To no one’s surprise, the 49ers fired Mike Nolan as head coach and replaced him with Mike Singletary.  Chris Berman said he was disgusted after he heard the news.  I’m not sure why.  In his 3 1/2 years in San Francisco, he had a record of 18-37, and his team had regressed this year.  Perhaps it’s because Nolan grew up as part of the NFL family, his father Dick Nolan having been head coach of the 49ers and Saints.  Nolan is known more for his fight to wear a suit on the sidelines and his GQ good looks than for his coaching success.  Prior to this position, he was defensive coordinator in Baltimore for three seasons.  During his tenure there, his defenses were ranked near the top of the league.  With much fanfare, he was brought to San Francisco in 2005 and was given the GM position as well as head coach.   Poor drafts and frivolous free agent signings led to his downfall.  During his time in San Francisco, he presided over the drafts which brought in Alex smith, drafted number one overall in 2005, and Vernon Davis, 6^th overall in 2006.  He did have some draft successes with Frank Gore and Patrick Willis.  Alex Smith, though still young, is headed toward the discard pile of failed first round quarterbacks.  Vernon Davis, like Mike Mamula, and this year’s Vernon Gholston, was a workout wonder at the combine, but has not produced in games.  He also signed expensive free agents Mike Lewis, Jonas Jennings and Nate Clements from Buffalo, making him the highest paid defensive player in NFL history at the time.  Even with these additions, his offenses and defenses had ranked near the bottom of the league in every season Nolan has been in San Francisco.

Nolan is just another of the NFL head coaches who had phenomenal success as coordinator of record setting units.  As stated, Nolan was coordinator in Baltimore, which has had one of the top defensive units for much of this decade.  Prior to Nolan, Marvin Lewis was the coordinator for that defense.  This led to a coordinator job in Washington, then to his current head coaching stint in Cincinnati.  Like Nolan, Lewis could never duplicate the defensive success he enjoyed in Baltimore.  He did win the AFC North in 2005, but that was on the arm of Carson Palmer and legs Chad Johnson, in spite of his rather average defense.  At the times they were hired, both these coaches were the hot commodity on the coaching market.  General managers looked at the success of the Baltimore defense, and wanted their defense to be just like Baltimore’s.  Unfortunately, neither of these coaches could bring Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, or Ed Reed with him to their teams, though Marvin Lewis had Siragusa, Boulware, and Woodson rather than Suggs or Reed.

General managers get hypnotized with the success these coordinators have without looking at the players they had to work with.  Both Lewis and and Nolan had perhaps the greatest middle linebacker of all time in Ray Lewis.  There have been other outstanding middle linebackers in the NFL, Lambert, Singletary, and Butkus come to mind, but Lewis sets himself apart in that he seems to be able to motivate the others around him to match his level of play.  Baltimore made the same mistake when they hired Brian Billick.  He was the coordinator for the record setting Minnesota offense in 1998.  That team happened to have a future Hall of fame receiver in Cris Carter and a rookie named Randy Moss as well as Robert Smith and Randall Cunningham.  For Billick, this was simply a case of being at the right place at the right time.  It got him a job as head coach in Baltimore, where he won a Super Bowl on the strength of his defense, in spite of his inept offense.  Again, he was at the right place at the right time.  His offenses struggled his entire tenure in Baltimore, never ranking higher than 14^th in total yards.

After last season, Jason Garrett was one of the hottest coordinators on the market.   To lock him in as his offensive coordinator and presumably head coach in waiting, Jerry Jones gave him the richest contract ever for a coordinator.   It’s lucky for Garrett that he will probably replace Wade Philips in Dallas, because I doubt he’d have the same success anywhere else.  In Dallas, he has a solid offensive line and playmakers at QB, RB, WR, and TE.  With Romo out for the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see how good a coordinator Garrett really is.  Even with Brad Johnson at QB, there should be enough talent around him to have success.  If the Dallas offense experiences a severe drop-off without Romo, Jerry Jones may have to rethink his choice of head coach next year.

Another hot coordinator after last season was Josh McDaniels in New England. He was touted as the next hot young head coaching prospect after coordinating the record setting Patriots offense.  He chose not to leave New England at the time, perhaps anticipating another record breaking year, then his choice of head coaching jobs next year.  This was probably a lucky decision for any GM looking for a head coach last season.  McDaniels had Brady and Moss to work.  Both will go down in NFL history as one of the best ever at their respective positions.  Throw Wes Welker into that mix, and even Brian Billick would have had success as coordinator.  Unfortunately, McDaniels gambled and lost.  With Brady out for the season, New England’s offense is merely pedestrian.  They’ve only looked good against the league’s worst defenses in Denver, San Francisco, and Kansas City.  He will not be regarded as a hot commodity after this season, and even if Brady comes back next season to lead New England back to new offensive heights, McDaniels will be viewed as another who was simply at the right place at the right time.