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18 Mar 2010
49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
The 49ers and general manager Scot McCloughan are parting ways over what is being termed as a "personal matter", according to Fanhouse's Nancy Gay.
This has been in the works since yesterday, when Matt Maiocco reported that McCloughan was being asked to resign.
37 comments, Last at 19 Mar 2010, 11:19pm by Jimmy
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Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
I'm pretty gutted about this. If, like me you're of the opinion that Alex Smith was decent last year with an awful line, a rookie receiver who didn't turn up until week 5 and a mercurial tight end (who shows moments of brilliance alongside letting the ball hit him in the side of the helmet on a short crossing route) then McCloughan has done a pretty good job. I thought they were a solid draft away from being one of the more talented young teams in the league.
FOA lambasted McCloughan for picking Davis and Lawson (based on the rather dubious method of similarity scores) but he has managed to acquire: Patrick Willis, Joe Staley, Michael Crabtree, Manny Lawson, Frank Gore, Josh Morgan and Dashon Goldson and Vernon Davis in the draft and has two first rounders this year.
I don't really blame him for some of the niners errors either as most of the more egregious mistakes came when Nolan was in charge.
The worst news of all is that Jed 'I inherited loads of money so I deserve to run an NFL franchise' York admires the Jerry Jones model of ownership, the arrogant little prick. I think you can make a valid argument that Dallas have only really been successful when Jimmy Johnson or Bill Parcells built up the talent level of the franchise. Jed York is often confused with his uncle, Eddie DeBartillo, and this is cited as a good thing. However, if you read the 'The Genius', the very good biography of Bill Walsh (who's author I've forgotten), then you get the picture that Walsh won despite DeBartillo not because of him. Eddie D was popular with the players but interfered with the salary structure that Walsh tried to install and threatened to sack one of the greatest coaches of all time if they failed to win the superbowl. A shift to Eddie D/Jerry Jones style ownership will be very bad for the niners. Look around the league, the best teams are stable from the top down and their owners let football people make football decisions.
At this stage we can only speculate on the nature of the personal matter but is it something that can have only come to light recently? Why wasn't this issue resolved earier so that repacements could have been found? This is an awful situation.
I've seen reports that cause of the dispute is Jimmy Clausen. Jed is (apparently) a Notre Dame alumnus and so wants the niners to go after him in the draft. As Clausen has climbed the mock draft boards Jed could have been puching for the niners to trade up for him, which would have been resisted by McCloughan, who is an Alex Smith supporter. It would also be a stupid thing to do, the niners biggest need is a right tackle,which we'd lose the chance to land in the first round if we traded the picks and Clausen has plenty of question marks of his own.
F**k Jed York
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Those reports about Clausen are only message-board postulations. No one with any credibility has reported that.
I'm sad to see the guy go, but his draft record was mixed. He wasn't very good with the O-line. Staley was pretty good, but Baas, Rachal, Snyder, Cody, etc., are are below average to awful. And of course, picking Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers was a bad one that's still haunting the franchise.
On the other hand, there's a lot of talent on the roster, too; a lot of that he drafted, and a lot he brought in. Except for QB and OL, I really like the team he's built.
I wish he'd stay.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
I thought that Rachal was better down the stretch last year, as he was pretty raw coming out of college I'm inclined to give him a little longer, especially now that Solari has arrived. I'm with you on the rest though. The Baas pick really annoys me, we were going to take Mankins but NE nabbed him just in front of us so instead of going to our board it seems we decided to take the next guard. Michael Roos was sat there and we took Baas. That seems more like Nolan's style than McCloughan who has since shown willingness to take the best available player (ie. Crabtree last year).
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
"Look around the league, the best teams are stable from the top down and their owners let football people make football decisions."
If this is true, I don't know that it proves anything because you don't know whether meddling owners in the league are the cause of team failure or the result of team failure. The best teams in football, by definition, give owners less cause to meddle.
Your own post mentions that Bill Walsh won despite a meddling owner.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
"Your own post mentions that Bill Walsh won despite a meddling owner."
But he was arguably the greatest coach in the history of the game. Eddie D's bullshit eventually drove him away when he later admitted that without his meddling and pressure he'd have continued for a while longer, this probably cost the niners a couple of championships.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Yes, F the Yorks, but McCloughan had nothing to do with Patrick Willis, Joe Staley, Manny Lawson, Frank Gore, Dashon Goldson or Vernon Davis. in his 2 drafts he's produced 2 marginal starters and Crabtree, who I'm still not sold on.
