NO....lan Defense

[Sparkey]

San Francisco 49ers (2-14)
In Mike Nolan’s four seasons as Giants defensive coordinator, the team went from the 4th ranked defense in his first season to 16th in his last.
In Mike Nolan’s three seasons as Redskins defensive coordinator the team went from the 16th ranked defense in his first season to 29th in his last.
In the three seasons before Mike Nolan became Ravens defensive coordinator, the team’s defense was ranked #2, #1 and #4. In 2002, Nolan’s first season at the helm, his defense plummeted to 22nd in the NFL.
No wonder Nolan was such a hot coaching commodity this off-season.
Mike Nolan, as he has done in every coaching stop during his career, will fail as 49ers head coach. Mark it down: By 2008 Nolan will be out of a job.

Of all the predictions I've made on this site (most of which are horribly wrong), I've never been more sure of anything than Nolan's inevitable failure in San Francisco. He was not a good coordinator in any of his three stops, so it stood to reason that he wouldn't be a good head coach for the 49ers. There are other factors, to be sure. The drafting of Alex Smith made it very difficult for Nolan to establish himself in San Francisco. But much of it was his own doing too. Nolan's defenses ranked 30, 26, 25, and 29th in his four seasons by the Bay.
I'm sure he'll get a coordinator position next season somewhere and I'm looking forward to charting that team's eventual defensive demise.



This is a post from a blog. I do not know if the info provided is accurate. IF not, then this is just someone grinding an axe. If it is accurate...

[Bretsky]

whoever created that muck should do some more detailed homework IMO

[Joemailman]

From Packersnews:

Nolan has had some ups and downs as a defensive coordinator in the NFL but became the 49ers’ head coach largely on the strength of his performance as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator from 2002 to 2004. In his first season, he took over a Ravens defense gutted by a roster purge, and it finished only No. 22 in yards allowed and No. 19 in points allowed. But his defense finished No. 3 in yards and No. 6 in points in ’03, and Nos. 6 in both in ’04.

Nolan caught on as Baltimore’s receivers coach in ’01 — the only season he’s coached offense — then became defensive coordinator in 2002. The Ravens had won the Super Bowl in the 2000 season with one of the best defenses in NFL history, finished 10-6 in 2001, then had a roster makeover because salary-cap and age issues. Among the players the Ravens lost going into 2002 were defensive tackle duo Sam Adams and Tony Siragusa, linebacker Jamie Sharper, safety Rod Woodson, defensive end Rob Burnett and cornerback Duane Starks. Nolan’s defense finished that season No. 22 in yards allowed and No. 19 in points allowed, before finishing in the top six in both categories the next two years.

[Sparkey]

Interestingly, the rankings are not specified. Are the rankings listed yards allowed or points allowed or ave yards etc., etc.,

As usual, stats are meaningless when not taken in context.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Kind of a hack job. I'm indifferent on Nolan, but he did well in his years with NYG and Baltimore, and not so well in Washington. It was interesting that his defense's sack totals were middle of the road, but his defenses were usually in the top 6 in interceptions.

[HarveyWallbangers]

1993 NYG - #1 (points allowed)
1994 NYG - #8 (points allowed)
1995 NYG - #15 (points allowed)
1996 NYG - #10 (points allowed)
1997 WAS - #8 (points allowed)
1998 WAS - #24 (points allowed)
1999 WAS - #24 (points allowed)
2000 NYJ - #19 (points allowed)
2002 BAL - #19 (points allowed)
2003 BAL - #6 (points allowed)
2004 BAL - #6 (points allowed)

We don't know the circumstances behind each of the seasons (2002 roster purge in BAL, what did he have in NYG and WAS). On average, his defenses were slightly above average.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Context is needed. Not sure if my stats are wrong or what.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090106/PKR01/90106162/1058&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL

Before that, Nolan had the difficult job of replacing Bill Belichick as the New York Jets’ defensive coordinator in 2000. He essentially ran Belichick’s version of the 3-4 and improved the Jets ranking in yards allowed from the previous season (No. 21 in ’99 to No. 11 in 2000) and dropped slightly in points allowed (from No. 9 in ’99 to No. 13 in ’00). That offseason, though, Jets coach Al Groh left to become head coach at Virginia, and new coach Herm Edwards fired Nolan and most of the rest of the coaching staff.

[SnakeLH2006]

He can't be worse than Vanilla Bob, can he?? WTH has that guy done other than get all his whole staff fired? C'mon Nolan!!

