God help us!

So he's had 4 teams that were in the top 10 in rushing and 4 that were top 10 in passing.

There are two general possibilities: Either Singletary is stupid, or he is smart. If he is stupid, then read all the other comments. If he's smart, read on.

What can fit together the following facts: 1. Singletary was hired after presenting to the Yorks, where he presented his plan for continuity on offense. 2. He fired Martz right away. 3. He hired Rathman right away. 4. He proposed to an O coordinator who said "No". 5. He interviews many old-timers. 6. He finally hires an old-timer?

Simple - Stan said it earlier - he's grooming Rathman. Point #1 - Yorks agreed that Rathman's the choice. #2. Martz is not the right mentor. #3. Rathman's the guy. He was hired right away. #4. He proposed 'cause Linehan is Christian (and a good coordinator and possibly a dream mentor). Linehan rejected because he wants his own gig. #5. Old-timers are more likely to be mentors. #6. Which is the case...

SO, in translation, welcome Tom Rathman: your long-term O-Coordinator.

Sing brings in a winner. 1999, 1984, 1983.

Looks like run 11th, pass 28th for another low 20 total offense.

In Barrows' blog today he mentioned that this guy was Jim Hostler's mentor?!?! That's hilarious.... I'll wait and see, I guess. Certainly not the sexiest hire ever. Living in Chicago, I don't wanna waste another $300 or whatever it is on the Sunday Ticket if this sub-mediocre crap continues. I just worry that Sing is getting a little egomaniacal here. He interviewed some quality offensive guys (Jags, Hue, Linehan) and they certainly didn't act like they wanted to work for him. I know he turned things around last year, but I wonder how long the hard-ass, old-school thing will work. We'll see.

I don't feel any better. He's the best you could find Coach, really?

God must hate the 49ers!

OH NOS! We haven't even played a snap of football and he's a failure already! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Seems possible. The logic is good, but we need Matt to do some digging inside to confirm. Or to explain what the thinking really was.

I like flip3's line about Rathman being the long term solution. I HOPE that's the case. And I know it was a long time ago, but some of those teams he was the OC for? YIKES. 2-14, 2-14, 1-15, 3-13, 5-11, 4-12? And the years I leave out are all just about .500

This is what scarred me about having Singletary as head coach. He has almost little credibility in the league as a coach (let alone a head coach) & he has zero credibility as an offensive guy. He was an outstanding player, but as a coach he has very little experience and from everything I have read he is a motivator not a X's & O's guy.

He announced to everyone that he wanted to make the 49ers a power running team. A good offensive O.C. doesn't want to employ a power running system. A good offensive O.C. wants to be in a pass oriented system as it makes them look really good & so they will have a chance to one day be a head coach. I am convinced that is why Linehan turned down the job.

I was against firing Martz in the first place. Yes he tried to employ a system where we didn't really have the parts to make it work, but at least he knows how to put together an offense. Now Martz is gone and we have a guy who has never been successful running the offensive side of the ball.

I really, really hope it all works out and they do well, I just have little hope that it will. One thing is for sure - if they are really going to pound the ball all year long, they need to draft a solid running back who can step in quickly & perform. Gore isn't the player he was and our back-ups (especially Robinson) aren't any good.

Nice work, Matt. I would guess, if all goes well, the 9ers offense will end up in the teens next year with the rushing game leading the way. The sad thing for Raye is that this current 9ers offense might have more overall talent than any other offense he has coordinated, which is not saying much.

Good thing i have prozac on hand.

I agree with RK in LA, if only we can get the OC of 83, 84, I will be extremely pleased, but as good as Gore is he isn't Dickerson.

I cannot express how worried that I have become about this hiring. In fact I have more faith in the economy than I do about this.

I sure hope that this is a false report, and that the speculation was wrong. Maybe I don't know jack about the other candidates, but what MM has written here sure doesn't ease my fears.

When Leeman Bennett enters the conversation, you know there is a problem.

My wife brought up a good point. We're starting to look like the Cleveland Indians in Major League. Are the Yorks hoping to move the 49ers? Not that I'd mind a move to LA, but with all the OC talent out there and such little competition compared to the DC's, why go with a career underachiever? Doesn't make a lick of sense to me.

