Mark Kreidler: If only 49ers could rewind the Donahue era
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, June 2, 2005
I don't know if Terry Donahue is the person who leaked the over-the-top, patently offensive video about life in San Francisco that essentially got a 49ers team publicist canned.
I don't know if, as the publicist claims and Donahue denies, Donahue was trying to get back at him in the wake of Terry's sacking as the team's general manager.
And it certainly doesn't matter in terms of the video itself, which, once made public, was going to take somebody out, that's for sure.
But I can say this without the slightest hesitation: Terry Donahue is going to go down as one of the catastrophes in the history of the San Francisco franchise. His hiring will linger like a set stain, with or without Videogate trailing along behind. And the 49ers cannot possibly be far enough nor quickly enough rid of him.
Is there room for that at the end of the VHS tape?
Tell you something that no one expected: No one expected Donahue to be the massive flop that he was. No one expected him to help sink a 49ers organization that as recently as January 2003 was involved in an NFC semifinal playoff game.
Now, here, barely two full seasons later, it is painfully obvious that Donahue was the master of disaster, a big rolling glob of mistakes dressed up in really nice business suits and the smoothest patter of conversation you could ever fear to hear.
Donahue had a UCLA pedigree and a Southern California skin complexion, and no less a demigod than Bill Walsh himself was grooming the man to take over the 49ers' fortunes for the fledgling DeBartolo-York ownership group. What could possibly go wrong?
As of today: Just about all of it.
This video thing may be the least of it, really. Donahue is only peripherally involved, at any rate. The video was created and put together by team publicist Kirk Reynolds ostensibly as a how-to (or how-not-to) guide for 49ers players on dealing with the media in diversity-conscious San Francisco. Instead, it was a nonstop parade of shallow stereotypes - of gays, lesbians, hookers, panhandlers and, somewhat amazingly, Asian Americans - that never came close to being funny but was generally offensive in one way or another.
Reynolds paid for the foolishness with his job, and although I've known and respected the man for more than a decade, there's no defending this one. But it was interesting to note that Reynolds immediately named Donahue as the person who took that videotape - which, whatever its contents, was meant to be seen only internally in the 49ers organization - and sent it to the San Francisco Chronicle. (Donahue says he had nothing to do with the release of the tape.)
Reynolds' version of events is that Donahue sought retribution for his firing, partially blaming Reynolds for pushing him out. It'd be quite remarkable to see a PR man with more clout than the general manager, but setting that aside for the moment, we're still left with this: The 49ers needed no one's help in determining that Donahue had to go. There was already blood on every wall in the house.
With Walsh and John McVay aboard, the organization overcame the staggering loss of Steve Young in 1999, multiple injuries and other assorted problems. They stood behind Steve Mariucci and suffered only two losing seasons while getting the team younger and more competitive. Then they left, and the man whom Walsh supposedly hand-picked to succeed him took over.
It took Donahue barely a year at the helm to undo most of that progress (and, by the way, Walsh doesn't get a free pass on all this, does he? After all, he hired the man). Donahue led the charge to fire Mariucci - even if he was surprised by York's impulsive post-playoff timing of the dismissal, with no Plan B in place - despite the team reaching that NFC semifinal after the 2002 season.
The 2002 draft, Donahue's first as the man fully in charge, yielded 10 picks, just three of whom remain on the roster today. It is widely considered one of the greatest draft wastes in modern team history.
And it was Donahue who persuaded York, then young in his ownership, to cut things to the bone in an effort to suffer all the salary cap misery at once and magically arrive on the other side in wonderful financial shape. The team spent less on salaries and signing bonuses than any in the NFL over the past two years, yet still found itself in remarkably bad shape - on the hook for more than $19 million in bonus money to cornerback Ahmed Plummer and running back Kevan Barlow alone, to select one example.
Now the team is undertalented and cheap, and coming off the 2-14 debacle that cost Erickson and Donahue their jobs and put the Yorks on the hook for millions more in dead money - they owe Erickson $7.5 million and had to settle with Donahue after ridiculously giving him a $5 million contract extension just last fall.
In that regard, at least, the average 49ers fan might be willing to cut Kirk Reynolds some slack. They've already seen more offensive video - assuming they taped anything from these last two seasons of the Terry Donahue era. Some things are just not suitable for family viewing.
