Mike Singletary no longer has the title of head coach of the 49ers. After a lackluster effort against the Rams that had San Francisco eliminated from the playoffs (at 5-9, they were still in playoff contention. YUP), it was decided that Singletary was not very beneficial to the team and was let go. Easily sweaty Jim Tomsula was named as the interim coach for the final week of the season.
While Singletary was a very motivational coach (as a coach, the guy was known for pulling down his pants at half-time), he wasn’t a very good head coach. As a player, he was defensive (linebacker), and early in his coaching career he was defensive. He wasn’t balanced enough to have down all of the aspects, which would explain the fact that the 49ers have one of the lowest scoring offenses (17.8 points per game, fifth-worst in the league).
Even his motivation tactics, however, got stale and aggravating to his teammates. John Madden didn’t approve when he was yelling at Alex Smith early in the season, and on Sunday’s game, Singletary and Troy Smith were in a yelling match on the sidelines. His method clearly worked when he replaced Mike Nolan midway through the 2008 season, but my guess is that it eventually grated against the players there, and the only thing Singletary could do was get more angry.
I’m sure Singletary will be back in coaching come this offseason, but I highly doubt he will be a head coach. Someone will probably pick him up for coordinating defenses or maybe even as focused as just linebackers. There are tons of guys who tried to be a head coach and failed miserably but found a lot more success as a coordinator, like Cam Cameron and Rod Marinelli, for example. I have a feeling Singletary could follow their path.
