Wow! Looks like the 49ers are going to get Harbaugh!

[bluesbassman]

Now we may be moving in the right direction. :)

SANTA CLARA (KRON) -- Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh is the new head coach for the San Francisco 49ers according to sources for the Associated Press and ESPN.

http://www.kron4.com/News/ArticleView/tabid/298/smid/1126/ArticleID/7851/reftab/536/t/Niners%20to%20Hold%20Afternoon%20News%20Conference%20Reportedly%20to%20Name%20Harbaugh%20as%20Head%20Coach/Default.aspx

[Bertha Venation]

1. Was Singletary a bad coach, or just a bad fit?

[bluesbassman]

2. He certainly wasn't a good head coach.

You need to have more than motivational skills for that job.

[jobycom]

3. I think he was just inexperienced.

Like Jason Garrett, Jim Zorn, Gary Kubiak, Josh McDaniels, and a few others, he was hired because of his enthusiasm and personality with no real coaching experience. A head coach doesn't just give locker room speeches, they also have to hire and fire coaches, staff, and players, and have to choose players who fit the schemes of the coaches, and coaches who can take advantage of the players. Many also have to design either an offensive or defensive scheme, make adjustments to that scheme, study opponents on film to fine tune their schemes, and call plays during a game, as well as running and preparing the team for those plays during practice.

It really is a complicated job, and most people don't have the skill just because they played the game at a high level or slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I think Singletary just wasn't ready for a head coaching job. Hiring someone with experience means they've worked through the ranks, done everything they will have to do, seen it all and learned from it, and lived to tell the tale. Singletary had never been through that.

There's also a leadership issue. Coordinators and assistance often think they know how to make decisions because they've helped a head coach make decisions, but when it really is your neck on the line, and when it really is up to you to make the choices consistently based on a game plan, and not just based on emotions of the moment (decisions like what QB to start and whether to go for it on fourth down, for instance), it's a lot harder than it looks. Experience really matters then. Some do just have that ability, but not very many.

I think Singletary was just in over his head. Whether he will ever be a successful head coach, I don't know, but he wasn't ready yet, and a decent GM should have realized that.

I fear my Cowboys are about to learn all that, too. Again.

just my opinion. I have a lot of experience at giving that. :)

[underpants]

6. They didn't give him enough time.

he never had a QB in a QB league and he just didn't have enough time.

[jobycom]

4. Good fit. He's a smart, even-tempered coach.

If he can't turn them around, then their problem isn't the coach, I would think.

Now who will he get as a QB? Do you think Troy Smith has the potential, at least until they get a franchise guy?

[bluesbassman]

5. Troy may have the tools that Harbaugh can make work in the short term.

Franchise QB? Probably not.

You're on the money though about where the real problems lay. The little prince needs to back waaaay out of day to day ops IMO.