I'm willing to take a chance with a new GM.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
He had everything to do with those picks.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Seeing as how he wasn't GM then, so what makes you so sure?
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
There are some articles out there (too lazy to link, but I'm betting it's in maiocco's archive) talking about how McCoughan convinced Nolan and Singletary that Willis was going to be good. Plus, even if he didn't have the final say, he was the primary guy putting their draft boards together.
Beyond that, he was the guy who pulled the plug on Nolan. That buys him some real goodwill.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Yeah, I'm too lazy to look it up too. Still, McCloughan did not put the draftboard together that year. Also, Nolan and Singletary coached Willis in the Senior Bowl that year, so it was always conventional wisdom that it was their pick. They could have, at the very least, overruled if they were opposed, having worked with the guy for 10 days or so.
As far as shitcanning Nolan...um, I guess maybe that could have got him another year. Either way, as a Niners fan, I'm more than ok with no Scotty.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Singletary thoguht Willis couldn't do it. The pick was McCloughans.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
There are several reports that McCloughan was integral to the Willis pick.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Maybe, I have no eyes & ears at 4949. Still, it would be, to say the least, fairly unorthodox for the Director of Pro Player Personnel to be so involved with a team’s draft as to determine the team’s first round pick. I thought it was common knowledge that, at the time, Nolan and Paraag Marathe made the draftboard.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
I'd elaborate. In 1976, the 49ers were 8-6 when DeBartolo bought the team and hired Joe Thomas. In 1977 Joe the Butcher gutted the roster, ran off the coach and started the 49ers on the road to mediocrity. By 1978 we were the worst team in the NFL on both sides of the ball.
In 1979, Eddie DeBartolo was called on the carpet by his old man who was the power behind the throne. He was FORCED by his Dad to go hat-in-hand to Al Davis (the friend that helped the DeBartolo's get the 49ers) to find a coach and GM for the 49ers.
Davis recommended Bill Walsh and personally arranged the meeting and took Eddie there. Walsh was, of course, hired. They could never find a decent GM candidate to interview for the position. So Bill Walsh took the position and brought in John McVay and Tony Razzano. They, of course, actually rebuilt the team. Eddie didn't do jack squat except get drunk and, on occasion, "fire" Walsh.
Eventually, Eddie did take away the GM role. This caused Walsh to, eventually, quit before it was his time to quit. From then, the 49ers, thanks to the great team Walsh assembled, did move forward with significant momentum and picked up some more Superbowls.
But the rot had set in, culminating in the collapse of 1999 when the bad drafting and bad free agent signings finally did the team in...
Ironically, the proles worship Eddie and hate the Yorks. At worst, the Yorks are about as equal as Eddie, but even then... I don't think so.
They just haven't had the luck of getting (and keeping) a great GM like Walsh, or Wolf... Sure, they did get Walsh for a few years and the ship righted quickly. But there was still too much salary cap hell for it to be a permanent fix, plus Walsh was tired and sick with a sick wife... He just couldn't GM and gave the club to his trusted Lieutenant -- Terry Donahue -- the biggest mistake Walsh ever made.
Anyway, every success the 49ers had was directly or indirectly by the genius of Walsh. The DeBartolos and Yorks have been, at best, place holders signing checks. At worst, meddlesome fools...
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
As a Niners fan I'm more than a little concerned. Jed York as a meddling owner has given us some of the worst teams in the history of the NFL. While I'm happy with the direction the team has taken since the firing of Mike Nolan, this is just not good news at all.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
That's quite a bit of hyperbole. Sure, they've had a bad decade, and I would agree that from a distance it seems like York is the problem. Things certainly started getting bad when he took over.
But some of the worst teams in history? Come on.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
But some of the worst teams in history? Come on.
The Niners earned the right to take Alex Smith with the first pick the old fashioned way, by being utterly terrible. They were if anything even worse the following year.
You may be right that it is unfair to heap all of this on poor Jed York as his idiot father was more to blame in previous years.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
John York hired Bill Walsh. Bill Walsh retired and John York, on Bill Walsh's recommendation, hired Terry Donahue.
If hiring one of the greatest personnel men in NFL history and hiring his hand picked replacement on his advice is bad ownership, then you're delusional. If firing the head coach, on the recommendation of the General Manager hand picked by Walsh is bad ownership, you're delusional.
If saying "I'm going to run this team like a business" is bad ownership, do not forget Eddie said the same thing. Do not forget Eddie took a winning team (8-6 in 1976) and drove it into the ground going 2-14 in 1978 and in 1979.
