Singletary knows his limitations as coach

Singletary knows his limitations as coach
January 4 San Francisco Chronicle columnist Gwen Knapp

"The cockiest, most self-assured thing Mike Singletary said at his season-ending news conference last week was an unflattering admission, and a strong suggestion that he won't be over-reaching in his first offseason as a head coach.

On the day of the 2007 draft, when the team made one of its wisest calls in over a decade by taking Patrick Willis in the first round, Singletary was sent into the media trailer to talk about the young man he had gotten to know during a week in Mobile, Ala., for the Senior Bowl. The assistant head coach was, it seemed, a Patrick Willis expert.

On Wednesday, though, when asked whether he had ever persuaded the team to choose another player, Singletary set the record straight.

"No, and to be honest with you, I didn't push for Patrick Willis, either," he said. "I really didn't, and I told Patrick this. I put the film on, I saw him and I thought, 'There's a chance we may draft this guy?' I was disappointed from what I saw the first time I saw him, I really was.' "

Scot McCloughan, he said, made the case for Willis early on, asking Singletary to take another look.

"And I looked at him again and said 'Scot, you really like this guy?' " Singletary said. "He said 'Mike, I'm telling you. I know what you're saying, but this guy is really good now. He's really going to be good.' "

By draft day, the personnel department had taught him more about Willis, Singletary said, and he came around to supporting McCloughan's position.

Crediting the general manager for a smart move is never a bad idea, especially in the first week of a revamped regime. But Singletary could have settled for a cliched tip of the cap to McCloughan and let it go at that. Instead, he reconstructed layers of dialogue that revealed his own limitations, burning an entire chapter of the head coach's handbook.

Where was the vanity? Where was the neurosis, the insecurity posing as macho bluster?

Singletary, unlike many head coaches, seems to understand that he doesn't, and can't know, everything. True, he did say Wednesday that he would have control over the roster, even though he is technically outranked by McCloughan. The two, he said, would compromise on personnel matters, a statement that set off alarms, because NFL head coaches are, by nature, uncompromising.

But Singletary has seen what happened when Mike Nolan demanded to be general manager/head coach all at once. He probably also realizes that both Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan were, at various times, undone by their desire to run the front office while still coaching.

They both have great football minds, but their genius didn't translate to the front office. Relieved of his general-manager responsibilities after four years in Seattle, Holmgren focused on coaching and took the Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Shanahan, allegedly the coach for life in Denver, lost his job last week primarily because he failed as a GM. For several years under hiLink