Seems to me that the question that needs answered is, is Tom Rathman an OC in training or not?

I'll condense my earlier point: Perhaps the difficult task was not to hire an O coordinator. The difficult task was to hire an O coordinator who agrees that his function is to be Rathman's mentor.

This is just a theory and speculation.

If he wasn't - why would he accept the job so quickly?

Very well put. And if true, it would sure explain a lot.

I say we all take a trip to Amsterdam and chill, let Mike, Jimmy and Tom form a formidable west coast powerhouse ready to kick some ass in '09!

If Martz is soo good, why isn't he getting any interviews/offers?

It's way too early to tell what will become of this hire, so there is no use speculating based on Jimmy Raye's past experiences. I'm soo sick of the media (not you Matt, but most others around here) ripping Singletary these last few weeks. Give the guy a chance and quit thinking you're smarter than he is. Last time I checked, the Niners don't have any games until August and that's when you'll see the success start.

If the damn cardinals can make it to the super bowl, we can too and will next year.

Jimmy Raye as offensive coordinator. Next thing you're gonna tell me is that Vince Evans or Doug Williams is our QBs coach. What a farse this has become. Singletary might have just given us the first steps to Holmgren's entrance in 2010. And that can't happen fast enough for me after this fiasco.

9er1, why would you want Holmgren? He, Cowher, Gruden, Shanahan and other veteran coaches would want $5Million+ per season to coach which is a total waste of money. They wouldn't want to come here anyways.

You can bet Tom will be our OC down the road. That was another one of Nolan's failures. When his OC's took off, he had no one worthwhile to promote.

07 season part 2

49ersfor6 are you one of the Yorks? Why would we care how much a top caliber coach makes.

AND YES HOLMGREN would coach here or he would have said so when questioned numerous times.

Afterall he is a SF native.

Oh Holmgren WANTS to be here. He just built a house here and has even very cryptically alluded to possible future coaching/Pres with the Niners. Why would I want him?? Well, there are better candidates, but I would take him just so that it would end this insanity going on!! I would take Holmgren because he stands for everything the niners AREN'T right now! I would take Holmgren because it would mean the yorks wouldn't be able to torture us with any other terrible candidates!

49ersfor6, hiring a winning coach would be one of the best uses of our ticket money that I can imagine.

Ok, if this is true. I am very disappointed. Coach Sing talks a lot about how he mentored with Walsh and how Walsh was able to confuse and influence the defense. This hire and his outlined style of offense does at this point does not appear to be dynamic nor interesting. In the NFL you have to do a few things, one is entertain the crowd and win. Probably in that order. Last year in the end it was very entertaining to have Martz calling plays and Sing holding the leash. Oh yeah, they won a bunch as well. I hate guys who hire yes men and this to me reeks of a yes man hire! Hope I am proved wrong but if the players do not believe in this guy we are going to get killed next year. Now, I will throw all this out if it becomes obvious they have hired a guy to mentor Rathman as some have speculated. Honestly, why not at that point make Rathman the OC and hire a really seasoned QB coach/Asst HC to be the support system?? I will say this; you never fire a coach unless you have a better option in you hand. See Mooch, Steve and Adleman, Rick in Sacto. Very, very suspect.

I'd like to shout out to the Pro Singletary goons. You guys seem quiet tonight.

This is an outright, absolute embarrassing debacle of a hire.

I am sorry. This guy sucks. He is a bounce around guy with no discernable system who is waiting to kick the bucket. 62! He looks 72 in his pictures.

Martz did an OUTSTANDING job the last 8 games of the year and NFL types know it. Nobody wanted anything to do with Singletary guys. That just is what it is.

4-12...yep...sounds about right.

Lets hope the Yorks will be willing to eat the last 3 years of his contract so they can hire a football guy to run the org (Holmgren) and maybe Gruden to coach next year.

believe it or not, Wikipedia already has him updated as the OC of the SF 49ers even without the official announcement...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Raye_II

What a disgrace! The 49ers of Walsh, Ralston, McVay, Seifert, Holmgren, and Shanahan are now entrusted to Jed the boy-king, Singletary the religious fruitcake who wants to bring back Woody Hayes football, Scot the draft dope, and Jimmy Raye the one OC that we will not have to worry about losing. Any 49er fan who renews season tickets has to have the IQ of G.W. Bush!