And unlike Eddie, York had to take a team that was also burdened with a salary cap over-run so high that they couldn't sign free agents or retain quality players. Let us not forget that we were, at one time, over $39 million over a $54 million cap. And that until Donahue blew up the roster in 2004, unable to sign quality, "known" free agents in all but one of the first six years of the York ownership.
If Eddie the Hero hadn't been such a tool from the late 80's on, things would have been a lot different. Walsh would have moved upstairs and run the front office. We might have had another three or four Superbowls.
But that didn't happen. We had Cerratto (started to ruin the 49ers and did ruin the Redskins) or Policy & Clark (ruined the 49ers and Browns) to get our players and mess up our cap. To throw FA bandaids on a team that couldn't replace its aging talent.
After Razzano left (Walsh's head scout) in the early 1990s, we drafted just three good players -- Jeremy Newberry, Terrell Owens and Bryant Young. And Bryant Young was a no-brainer. Even the Cards wouldn't have messed that pick up...
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
OK you and I have heard different stories about John York. The one I have heard is that he called Walsh into his office and gave him a diatribe about 'How to run an Organisation'. As Bill Walsh wrote the book on how to run a football organisation (literally) he found this to be fairly insulting and left the organisation.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
In my stats class I did a group project where we used some simple stats (from the 2004 season I think) for each team (QB rating, YPC, etc) to see how they matched up to wins. The second worst team I believe was projected to have finished 3 and 13 based on those stats. The Niners? -2 and 18.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Did you mean to say John York? Jed York took over late 2008. He put Singletary in charge and I don't think the 2009 49ers -or even 2008 49ers- qualifies as worst team in the history of the NFL. They were the third worst team in the division. Let alone the entire NFL and definitely not in the 40 of so years of NFL history.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
So did Eddie. It was only after his daddy ripped him a new one and forced him to get help from Al Davis and remain with his mouth shut in the owner's box did the team recover from his stupidity. And that recovery was All Walsh.
And, yes, I can't stand Eddie. I'm old. I remember him as a spoiled punk acting like a spoiled punk. The crap way he treated the old guys. And his stupid "I'm going to run this franchise like a business" comments.
Which, ironically, his brother-in-law repeated 22 years later. Lesson not learned there...
You'd figure that York would have learned from Eddie's early days. When he was the most hated owner in the Bay Area. Hated more than even Charley Finley.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
HOOOORAY! It's like Christmas. Now if only the Yorks would sell...
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
I actually think Scott did a good job as a gm. The niners may have had a collection of really bad years but I would argue that after the 03 season, they were the least talented team ever assembled(surpassing the 0-16 lions). That team gutted all their talented players because they were over the cap. In a real sense, they had to build from nothing so looking at where the team is now and the talent they have is a testament to how good a job scott did. Having him step down could be a huge blow.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
I agree that the 03 team was unwatchable, and, yes, probably would have lost to those Lions.
Still, McCloughan’s two drafts produced one non-replacement level starter. The 08 draft was just gawdawful, unforgivably bad. I’ll take my chances with someone else.
Yes, the youngest York seems like an all-world douche, but the team has improved significantly since he became involved with day to day things. I don’t know how much, if any, credit is due to him, but I’ll at least give him the benefit of doubt. Think back to when his basket case of a dad was running things. Shiver.
Sure, I’d prefer they sell the team, but it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen anytime soon.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
08 draft was unforgiveably bad? really?
They got a developmental DE at the end of the first, who they didn't expect to contribute right away. They got Rachal, who hasn't been great, but was also really raw. In the third, they got reggie smith, who will probably start at SS sometime this year. And they got Josh Morgan in the 6th, who's turned out very nicely for the niners, to say the least.
Just b/c players don't contribute immediately doesn't mean it was a terrible draft. He was picking with 2010-2011 in mind. See how it goes this year with these players, esp Rachal, before you pass judgement.
Remember, drafting is about the long haul, not the next year.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Yes. Really.
For one of the worst teams in the league to get 0 quality starters out of a draft, yes, I think it sucks. Is developmental what you call a guy who can’t find his way onto the field two years later? If you’re happy with that draft, ok.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Rachal was actually fairly good in the second half of last year, I wouldn't be surprised if he's a quality guard moving forward.
