Singletary Interviews for Chargers Job

[Evermore]

Singletary Interviews for Chargers Job
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 11:34 PM EST
The Associated Press
By BERNIE WILSON

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Chargers began their coaching search so quickly that the first candidate to be interviewed ran into the guy he hopes to replace.

Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary, the assistant head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, met with team executives Wednesday, less than 48 hours after Marty Schottenheimer was fired.

The former Chicago Bears great said he crossed paths with Schottenheimer, who was still cleaning out his office.

"I saw him and said hello," Singletary said.

Singletary, interviewing for a head coaching job for the third time since early January, thinks he's ready to move up after four seasons as an assistant.

"There's no doubt in my mind," Singletary said after emerging from his interview. "Absolutely."

Schottenheimer was fired Monday by Chargers president Dean Spanos, who said there was a "dysfunctional situation" between the coach and general manager A.J. Smith. San Diego was an NFL-best 14-2 last season before falling apart in its playoff opener, a 24-21 loss to New England.

Shortly after being fired Monday night, Schottenheimer said he had no working relationship with Smith.

"I don't have a whole lot of working knowledge on what happened in the past," Singletary said. "It's unfortunate, but every organization has something going on and I think for me, I'm just really excited to have the opportunity to come here and make the most of the opportunity."

The Chargers are generally regarded as having the best talent in the NFL, led by MVP LaDainian Tomlinson.

"All you have to do is turn on the film," Singletary said. "You can watch the offensive side of the ball and watch them run up and down the field, throw the ball and move the ball. I see a lot of potential on that side.

"Look on the defensive side of the ball and there's a lot of exciting things happening so there's a lot to get excited about here. The nucleus of a great team and having a great run is very exciting, very intriguing about this team."

One thing the Chargers need, Singletary said, is "leadership ... somebody to come in and really bring everybody together and get everybody on one page. If that happens, something very exciting is going to happen here."

The Chargers apparently learned a lesson from the Schottenheimer-Smith feud.

During the interview with Singletary, a leader on the Bears' 1985 Super Bowl championship team, Spanos discussed his organizational structure "and what's expected of the head coach," Smith said in a statement released by the team. "We discussed the roles of the general manager and head coach and how they will work together to win a championship. The goal of this search is to find the man that can help us get where we want to go. We want candidates to have a full awareness of what's being asked of them."

After retiring in 1992, Singletary spent 10 years as a motivational speaker. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998, he began his coaching career in 2003 as the inside linebackers coach of the Baltimore Ravens. After two years in that job, he became assistant head coach-linebackers with the 49ers in 2005. Last season his title was assistant head coach-defense.

Singletary said he's heard the talk about his relative lack of coaching experience.

"If I hadn't played the game, if I hadn't been around the game as long as I've been around it and if I hadn't coached it for the time that I've coached it in the role that I've been in, I think I might agree with that," he said. "My question is always, 'Do you want experience or do you want results?' I think that's what I'm all about."

Singletary also interviewed for the head coaching jobs with Atlanta and Dallas. The Cowboys' job went to Wade Phillips, who had been the Chargers' defensive coordinator. Singletary interviewed last year for the Detroit Lions' job.

Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, the son of former NFL head coach Buddy Ryan, is scheduled to interview Thursday.

"He's been ready for a long time," Buddy Ryan said by phone Wednesday. "He deserves a good shot."

Baltimore's defense gave up the fewest yards and points in the NFL last season.

Other candidates the Chargers have received permission to interview are Norv Turner, a former head coach with Oakland and Washington; Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera; and Mike Zimmer, recently hired as Atlanta's defensive coordinator after doing the same job for Dallas.

Turner was offensive coordinator with the Chargers in 2001. He's currently the 49ers' offensive coordinator. He interviewed for the Dallas Cowboys' head coaching job that went to Phillips.

Singletary and Rivera also interviewed for the Cowboys job.

Spanos said Monday that the exodus from Schottenheimer's staff — two coordinators became NFL head coaches and two assistants became coordinators — contributed to a difficult situation that resulted in the coach being fired.

