Huh? From everything I've read, the only reason MOST coaches couldn't be hired in-season was because it would violate the Rooney Rule. Being as how Sing is a minority, that shouldn't make a difference. That was cited as the SOLE reason Linehan wasn't allowed to be named HC prior to the end of the season. Is this something that the NFL instituted recently to cover its own ass?

The NFL does PLENTY of things that make no sense. This is just more bureaucratic baloney from a league that *excels* at CYA.

First off the Rooney Rule is one of the stupidest rules in the NFL. Its 2008 not 1968, if a guy is a good candidate to be a winning HC teams will interview and hire that person, NFL teams want to win, they dont care about color!! Second all the rules says is they have to interview a minorty. so they do and then just hire the guy they want anyway, what did that get accomplished, its a waste of time!now we have things like this happening. frankly i think that rule is outdated, i wish we could just sign Sing and move on!!

I'm not bummed, who gives a crap what the NFL does I think a 3-year deal is already being inked, waiting to be passed upon season-end.

Jed York promoted Singletary himself, and has got to be loving what Mike is doing with the team, and I just don't see Singletary going anywhere else because of this rule - specially judging that Mike has a nice home here (with his kids enrolled in Californian schools), and not to mention the entire team in his hands.

MS has created a family atmosphere in this locker room, and Mike is a family man, there is no way in hell he'll take another job and run out on the first (football) family he has committed to.

I agree with all of this. I'll be very, VERY shocked if anyone but Sing is the head coach next year. Jed sees what we see (and then some, obv), and he's the one who made the decision in the first place. Of course he's pulling for Sing to do well.

I guess I have to sit on the fence for this one. On the one hand the spirit of the Rooney Rule is to give qualified minority candidates a shot at a job. Obviously, the history of the league and the country indicates the rule is needed. On the other hand, I very much dislike that we even need a Rooney Rule. A world where ethnicity is not considered as part of the interviewing process, hiring process, college admission process, bank loan process, contractor selection process, etc. is what we should strive for. In a way, the rules themselves perpetuate the problem. Everyone feels they need their rights protected since the other guy is protected. Anyway, I think it's good and bad the league is making the 9ers wait. I'm sitting the fence.

Remember, "Daddy" York still has final say, can you say ....... Ty Willingham ................

I agree with Shaneo in spirit that the Rooney Rule is dumb. Most of the time teams just do a token interview and then hire who they wanted. But interestingly enough it has been used to good effect once, and the team it benefited makes it very ironic, the Pittsburge Steelers. In case people don't know the Rooney Rule is named for the former owner of the Pittsburge Steelers. When Bill Cowher left the job was supposed to go to either Russ Grimm or Ken Whisenhunt. Both were assistant coaches with the team and by far the leading candidates. But both were white. So the Steelers brought in Mike Tomlin for the "token" interview. Tomlin had never been a head coach at any level. He was a defensive backs coach in Tampa Bay and the Defensive Coordinator in Minnesota. At the interview Tomlin impressed the Steelers so much that they changed course and hired him. Whisenhunt and Grimm left for Arizona and the rest is history. So while I agree the rule seems dumb, it has been effective at least once.

Why are so many ready to jump on the Singletary bandwagon? Seems many jumped on the Nolan bandwagon too. Look..The team's season was over when he became interim head coach. I like Mike S. and I like his attitude in this generation of spoiled rotten kids who were gods on campus, then make big money in the NFL and really become their own gods.
But Mike S. has to show his ability to be a head coach by coaching the team from the get go. He has no backgound in that. That makes things a lot different. Not the way it is now when the OC and the DC and all the assistant coaches are really the ones in charge during this period of time. Mike has put his mark on the team, but there's way more than that to create a winner.
Besides, with the York's kid running the show, even if Mike S. would turn out to be a big winner, the Yorks would destroy him in no time! Just like they've destroyed the Franchise since they've owned it!

"I did not write about that rule because, frankly, I was skeptical." - this quality of what is read on this blog is getting worse everyday!!!

There's no reason for Singletary-backers to worry about this anyway. It's apparent that Mike Singletary is a man of great integrity and he's publicly stated numerous times that he wants the job with the Niners. He's not gonna pull a "Herm Edwards". He'll be the coach next year if he doesn't bungle the rest of this season.

So is the comments section, apparently... I don't even know what you were trying to say. Why would he print something and attach his name to it, if he wasn't sure of it's truth? That's common sense, dude, and EVERY reporter would do the same thing.

