he's ready to be coach, there is no doubt he has a great sense of the game. To quote Mike himself during the Super Bowl Shuffle, he'll "do what's right and set the style."(Photo credits: San Francisco 49ers (Nolan), ESPN (Singletary))
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