Thank you Matt for putting some facts out

First reaction is wow... I mean... wow...

Second reaction: what the heck are they thinking? this guy hasn't done a lot of good lately. maybe he has intensity that captured the hearts and minds of Singletary, McCoughlan and the dYork?

I'm just a little afraid that success won't be immediate, but that over 2-3 years on the job -as a coaching team- they might be to achieve something positive... because you know their butts are gonna be on the line then!

LOL at the Rathman conspiracy. He along with Sing and the rest will be gone in a year or 2 at most. Hopefully this time our GM goes with them. Until this organization just cleans house and gets ownership that cares about winning as much as just trying to make a buck (could be a long time) we will continue down this same path year in and year out. Posting away about who the next coach or player we get that's going to "finally" get us pointed in the right direction and out of the mediocrity we 49er fans have become accustomed to. It's sad this is where we are, I have read this blog for a few seasons and year after year many of the same posters / blowhards come on here and jump down anyone's throat that has a negative opinion about what this team is doing, calling them haters, etc. It's laughable, the same "fans" who were all over JTO's nutsack last year are again saying let's just wait and see and don't say anything negative about it, blah, blah, blah. I am a 4th generation 49er fan and as loyal as anyone but I am just getting sick of the same old garbage year in and year out. I have no problem tacking this hire on my list of disappoints by the 49ers over the last decade. Raye is not that much of a mystery, he has been around along time and has been mediocre for a long time, though not always his doing. The NFL in not about building for the future anymore, not in the day of FA, you have 2-3 year window at most if you can get the right pieces together. A few of the key piece's will always be for the most part a solid QB and O/D Lines (and no this is NOT the year to draft a QB at the 10 spot, oh god please no Sanchez). We have neither and are stuck in that hard spot of .500 where there is always just enough hope and disappoint to keep you afloat a little longer. I will continue to root for my team but excuse me if I do it with less enthusiasm than a decade ago. Rant over :)

Randy in Santa Rosa, I don't swing from the other side of the batter's box, but I think I love you.

Seriously. Let the results on the field show it. Last time Jimmy Raye had any real talent on a team he called plays for, it was Eric Dickerson.

Every other team had, what, ELVIS GRBAC?!?! Oy. Let's see how things shake out, huh?

Martz did so OUTSTANDING he's still unemployed. At least he'll have JTO to keep him company.

Love the post!

ok, these stats beg the question: WHY?!

ok, these stats beg the question: WHY?!

How do you figure? All because we hired this guy? For all the years he's been in the NFL, he must be doing something right. You act like Nolan is still here and in charge. At least give the new coaches a chance.

I have no choice but to give him a chance. I will always be a 49er fan regardless of how bad things get, and they have been pretty bad. My post is not directed to just the hiring of Raye but what's becoming an almost predictable pattern with this organization and it starts form the very top down. I honestly did not ever look at Sing as a "long term" solution and was hoping he along with our GM would be replaced this year. Nothing personal against Sing, I think he did as well as anyone could have expected but I just never really bought into him as anything more than a stopgap and still don't. There will be some serious coaching candidates available next year and am honestly going to hope we get to start off with a NEW coach, GM and QB. I truly think it going to take an entire rebuild from the ground up with some proven and up and coming talent mixed in with what we have to get us over this hump of treading water.

Jimmy Raye II = SFOC VII.
Born in '46, same year as the Franchise, he's Grandfathered in.
Let's see what he has before we condemn the guy.
It's all about winning, and teaching the guys to do it as a team.
Rathman is there, a possible QB coach to be named, when it's official, he's a member of the family and we'll see what he's got.

You make a great point about the key to consistant success in the NFL. You must have a great head coach, a great GM and a great QB. For the Niners, they have much to prove in all three catagories. I hope they all turn out great, but can't say their great now. I'm willing to give Sing a chance. Lets hope this hire doesn't bury Sing.

I guess Raye is due to have a stellar tenure as an OC. Maybe that was the theory . . . sixth time's a charm?

I'm suddenly less interested in the draft.