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/12994042p-13840700c.html
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, June 2, 2005
I don't know if Terry Donahue is the person who leaked the over-the-top, patently offensive video about life in San Francisco that essentially got a 49ers team publicist canned.
I don't know if, as the publicist claims and Donahue denies, Donahue was trying to get back at him in the wake of Terry's sacking as the team's general manager.
And it certainly doesn't matter in terms of the video itself, which, once made public, was going to take somebody out, that's for sure.
But I can say this without the slightest hesitation: Terry Donahue is going to go down as one of the catastrophes in the history of the San Francisco franchise. His hiring will linger like a set stain, with or without Videogate trailing along behind. And the 49ers cannot possibly be far enough nor quickly enough rid of him.
Is there room for that at the end of the VHS tape?
Tell you something that no one expected: No one expected Donahue to be the massive flop that he was. No one expected him to help sink a 49ers organization that as recently as January 2003 was involved in an NFC semifinal playoff game.
Now, here, barely two full seasons later, it is painfully obvious that Donahue was the master of disaster, a big rolling glob of mistakes dressed up in really nice business suits and the smoothest patter of conversation you could ever fear to hear.
Donahue had a UCLA pedigree and a Southern California skin complexion, and no less a demigod than Bill Walsh himself was grooming the man to take over the 49ers' fortunes for the fledgling DeBartolo-York ownership group. What could possibly go wrong?
As of today: Just about all of it.
This video thing may be the least of it, really. Donahue is only peripherally involved, at any rate. The video was created and put together by team publicist Kirk Reynolds ostensibly as a how-to (or how-not-to) guide for 49ers players on dealing with the media in diversity-conscious San Francisco. Instead, it was a nonstop parade of shallow stereotypes - of gays, lesbians, hookers, panhandlers and, somewhat amazingly, Asian Americans - that never came close to being funny but was generally offensive in one way or another.
Reynolds paid for the foolishness with his job, and although I've known and respected the man for more than a decade, there's no defending this one. But it was interesting to note that Reynolds immediately named Donahue as the person who took that videotape - which, whatever its contents, was meant to be seen only internally in the 49ers organization - and sent it to the San Francisco Chronicle. (Donahue says he had nothing to do with the release of the tape.)
Reynolds' version of events is that Donahue sought retribution for his firing, partially blaming Reynolds for pushing him out. It'd be quite remarkable to see a PR man with more clout than the general manager, but setting that aside for the moment, we're still left with this: The 49ers needed no one's help in determining that Donahue had to go. There was already blood on every wall in the house.
With Walsh and John McVay aboard, the organization overcame the staggering loss of Steve Young in 1999, multiple injuries and other assorted problems. They stood behind Steve Mariucci and suffered only two losing seasons while getting the team younger and more competitive. Then they left, and the man whom Walsh supposedly hand-picked to succeed him took over.
It took Donahue barely a year at the helm to undo most of that progress (and, by the way, Walsh doesn't get a free pass on all this, does he? After all, he hired the man). Donahue led the charge to fire Mariucci - even if he was surprised by York's impulsive post-playoff timing of the dismissal, with no Plan B in place - despite the team reaching that NFC semifinal after the 2002 season.
The 2002 draft, Donahue's first as the man fully in charge, yielded 10 picks, just three of whom remain on the roster today. It is widely considered one of the greatest draft wastes in modern team history.
And it was Donahue who persuaded York, then young in his ownership, to cut things to the bone in an effort to suffer all the salary cap misery at once and magically arrive on the other side in wonderful financial shape. The team spent less on salaries and signing bonuses than any in the NFL over the past two years, yet still found itself in remarkably bad shape - on the hook for more than $19 million in bonus money to cornerback Ahmed Plummer and running back Kevan Barlow alone, to select one example.
Now the team is undertalented and cheap, and coming off the 2-14 debacle that cost Erickson and Donahue their jobs and put the Yorks on the hook for millions more in dead money - they owe Erickson $7.5 million and had to settle with Donahue after ridiculously giving him a $5 million contract extension just last fall.
In that regard, at least, the average 49ers fan might be willing to cut Kirk Reynolds some slack. They've already seen more offensive video - assuming they taped anything from these last two seasons of the Terry Donahue era. Some things are just not suitable for family viewing.
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/12994042p-13840700c.html
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