And whiners4life, come on man. You're gonna give me nightmares for the rest of the week.

alaska_77 :
This is not a personal attack just a setting for conversation, but that is a good observation about Pitt and you are correct it did work. However i would just argue that it was luck. what i mean is there are a lot of coaches out there with great ideas ( a fair amount of them white) that wouldnt get that break cuz they are not a minority. I guess my point is, he wasnt getting passed over cuz he was black, it was cuz he was inexperienced but BECAUSE he is a minority he got a chance. If he wasnt black he would have had all that same knoweledge but no chance.

Terry: I just think that ppl are excited about Sing cuz i honestly cant remember the last time the 49ers were playin this kind of smash mouth competitive football.Ill admit i love what sing is doin but i also i think like you am excited to see what he does over the course of a season at 0-0. but there is only one way to see that and thats to give him a contract... maybe try to work out a 2-3 year deal.

Thanks, MH. I didn't write about it because, as I explained, "I contacted the NFL office for confirmation. Initially, I was told from an official in the league office that the rule does not apply because Mike Singletary is a minority. That seemed to make sense. After all, per the Rooney Rule, teams have to interview at least one minority candidate before hiring a head coach.

"But the NFL representative told me that he would check around and get back to me for official-official word."

So rather than write, "Either the 49ers can or can't hire Singletary until after the season," I decided to wait until I got a confirmed answer.

The NFL contacted the 49ers early this morning to confirm they could not hire Singletary until after the season. Several hours later, the league got back to me on that topic. --Matt M.

Shaneo I don't understand what you're trying to say, the Rooney rule only requires you to interview a minority for being a head coach not requiring you to hire them. After that it's up to them to impress the family and he did, and he's been doing great with the team ever since. It's not luck that he got the job. Nor is it luck that he got an interview, teams don't have to interview just one minority coach they can interview as many as they want. It just happens that as a percentage, nonwhite coaches would not always have fair representation if the head interviewing process has too few candidates.

Shaneo, I would say that any rule that makes race its main issue is wrong to me, that is my disagreement with the Rooney Rule. But in the instance with Tomlin i think it is a better example that teams need to think outside the box more often when considering coaching hires. There are many very talented young coaches with great ideas that never get a real look. How many failed coaching retreads like Fassel and Turner have been hired instead of giving a younger guy like Tomlin a chance. I am all for the NFL telling temas they need to interview a few more people, just don't base it on race.

I am also very against Rules based on race. I think it is a joke in this time. The owners should hire on the merit of the candidate not his race. But this does not always happen. A lot of owners hire coaches who they are familiar and comfortable with and that seams o.k. (I believe that is what the Dolphins told Sing at his interview). They are the owners of the team after all. The rule seems a little like an insult to nonwhite candidates. I could be wrong. But I do like alaska-77's take on it. If you are going to force them to interview other candidates, don't make it race based.

alaska_77: i totally agree with you man. we are actually saying the same thing, matter of fact i dont have much more to say about it. i hate that its a race related rule, cuz i feel it wastes time. Do i think teams should interview more, its probably a good idea cuz then you dont get guys like Turner who is OBVIOUSLY a O Cord. and a horrible coach. do i think it should be mandated? No, just cuz if teams want to make bad decicions its their money go for it. so honesly dude i think we are saying the same thing in different ways.

Shield_Battery: my point about tomlin getting lucky is not because he didnt have talent, you took that the wrong way. He did get lucky because as alaska_77 commented he wasnt even suppose to get an interview, it was Russ Grimm or Ken Whisenhunt who were suppose to get the job(tomlin wasnt really in the picture) but Tomlin got it because he is lucky the Rooney Rule was there.Yes he impresed after that but he wouldnt have been in that chair w. out the rule. doesnt make him a bad coach but indeed lucky. I understand that you dont have to hire the person but use Seattle as an example. if they KNOW they want Mora Jr to be the next head coach isnt it a waste to interview a minorty just because, when he has no chance at getting the job... its stupid.

My two cents:

Mike Singletary interviewed for four NFL head-coaching jobs (Lions, Falcons, Cowboys and Chargers) because of the Rooney Rule. Even though he was not seriously considered for any of those openings, the experiences proved to be valuable for him.

He was able to go through the process and figure out what he needed to do in order to get one of those jobs. It helped him identify areas in which he needed improvement. Because of those interviews, he realized he had to hire an agent and make calls to identify individuals who would be willing to join his coaching staff, were he to become a head coach in the future.