If anybody can be considered an authority on the 1985-era Bears defensive
players, it's a guy good enough to beat them. That's not a large group of
men, but Joe Montana belongs to it.

During a slew of radio and TV interviews Wednesday in Tampa, Montana
endorsed Richard Dent for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Mike Singletary
as head coach of his beloved San Francisco 49ers.

"I think the one thing that Mike brings is a different attitude than they'd
had there in a long time," Montana told "Waddle & Silvy" on WMVP-AM 1000. "I
certainly like the change."

This has got to be a chemistry hire only. Probably Sing and Raye are on exactly the same wave length and Coach S is definately a guy who goes by "feel" and is not super analytical. Raye has had some success in the past, will probably be a "calming" influence on a group that has been jerked all over the place for 6 years, etc.

One thing that MUST be checked out Matt- either by you, or the good people at KNBR: None other than STEVE YOUNG played under Raye at Tampa Bay. Young has that weekly show on KNBR. Young has on MANY occasions dissed his time in Tampa before Billy Walsh stole him away to the Niners. Not a good sign....Can we get Steve Young's take on this guy ??? Agree Rathman is the longterm solution BTW...

This is a last-option hire, and here is why:

1. Singletary had a list of OC candidates when he met with GM and Jed York, and Rye was not on it. If he was, he would have been interviewed earlier, as he has always been available.

2. First option was Linehan, who declined.

3. Linehan was offered after they interviewed 4 candidates. The other 3 were either not good fits or do not want to be second choice to Linehan. So they had to move on to the next 3: Jackson, Reeves, and Rye.

4. Reeves went out and publicly said that he is LIKELY taking a job with the Cowboys. He was either offered or not offered. If he's not offered, it is NOT for footballing reasons as he is clearly more qualified. Reeves was also not on Sing's original list because if he was, he would have been interviewed earlier.

5. Jackson went in for second interview. With Reeves and Rye not being on the original wanted list, Jackson was the only one after Linehan that was originally wanted. They liked him and brought him back. Because of this, it's very likely the he was offered the job but declined, or again if he wasn't officially offered, it would not be because footballing reasons.

6. Rye was scheduled before Jackson came back. But he was scheduled when they already knew they wanted to bring Jackson back. So clearly, they wanted to hire Jackson, but still had to have an additional option in case Jackson didn't work out. They offered Rye because Rye was the only option left.

My theory: Linehan declined, Reeves and Jackson didn't like the arrangement somehow. Could it be the QBs? Could it be the money? Could it be the required commitment to stay for a few years? Or is it non-compromising approach of Singletary that scared them away? We don't know, but what we do know is that SF's OC is not an attractive job, and SF hired its very last option.

I love how everyone is criticizing this move, or having these theories that Raye was the last option because Linehan turned the jo down and t must have been Jackson and Reeves who didn't want to actually come to the niners.

Did anyone think that maybe Singletary didn't actually offer a job to Reeves or Jackson. Of course not, if you listen to fans Singletary must have offered jobs to Reeves and Jackson who both turned it down.

I think fans are so negative it is a joke. Lets be positive. I trust Singletary and hope Raye does a good job.

Thanks Matt for the breakdown of Raye's productivity as an OC. Man we had Jackson and we let him off the hook! Matt can you please dig into Singletary and try to figure out why they hired this guy. The whole OC situation stinks and I want to confirm my suspicions. You're up their asking the questions so please give us your gut feeling on the following matter: was this a move out of desperation or is Singletary truly convinced that Raye is better than the 7 others he interviewed?

yeah, I dunno bout this hiring. I was hoping to go young with Jackson calling the plays. Sing def went old school when in fact Sing himself living the old school and bringing back old school mentality. good luck. hope coach made the right call.

By the way your theory is actually ridiculous. How do you know that Reeves even wanted Reeves or Jackson for OC but those two turned him down for whatever reason. Why is Raye our last option at OC, just because you can't think of a positive thing to say doesn't mean your right. I actually think Singletary must not have wanted to hire Reeves or Jackson for the job and probably hired someone who he thinks was the best candidate.

Well, at least we won't be overly optimistic next season. We'll be happy to go 8 and 8. Who knows, maybe this time Raye has his best year in 30 years but I'm not betting on it.

