http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/11953703p-12837972c.html
Ailene Voisin: York shouldn't let rejection deter him
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, January 7, 2005
This is no time for subtlety or slick maneuvers. This is the time to beg. The man who systematically drove the 49ers into the ground - and that would be the guy at the top, John York - suddenly has a clue. A clue, but probably no chance.
Pete Carroll is too smart for this. Too smart. Too happy. Too comfortably situated.
Too bad.
After coaching USC to consecutive national college football championships, Carroll has enough standing to sit on his accomplishments for a while, to screw up the next few seasons and still be afforded an enviable opportunity to coach in the NFL. And he will coach again in the pros; just not in San Francisco, at least not in the immediate future.
"I have not been contacted, I don't expect to be contacted, and I'm not interested," Carroll told the Associated Press on Thursday when pressed about the 49ers vacancy.
York nonetheless should press on. Coaches routinely deny interest before a romance blooms. They want to be wined and dined. They want to be chased and cultivated. Competitive creatures that they are, they live for the challenge, including the chance to prove their former employers wrong.
And somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, in the midst of the parades and the parties, Carroll surely is anticipating a day when he encounters the New York Jets and the New England Patriots, the two organizations that previously hired and fired him. The difference is that he can selectively choose his supporting cast.
Ten Years After - oh, wait, he's a Deadhead - the Bay Area native travels with a portfolio that lists two seasons as defensive coordinator of these same 49ers, one season occupied with reflection and philosophical musings about his chosen profession, and four more as the Trojans' general who revived a dormant program, capturing two titles in four years.
No, don't stop now. Try bended knee. Carroll, 53, would be an ideal fit for the 49ers. This is a San Francisco union that would figure to last at least as long as Newsom-Guilfoyle, provided York cuts the deal, signs the papers and then distances himself from football developments.
Carroll has the warmth to charm the community, the interpersonal skills to relate to pros, and the charisma and tactical acumen necessary for any undertaking of this magnitude. If he can do it at USC, why not here? The guy is good.
"You know, I'm not coaching any different now," he said during a news conference last week. "(But) I'm better at it. The signal and the message are more clear. I'm much more settled from the point of how I'm going to do things ... and coach and lead and mentor, and all those things."
All those things the 49ers so desperately crave. Shrewd personnel decisions. Creative offensive strategies. Innovative, but sound defensive tactics. The intangible elements that define leadership.
In so many respects, York's pursuit of Carroll makes tremendous sense. This is a no-brainer, if ultimately a non-starter. York's is a franchise on its knees, the 49ers having recently matched their worst record in history (2-14). The empty seats are sounding a call for the dark curtains, for their first television blackouts since the 1970s. For the first time in what seems forever, the 49ers are threatening to become both irrelevant and invisible.
They desperately need a powerful voice, a sense of direction, a reason for hope. So while the personnel problems are daunting and the notion of hiring a coach before installing a new general manager more than a little weird, an aggressive pursuit of the hottest commodity in coaching is worth the risk.
York has looked foolish before. What's one more time? At this point, inertia trumps lunacy. But he has to be deadly serious about this, or he loses whatever credibility remains. He also has to commit to doing two things: (1) offering Carroll one of the most lucrative packages in the NFL; and (2) giving him significant input on personnel matters - the lack of which Carroll says contributed mightily to his demise in New York and New England.
By contrast, at USC, the engaging, boyish-looking Carroll has everything, including total autonomy and a recruiting machine that is shifting into high gear. Anyone still wonder why Rick Majerus ran off? Or why the UCLA Bruins remain so unduly angst-ridden about their basketball program? They became realists, conceded football decades ago. They would love for Carroll to just go away.
Based on talk show buzz and York's own comments, those associated with the 49ers would also love for Carroll to go away ... and right back to his hometown.
These big-strike opportunities are presented rarely. At the very least, there is no shame in giving it a shot. The 49ers have little left to lose.
Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
Ailene Voisin: York shouldn't let rejection deter him
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, January 7, 2005
This is no time for subtlety or slick maneuvers. This is the time to beg. The man who systematically drove the 49ers into the ground - and that would be the guy at the top, John York - suddenly has a clue. A clue, but probably no chance.
Pete Carroll is too smart for this. Too smart. Too happy. Too comfortably situated.
Too bad.
After coaching USC to consecutive national college football championships, Carroll has enough standing to sit on his accomplishments for a while, to screw up the next few seasons and still be afforded an enviable opportunity to coach in the NFL. And he will coach again in the pros; just not in San Francisco, at least not in the immediate future.
"I have not been contacted, I don't expect to be contacted, and I'm not interested," Carroll told the Associated Press on Thursday when pressed about the 49ers vacancy.
York nonetheless should press on. Coaches routinely deny interest before a romance blooms. They want to be wined and dined. They want to be chased and cultivated. Competitive creatures that they are, they live for the challenge, including the chance to prove their former employers wrong.
And somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, in the midst of the parades and the parties, Carroll surely is anticipating a day when he encounters the New York Jets and the New England Patriots, the two organizations that previously hired and fired him. The difference is that he can selectively choose his supporting cast.
Ten Years After - oh, wait, he's a Deadhead - the Bay Area native travels with a portfolio that lists two seasons as defensive coordinator of these same 49ers, one season occupied with reflection and philosophical musings about his chosen profession, and four more as the Trojans' general who revived a dormant program, capturing two titles in four years.
No, don't stop now. Try bended knee. Carroll, 53, would be an ideal fit for the 49ers. This is a San Francisco union that would figure to last at least as long as Newsom-Guilfoyle, provided York cuts the deal, signs the papers and then distances himself from football developments.
Carroll has the warmth to charm the community, the interpersonal skills to relate to pros, and the charisma and tactical acumen necessary for any undertaking of this magnitude. If he can do it at USC, why not here? The guy is good.
"You know, I'm not coaching any different now," he said during a news conference last week. "(But) I'm better at it. The signal and the message are more clear. I'm much more settled from the point of how I'm going to do things ... and coach and lead and mentor, and all those things."
All those things the 49ers so desperately crave. Shrewd personnel decisions. Creative offensive strategies. Innovative, but sound defensive tactics. The intangible elements that define leadership.
In so many respects, York's pursuit of Carroll makes tremendous sense. This is a no-brainer, if ultimately a non-starter. York's is a franchise on its knees, the 49ers having recently matched their worst record in history (2-14). The empty seats are sounding a call for the dark curtains, for their first television blackouts since the 1970s. For the first time in what seems forever, the 49ers are threatening to become both irrelevant and invisible.
They desperately need a powerful voice, a sense of direction, a reason for hope. So while the personnel problems are daunting and the notion of hiring a coach before installing a new general manager more than a little weird, an aggressive pursuit of the hottest commodity in coaching is worth the risk.
York has looked foolish before. What's one more time? At this point, inertia trumps lunacy. But he has to be deadly serious about this, or he loses whatever credibility remains. He also has to commit to doing two things: (1) offering Carroll one of the most lucrative packages in the NFL; and (2) giving him significant input on personnel matters - the lack of which Carroll says contributed mightily to his demise in New York and New England.
By contrast, at USC, the engaging, boyish-looking Carroll has everything, including total autonomy and a recruiting machine that is shifting into high gear. Anyone still wonder why Rick Majerus ran off? Or why the UCLA Bruins remain so unduly angst-ridden about their basketball program? They became realists, conceded football decades ago. They would love for Carroll to just go away.
Based on talk show buzz and York's own comments, those associated with the 49ers would also love for Carroll to go away ... and right back to his hometown.
These big-strike opportunities are presented rarely. At the very least, there is no shame in giving it a shot. The 49ers have little left to lose.
Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