Also, it enabled him to get to know more people around the league. Jerry Jones told Singletary that he wished he had known him better. Now, Jones does know him a little bit. Those interviews helped put Singletary on the radar screen. --Matt M.

Now that we have a "minority" President, it seems like we can stop the reverse discrimination in this country now. I admit I was a little skeptical of Singletary as a potential head coach (because he comes from a defense background like Nolan did) but I think he has really turned this team around. The Yorks would be idiots not to sign him to a long term deal.

Matt, I do see your point. But it would have helped any other candidate as well. White or non-white. I think Sing is a GREAT coach. But, a lot of people were not sure he had the experience to even be considered a candidate for HC. With this rule, if he were white, I'm not sure he would have been looked at without being a cordinator first.

Matt,

your two cents is ALWAYS appreciated, i love this blog!!!! However, i also agree with clovis9er, the point you made would hold true for anyone with no experience(white or black. But i dont know if we can make an interview at least one person with no experience rule. Going back to my real orginal point that again its 2008 not 1968 and i dont know if there is a need for that kind of rule. I think teams want to win and search for WHOEVER can get the job done....

however this has been a fun, CLEAN, respectful discussion!!

Matt- now you need to open up a 49er chat room!! haha

the point is he said " I suggested the 49ers could lose Mike Singletary to another organization if the club wanted to wait...".....without doing a detailed research about the issue, .....am still not sure what the rush is to name him head coach or Hill the starting qb......we have the whole offseason to discuss this.........we just won 2 games in a row, i bet there are a lot of stories in those 2 games about the players which are more reliable.....

Leaving race out of the conversation is what this world needs to learn first and foremost.
Let's realize the obvious, we're human beings sharing the planet together and require the same air to exist.
Speaking in football terms, Tomlin in Pittsburgh is a perfect example of a man born to coach. To that end, I'd put Mike Singletary there too.
There's an unmistakeable gleam that exists when a true teacher has passion for the subject he presides over.
Mike was an outstanding leader during his playing career, and continues to exhibit the passion for the game as a teacher now.
Nolan lost the team's attention, Singletary found it.
Given the obvious response to his guidance, I'd trust him to continue what he's started if given the opportunity.
Truthfully, I feel Patrick will continue to prosper with his guidance as would the entire team.
When a leader develops unity and singleness of mind, winning attitudes are born.
Given the state of the NFL and it's myriad red tape, let's hope the process is completed with Mike Singletary earning the chance to lead team with a clean slate begining in January.

Just keeping it real, MH. "Daddy York" usually has a way of messing things up without having a backup plan. Anyways, regarding the info that Matt has graciously enlighted us with and with what Scot Mccloughan said this morning on KNBR, even if the 9ers have exclusive rights for 2 weeks after the season ends to work something out with Singletary - what if some team like the Bears fire their coach the day after the season ends - singletary now knows he could apply for that job instead and not want to negotiate with the 9ers. I think the NFL should change the current rule to allow teams to hire THEIR interim coach starting the last week of the regular season if that is what a team wants to do. any thought?

If you're asking me if I have any thoughts, I'm right there with you. It's just plain silly that a team can't promote an interim head coach to permanent head coach during the season. If the coach doesn't want the job (a la Haslett in St. Louis), he should have the right to turn it down. Other than that, I can't see any reason why this would be a bad rule.

I get the feeling though that Daddy York really doesn't want to be making the decisions or to be the de facto team leader, especially since we've been seeing Jed really take the reins lately. Jed's passionate about it, whereas John isn't. It appears as if John is ok with this. Let's hope so.

And oneniner, Matt did do a detailed research on the issue, but he can't force the NFL to answer his question right away. I think that's what this comes down to. Nor do we have all season to discuss this. I guarantee you that if the Niners don't act quickly and lock up Sing he'll be gone within a month after season's end.

where are these rumors that lovie smith is on the hot seat coming from?

everyone talks about needing an offensive minded HC. Maybe it might get interesting around 9er headquarters if Norvell Turner becomes available, Hmmmm .... Norvell or Sing ...... Sing or Norvell. On the other hand, what if Holmgren decides that he would like a shot at coaching the 9ers? Mccloughan & Holmgren worked well together in the past. How about Holgren as HC and Norvell as OC? .........and Wade Phillips as DC, because he's gone at the end of the season.