You can't teach experience.
But,
Experience is the perfect teacher.
If these guys are good coaches and leaders, our players will benefit.
Keep the Faith.

Agree that Raye will serve as the OC and mentor to Rathman...and I'll throw Mike Johnson into the mix, as well. Both guys are younger, bright coaches...and either could could ascend to the OC position. Singletary's establishing some much-needed continuity by building an offensive coaching tree. That's what Walsh did...just look how many of his former assistants went on to become successful head coaches. I'm not comparing Singletary to Walsh...but MS did consult w/Walsh and a whole host of other experienced coaches before and since he's come to the Niners. I think many of you are underestimating his intelligence, moxy, and mindset. I suggest you have some patience w/Raye, and Singletary...I think you may be surprised at our team's success.

Don't forget, Montana was burned by the Niners, and he loved every minute of kickin our A$$ with KC....He is probably laughing hysterically right now!

Rayes success DEPENDS...get it DEPENDS! AHAHAHAH
What a joke this organization is right now.
Scot, Sing, Hill...Bye,bye!
They say you can tell alot about a person by the HOME they live in. That said, take a look at Candlestick...
Our crappy stadium/home speaks volumes about our "Team"....from Top to Bottom they are both about the worst the league has to offer. Welcome, Jimmy Raye!

Can anyone tell me what is this guy's base offensive approach ? WCO, Digital, Wishbone ? Seems he's done everything under the sun.

Tell you what this indicates- We're drafting 1 stud running back ( copy NY Giants and Titans ), and draft 4-5 good defensive players and sign 2 OLs and another defender in Free Agency and turn ourselves into the 2006 & 2008 Bears...Oh, joy.

Well, as long as we win. Our "D"is gonna have to be stout !

Here's an odd thing. The more I research and look into things, the more I'm warmed up to Jimmy Raye and believe he's not as bad as he looks on the surface. For example:

"1991: Rams (3-13) Head coach: John Robinson
Total offense 18th, Rushing 27th, Passing 7th, Pts 24th
Note: Jim Everett was the QB, and Robert Delpino led the ground game with 688 yards."

You think that's bad, but then you look deeper and notice that 688 rushing yards was the best season Delpino had in his career. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip and you can't squeeze talent out of a turd.

Also:
"2000: Chiefs (7-9) Head coach: Gunther Cunningham
Total offense 8th, Rushing 25th, Passing 5th, Pts 9th"

If your offense is ranked 8th and yet your record is 7-9, it generally means that the stench is coming from the other side of the ball. Need I remind you that the #1 offense this year went 8-8 and stayed home as well (Saints). As for that 25th rushing ranking. Yeah. When you lose your top two rushers from 1998 and 1999 (Bam Morris retired and Donnell Bennett got limited to 27 rushes, in 2001 Bennett went to Washington and only ran the ball 10 times, then called it a career), the rushing production usually drops considerably.

Perhaps i'm starting to see what Singletary is seeing and you certainly cannot find it on the surface.

Let's just say that everyone who is declaring doom, you may be right. However, I am officially at peace with this hire and am looking forward to see how this works out. Fate may have gave birth to an illusion.

If he can get 4,169 yards out of Elvis Grbac, it would be fair to say that he's not exactly a run first, run second, run third type of guy that for some reason people think Singletary wants. Where they got that, chalk it up to misinterpretation, not mention picking and choosing what he says.

This hire begs the question, who is the worst offensive coordinator of all-time who still got consistent work around the league? The guy has lead FOUR offenses of teams that won THREE GAMES or less. WOW.

Total record of team where Raye is the OC: 67 - 125. That's a winning pct of .348.

Raye looks to be up there as far as utter futility, hard to imagine someone as brutally bad as say Hostler, getting a shot at OC with so many different teams.

The bottomline is, Singletary is trying to build a team contrary to how the league currently operates. He has an OC whose best years were in '83 and '84 and he's done nothing whatsoever since then.

If it works, its old school and tough and it will be a minor miracle. Of course we have a #1 back with a brutal injury history behind a line that hasn't been able to consistently run block since '06 when Jennings and Allen were in the line-up.