[Lyion]

The Chargers are fucked. A key to winning is consistency. Rolling in a new head coach means it'll be another two years before everyone is on the same page. This wouldn't be a huge issue in the NFC, but in the AFC when one is playing Denver, KC, etc it'll be much tougher to get back into the fold again.

Fuck Spanos. He is a huge pussy and needs to sell the team. Beatherd/Ross and now Smith/Schottenheimer.

[Tikker]

it wouldn't be so bad if they'd hung on to coordinators

completely brand new coaching staff will definitely make things difficult

especially when Marty made such big concessions to how he gameplans

[Reynaldo]

The Chargers are fucked. A key to winning is consistency. Rolling in a new head coach means it'll be another two years before everyone is on the same page. This wouldn't be a huge issue in the NFC, but in the AFC when one is playing Denver, KC, etc it'll be much tougher to get back into the fold again.

Fuck Spanos. He is a huge pussy and needs to sell the team. Beatherd/Ross and now Smith/Schottenheimer.

KC is about to enter 2-3 down years. The whole offense is 35 years old, there's no big play WRs. Basically all they have is a good RB and a middle of the pack defense.

The lone bright spot is that Herm really had a great draft last year with 1-4th round picks all being effective contributers. If they can do that again this year and land a free agent Tackle or CB (Clements would be great!), I might start drinking the Kool-Aid again.

[Lyion]

KC has consistency in their coaching, though. Herm is from the Vermeil school and kept their coordinators. As you said they had good drafts and still have a lot of solid talent.

Denver is a good team, as well and will be patching holes.

San Diego needs to learn an entirely new system and get acclimated to the new regime.

This entire mess stems from Spanos being a huge puss and allowing Smith, a good talent evaluator to play Lord and King instead of making him keep his mouth shut and be a team guy, and solely doing what he should be doing: drafts and player evals.

Denver had a down year while getting Cutler up to speed. KC is getting old but is restocking nicely. This should be the chargers year, but due to completely inept management and ownership their O and D will be relearning and starting new instead of taking that final step.

So, San Diego gets the toughest schedule in the league. Has entirely new OC, DC, and a head coach, and will be trying to draft next month without any coaching input, most likely.

Sorry, I'm disgusted.

[Phlegm]

Norv Turner was hired today as the Chargers next head coach.

[Tikker]

I guess the chargers aren't interested in winning the super bowl afterall

[Evermore]

Norv Turner was hired today as the Chargers next head coach.

chargers really are fucked now

[Lyion]

Smith hired a yes man and will run the whole show. I predict 8-8. I'm disgusted even more

[Reynaldo]

Well they DO have arguably the best player in the NFL and no real holes in the actual team. The learning of new systems and all that will cost them some games, yes. But I think 10-6 is still about the worst they can do based on talent alone.

Give them a year for the high profile players to get sick of the carousel and seek free agent contracts elsewhere and they'll really be in the tank then. Plus LT will be on the downside of his prime.

[Lyion]

Did you watch the Cinci game last year? They were destroyed defensively in that game, and their secondary and coverages were exposed.

Merriman is a stud, but he isn't as good as a Brian Urlacher or Jason Taylor, IMO. They had a great scheme and a lot of good supporting people on D. They did not have a dominating D, and their O was good, but not great.

Talent wise SD matches up with anyone, but the game is just as much about coaching as it is talent.

[Alphonso]

Merriman is a stud, but he isn't as good as a Brian Urlacher or Jason Taylor, IMO

taylor and urlacher arent cheaters either.

anyways, im really bummed that norv left the niners.

[Tikker]

If the chargers can pick up a big time safety somewhere, they'll be fine on the defensive side

[Phlegm]

The Chargers also hired the Bears defensive coordinator Rivera as their linebacker coach.

[Lyion]

Linebacker coach? Why in the world would he go from a DC interviewing for a head coaching gig to a LB Coach? Especially to a team that is built around the 34?

[Phlegm]

Chicago decided not to retain him and there are no coordinator job opening.

[Tikker]

Linebacker coach? Why in the world would he go from a DC interviewing for a head coaching gig to a LB Coach? Especially to a team that is built around the 34?

he wants a job~

[Lyion]

Tell him to call Snyder up in DC and ask for 7 bills.