[bobblehead]

I've seen the MM and Nolan combo before..it wasn't successful. I have no interest in seeing it with their roles reversed.

[Packnut]

MM

Hiring a buddy is the classic mistake HC's make. If Nolan is the best out in there in McCarthy's opinion, than one would seriously have to question the fat man's judgement even more than most do now. Nolan is nothing special. He's had some success and a lot of failure. This would be just another dumb move, but that seem's to be the norm in GB these days...............

[Fritz]

After reading today's JSO Blog "Who's Next," I think it's titled, I feel even more strongly that hiring someone as DC who runs a 3-4 would be a terrible, terrible mistake. That blog strongly suggests that most of the Packers' prime defensive players (Kampman, Harris, Hawk, and to a lesser extent Jenkins) would be sadly miscast and useless in that system.

What the heck do you do with all those guys? What do you do with AJ Hawk? Kampman? Do you hold a fire sale? What trade value would they have - particularly Hawk - if teams knew the Packers absolutely couldn't use them?

And how do you, overnight, bring in hordes of new talent that can produce right away? There aren't enough free agents out there to sign that have enough talent to make this kind of defense work right away. You go to the 3-4, to me you're basically writing this team off for the next two years.

Screw that. Hire Gregg Wiliams, MM, and get over your apparent insecurities that sometimes seem to push you to hire friends. Or hire Moss, even. Best of all, hire Sean McDermott - a guy who's in a 4-3 system that has worked well for some time. HE can utilize the talent at hand.

And if you fired your DC, aren't you saying he didn't do enough with the talent? So aren't you looking for someone who can utilize the existing talent?

Please, please please. Just say no to anyone who runs a 3-4.

[prsnfoto]

And if you fired your DC, aren't you saying he didn't do enough with the talent? So aren't you looking for someone who can utilize the existing talent?

Please, please please. Just say no to anyone who runs a 3-4.

His DC was fired because he was average with average talent and because MM can't fire himself or TT. He and Stock were the scapegoats for a failed upper management. Yes the defense was bad but TT put the talent or lack there of on the field. MM cost them two games the Minnesota game for settling to kick a 52 yard FG and the Carolina game for calling a run play at the goalline with no WR'slined up he sucks plan and simple the only coach worse in the last 20 years for us might be Rhodes and that is a close call at this point and yes I would take Lindy Infante over MM. TT lost 4 games with his great personal moves that included cutting Ryan, cutting Tracy White, keeping KGB, trading Williams, trusting Harrell and Jolly to be good, having no depth behind the LB's, Safeties, and D-line, and lastly the least impactful so it seems right now trading BF. At this point I don't think Nolan can hurt this team and he may help it after all he is used to working with idiots in SF so he might bring some knowledge to the next table full of idiots.

[ND72]

I've seen the MM and Nolan combo before..it wasn't successful. I have no interest in seeing it with their roles reversed.

You saw the MM & Nolan combo for ONE SEASON, in Nolan's 1st season as head coach, with a rookie #1 QB, and a bunch of no name players. Shocking they didn't make the super bowl?

[hurleyfan]

Screw that. Hire Gregg Wiliams, MM, and get over your apparent insecurities that sometimes seem to push you to hire friends. Or hire Moss, even. Best of all, hire Sean McDermott - a guy who's in a 4-3 system that has worked well for some time. HE can utilize the talent at hand.

And if you fired your DC, aren't you saying he didn't do enough with the talent? So aren't you looking for someone who can utilize the existing talent?

Please, please please. Just say no to anyone who runs a 3-4.

Couldn't agree more!

Maybe having a guy "around" that wants to be a head coach will push MM also...

[HarveyWallbangers]

That blog strongly suggests that most of the Packers' prime defensive players (Kampman, Harris, Hawk, and to a lesser extent Jenkins)

I kind of ignored the story when they said Jenkins wouldn't fit the 3-4. To me, he'd be an ideal fit as a 3-4 DE. Then, I looked up Kampman's measurables when he came out of college, and I found out that he ran a 4.65 40. He's much more athletic than we give him credit for. Knowing his work ethic, it's possible that he could either bulk up and become an Aaron Smith type 3-4 DE or play 3-4 OLB (as primarily a pass rusher, but occasionally dropping into coverage). They could run a 3-4 hybrid similar to what we ran with Bryce Paup. Paup was an OLB in our 3-4, but he was more like a rover. He rarely dropped back into coverage, but it gave him the flexibility to rush from any angle. Kampman could be that guy.