If it doesn't work then frankly there's the potential to set the franchise back another 4 - 5 years as we all sit through time machine football and Singletary tries to bring Herschel Walker out of retirement to replace Gore and William Perry to play fullback.

I'm sorry, I know Martz had flaws but he was a pretty damn good playcaller and at least made this team watchable.
No one can argue that this team is better off today offensively than it was when Martz was OC. Under Singletary's stare his offense was harnessed and quite potent as opposed to the out of control offense of the first few games. Firing Martz without having someone in line to replace him and then spending over a month interviewing 8 different coordinators just shows you are unprepared to lead a team/organization. It just spanks of a desperation.

Dude, don't you live in AZ? Everything you have said about the Yorks has been said about the Bidwells, and I think the Cardinals were okay this year. Ownership is learning, and they have to do it publicly. Eddie D needed to hire the right coqach before things swung upward for him, and that took a while for him, too.

ShaneP, great post as usual. I pretty much gave him a pass on the talent level when I saw the list of teams. Let's see, when he has a great back, his offense has great rushing numbers. When he has decent quarterbacks, his passing offense has great stats. Haven't we been asking for an OC that can adapt the offense and playcalling to fit our talent for years? Isn't that what he does? Are we going to judge this guy based on how two of the most talent-deprived teams (NE in 90, or just say NE before Parcells, and TB in the 80's, or just before Dungy) in NFL history performed? Ask Steve Young how many decent options he had to thow to, and how much time his awesome o-line gave him. Thanks for being a voice of reason, ShaneP.

It appears there is one very important Mid-90's career stop missing from The Raye File:

http://ilike.com/artist/Jimmy%20Ray

It appears there is one very important Mid-90's career stop missing from The Raye File:

http://ilike.com/artist/Jimmy%20Ray

"I'd like to shout out to the Pro Singletary goons. You guys seem quiet tonight."

That's because we're waiting for Singletary's press conference so we can find out real info instead shooting off our mouths in the ignorant and amusing fashion you and many other dimwit know-nothings are doing right now. That most of you had never heard of this guy, yet everyone in the NFL knows him well, speaks to the kind of knowledgeable posts available here. When the mob is milling in the street grumbling for a hanging, it is wise to let the fools peter out and drag their useless butts home so sane people can resume intelligent discourse upon their departure.

Matt-Forgive me I am questioning your stats.
in 1999 he was 4th in rushing and 22nd in passing
in 2000 he was 25th in rushing and 5th in passing
Did it really flip flop like that?

The way of the world. The brilliant guy - Martz - can't keep a job because he won't kiss ass, and the plodder, WHO HAS NEVER TAKEN A TEAM TO THE SUPER BOWL is hired, because he will. 1983? 1984? Those offenses were so predictable, that in the end they didn't have a CHANCE against the 49ers!!! I could have coached Eric Dickerson, fercryinouloud! Last year at this time I was STOKED because we reached for some greatness, and now.... And PLEASE stop talking about the "OC of the future." That's idiocy. If Rathman shows ANY greatness as he approaches that job, he will be a candidate for a head coaching job immediately. Or haven't you all been following the NFL. Now, we're freaking stuck with Singletary and won't be able to go after Shanahan or Holmgren next year. I know I'm overreacting here, but at this point I think the team would be in a better position with Nolan as a lame duck with Martz, looking toward 2010.

A question for all you Raye supporters, are you the same guys who were singing Nolan's praises when he so wisely selected Hostler? Did you buy Nolan's press conference comments on why Hostler was such a great pick? We will all have to wait and see how this turns out, but the only real evidence we have to go on right now is Raye's record, and if that doesn't have you worried, then wishful thinking is overruling your logic. Experience can be valuable or not. It's learning and improving from experience that is important. What you don't see is a record of improvement over time.