On top of that getting a marginal (so far) #2 WR in the 6th round in Morgan was a big time steal. The only pick that I think looks particularly poor so far is Balmer, but he's still got time and even if he busts not hitting on a 1st round pick does not by itself make a draft "god-awful".
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Josh Morgan isn't a quality starter? Rachal wasn't a quality starter late last year? I know there's a lot of pessimism around Balmer, and I get that, but I still like him long term. And there's a lot of optimism about Reggie Smith, based in part on how he played while Lewis was injured. Cody Wallace sucked, but that was rd 4!
Look at the steelers. They get nothing out of most of their rookies until yr 3 (Rothlisberger and Mendenhall being notable exceptions). Does that mean all of their drafts are terrible? You can't judge a draft two years out. Wait one, or preferably two more years, then we'll have an idea. That's why FO does the whole "XXXX draft 4 yrs later" series!
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Rachel had an excellent rookie campaign. He started last year pretty rough. But once Singletary stopped yanking the line around (which is a really stupid thing to do because it takes time to gell as a unit) Rachel played pretty well.
So, yeah, I know your hate of all things 49ers needs to have a preconceived notion that everything they do is bad... But asserting that Rachel is "bad" or a "failure" doesn't fit the facts.
There were a lot of problems last year that were beyond the scope of Rachel. Such as Jimmy Raye calling 70% of his runs up the gut. Such as Hill (whom I bet you loved, because most fans did despite how lousy he was) being so inept that defenses not only stacked the box, but crowded the LOS. Such as Gore who, for the past couple of years, is really looking like he's going down easy, is constantly playing through leg injuries hampering him, plus he's clearly missing too many holes...
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Well said.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Oh yeah, brilliant even. So, trite little assumptions like a) I hate all things 49ers (despite being a 30 year fan) and b) love Shawn Hill in some way it somehow make this a good draft?
1. Kentwan Balmer-cannot seem to find his way on to the field under any circumstances.
2. Chilo Rachal-Yeah, no question there were a lot from problems beyond Chilo’s, um, scope. It doesn’t make him very good either. Chilo played well? Did you actually watch the games? The Niners were dead last in Adjusted Line Yards last year, and when they draft another guard this year (and they will) I really don’t think this pick looks so great.
3. Reggie Smith-4 tackles in an illustrious career. Will not almost certainly not be on the team this year.
4. Wallace-Couldn't get playing time, despite a devastated O-line
6. Morgan-What is it he's done again? Sure, he shows some potential, but thus far, he's a just a guy with 11.8 yards a catch average. Receivers Scotty passed on in the meantime: DeSean Jackson, Donnie Avery, Mario Manningham.
7. Larry Grant-yeah.
I don’t think I need 5 years for this.
Make no mistake, the 07’ Niners were one of the worst teams in the league-the offence was dead last in points scored (and DVOA) and I don’t think I’m out of line in feeling we needed to come away with a little more.
Again, if you as a fan are happy with this draft, super, I think that’s great. Sorry you're bummed about Scotty. Just don’t be so shocked that other fans aren’t.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
I think 2 years is too early to form opinion about the draft. But here is my take:
1. Balmer: He is the 4th highest paid defensive linemen and 6th in terms of experience and 4th in terms of playing time. It is not shame to be not as good as Justin Smith or Sopoaga. I think it is too early to make a call.
2. Rachal: I watched every game except for the Eagles game. He was OK in the second half of the year. I don't think ALY is a good measure of calling 1 guy out of 5. He improved over time which is promising.
3. Reggie Smith: He had to unseat Michael Lewis and Goldson to get playing time. Was not going to happen. Does not look promising but still too early to make a call.
4. Wallace: Does not look promising at all. He is not going to take Heitman's job away from him, but not to be in the rotation does not look good.
6. Morgan is a 6th rounder and you are talking about Jackson and others. Is poster drunk? He is a great return on investment on a 6th rounder.
7. Yeah. But did you see the number? It says 7.
And who cares what 07' Niners were? These guys competed against 08 and 09 roster. And 49ers were close to average in those years - slightly below in 08 and slightly above in 09-.
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
The most informative article I've seen so far:
here at espn
Backtracking a little
OK, Adam Schefter is now reporting that Jed York is not taking over and that it seems like McCloughan has some substantial personal issues that have not been reported. Apparently McCloughan will be taking a leave of absence.
Still, f**k the Yorks
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
Matt Maiocco still maintains this is going to be permanent: http://bit.ly/cdfTdw
Re: 49ers GM Scot McCloughan Out
And here I thought it said "personnel" issues.
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