I'm still venting. Very soon I'll be taking a break from the 49er websites for a few weeks to spare myself the aggravation. It's just that after the 80s and 90s, I can't stand mediocrity. Forget about coaching brilliance. The team is too conservative for that. I would like to say that the next hope is for "GREAT PLAYERS", but it really looks like Gore and Willis were lucky picks. McCloughan has shown no consistent smarts when it comes to aqurring great (impact) players. Justin Smith and Nate Clements cost 50 million dollars or something and.....they're "pretty good." !!!!!! Deion Sanders and Charles Haley, they ain't. Look at the Cardinals. Yeah, they have a smart, relatively hot young coach (who was OC on a SUPER BOWL winnder, by the way) and they have some GREAT players (Fitzgerald, Boldin and Warner, who any team in football could have had). Whodda thunk the Cardinals .... And please, fellow 49ers fans, DON'T start saying that now we have an OC who will stay for a while. OF COURSE, that's OBVIOUS! So what? And also, leave out the words "digital system." I'm 58 years old and somehow got through over 40 years of following NFL football without needing to know about that. You know, like "ted" and "mike." Just get some GREAT players in here. Well, I can see the "Singletary era" - bland, lots of bluster, maybe a 9-7 team (MAYBE) rolling out in front of my eyes - and then the great coach search of 2011....geez...I need to get back to some good books I've been reading.

I hoped this was all just a bad dream but it's not. This should get Scotti and Singletary fired after the end of the season. The most laughable OC search ever. I have no confidence in this staff, just pathetic...

WE'RE DOOMED!!!!

Seriously...:-(

All I am trying to say is that Rye is the best "fit", but it doesn't mean that he's the best OC. In fact, they didn't want to interview him all the way until the end when he has always been available. He's the best fit for non footballing reasons, and it shouldn't be that way.

Jimmy Rae...wow i thought i would wake up and m aybe feel better about this guy.. Only reason sing hired him is beacuse he knows this guy aint going no where unless he fires him,,,This is horrible why noy=t Al saunders hes a proven guy and he aint gonna be a headcoach anytime soon.

Some of the most laughable, fickle fans ever? You betcha! Looks like we need WAAAAAAAAAmblances by the dozens!!

Needless to say most of us are not happy with this move... Nor should we be... Im sure "Old" Jimmy will have a whole bunch of fresh ideas for our offense, we should be a scoring juggernaught in the league next year..... woo-hoo here is our "up grade" from Martz... Absolutly hate this move. Hope our D ranks in the top 5, cause we aint outscoring any team!

No offense to those of you who are holding out hope that this is a good hire. But all you really have is hope. And hope without reason is kind of like diving head-first into a lake and not knowing if there are rocks just below the surface. All we have to go on with Jimmy Raye are numbers. And those numbers aren't impressive. So the reasoning in the doubters is at least based on something solid. I have seen some excellent digging further into the stats by a handful of folks here - but quite frankly - there is a good reason why this guy has been who he is for all of his years in the league - a career assistant. Not good enough to be considered for a off-coor position for more than a few consecutive years - and definitely not for a franchise like the 49ers. Seriously. Is this how far SF has sunk? The OC here used to be one of the most sought after posts in football. Now it's the proverbial telemarketing job of the NFL. And to fill that - Jimmy Freaking Raye. What? Marc Trestman not available? Are you effing kidding me?

And since when is questioning what has been a puzzling process (at best) when the best the search comes up with is a 62 year old guy who has been little more than a footnote in media guides for over 30 years decide how loyal or true a fan is? I love this team and have since 1978. And I always will. I don't have to march lockstep with everything they do to prove my loyalty - especially if I don't agree with it.

I'm not from Missouri and I have never been there. But show me all the same. And I have seen little to convince me that this team will be any better than mediocre for the foreseeable future, given the tomfoolery we have witnessed since the Yorks took over operation of this storied organization.

That said, I will be the first to stand in line for a heaping helping of crow if those of us in the nay-saying crowd are proven wrong.

I am glad they hired him before I renew my season tickets.

Good Bye 49er Season Tickets. I am going to miss you.

Continuity on offense is bad when you have incompetent guys running your offense.

BTW hire me and I will guarentee not to except any other job for next 10 years. Guarenteed.

Here is my take. Singletary said publicly that he thought the offense that Norv Turner ran in SF in 2006 was the best of all the years he has been with the team. I think Singletary's first choice would be to get Turner back, but since that isn't possible he has been looking for someone who is as close in philosophy and skill set to Norv as he can get. Turner and Raye have crossed paths on a number of occasions during their long NFL careers and Raye can run a similar system.

no matter what we hear from niner-land regarding the OC hiring, remember this ....... it was all about the $$$. Raye was the cheapest.

Looking to the future, I see an 8th OC in 8 years

Matt-Forgive me I am questioning your stats.
in 1999 he was 4th in rushing and 22nd in passing
in 2000 he was 25th in rushing and 5th in passing
Did it really flip flop like that?
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I can field this one. I mentioned it already. The top two rushers in 1998 and 1999 was Donnell Bennett and Bam Morris. In 1999, there was two other rushers that performed above 200 yards.

In 2000, Bam Morris was gone and something happened to Donnell Bennett for him to get only 27 carries in 7 games. Losing your two top rushing producers this way makes the drop make a lot of sense.

Rkab - Raye's best years looked more to be with KC than with the Rams. The season where he got his best ranked offense was in 2000 where despite not having Bam Morris and Donnell Bennett as his disposal, still produced his only top 10 offense of his career and his 1999 season wasn't that far off. When looking at an OC, you cannot look at team win loss records, for that is the most misleading stat.

By your logic, the Saints' OC must be horrible since the team missed the playoffs with an 8-8 record despite having the #1 ranked offense. An OC only able to control what he's allowed to control and if he does his job well, it's up to other coaches to have his back. For the Saints, the other coaches failed.

For all of the doom and gloom, did anyone notice that our offense was ranked 23rd this year? Did anyone Read Jimmy Raye's stats and see that he has only been ranked that low four times out of twelve years, and that he coached some historically untalented teams. The Bucs had Steve Young and NOTHING ELSE. The Pats had just plain nothing. Can you rember those teams? Their fans were showing up with bags on their heads. This was before the salary cap efforts to level the talent levels in the league. Those teams were hopeless. We haven't been better than 23rd in years, not under Martz and not under Norv. This guy has tons of experience, and he might be able to show us something. I am willing to wait and see.

The guy has 29 years of NFL coaching experience. He must be a pretty damn good coach to last that long. He has mre football knowledge in his pinky toe than everyone on this msg board combined. Any young player or coach who would not want to soak up some of that knowledgde would be foolish. He may not have been a sexy pick, but let's give this guy a chance before we bury him. He is in no way another Hostler!!!

I think we should all just remove the Raiders years from Raye's records, those teams were filled with depleted/aged talent, and a player who didn't even want to be there! -Not to mention Norv Turner, aka "guy who is as only good as the last coach's talents."

Let's all just take deep breathes, I think we have more talent on our offense than any of those past offenses Raye has coached above (yes, cause the 84/85 Rams didn't have prospect/legend wide receivers, Dickerson could've ran that offense by himself).

Martz was not the answer to this offense, the putz is horrible at clock management.

Here we have a man who has had multiple chances to show that he is a better than average OC and he has consistently shown he is WORSE than average.
Here is my problem. A team needs to have a consistent offensive system that can stay in place even with changes in the coordintaors. I do not think that Mr Raye can provide this.
Raye of hope: folks have mentioned that Rathman is a coordinator in waiting. If that is true, logic would dictate that Tom would have a lot of input into the offense this year. So, if the offense ends up looking like a Rathman offense (whatever that is), then there may be a bit of hope.
The HUGE mistake was made in throwing out the West Coast Offense first with Erickson and then with with Turner. The offense would have been so much better if we had stayed with a more consistent approach. I fear this is more helter skelter. (Of course, all this lurching between systems is why it is generally best to hire a head coach with an offensive background....)

Best to hire an offensive minded head coach??? Holmgren, Shanahan, Gruden, Sean Payton, Linehan, Mike McCarthy, all "offensive minded" head coaches, none of which made the playoffs, most looking for work. So much for that theory.

"Can anyone tell me what is this guy's base offensive approach ? WCO, Digital, Wishbone ? Seems he's done everything under the sun."

Who cares? The advantage I see here is that, as you stated, 'he's done everything under the sun.' Seems that he'll be flexible enough to work with the talent the niners have. He's got a track record that includes being top ten in rushing and passing at separate times, so he's clearly not a one-dimensional coach.

I agree onhis flexibility. Look at his time with the cheifs. Top-5 rushing becomes Top-5 passing because personnel changes made that necessary. He seems to do the best with what he has.