Poaching coaching

Niners are smart to take their time, but Detroit overpaid

MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- A couple of points about a couple of coaching searches, with the six-degrees-of-separation path always leading back to Steve Mariucci:

1. The 49ers aren't stumbling boobs for taking most of a month to fill the last NFL coaching vacancy, though they moved too slowly in trying to steal Monte Kiffin from Tampa Bay.

2. The Lions aren't stumbling boobs, either, for not interviewing a black candidate for their head-coaching job before picking Mariucci.

3. Five million a year for Mariucci is absurd.

Niners thoughts first. I'm beginning to think they were forced into being so deliberate. On Friday, Jimmy Sexton, the agent for Kiffin, Tampa Bay's defensive coordinator, called and told me the 49ers wanted to hire his client as head coach after the Super Bowl. It seems that San Francisco GM Terry Donahue blew it by not being more aggressive. Sexton said the 49ers dilly-dallied on contract terms until Kiffin had a new deal with Tampa Bay for $1.6 million a year. Then, and only then, according to Sexton, did the Niners throw real money at Kiffin -- real money like $2.4 million a year. By that point Kiffin had already given his word to the Bucs that he was staying, and he wouldn't break his commitment to take the job in San Francisco. Kiffin, also, wasn't crazy about the prospect of the undue influence of so many people in the 49ers front office -- Bill Walsh, Donahue, John York -- the kind of over-the-shoulder stuff Mariucci had felt for so long. Make no mistake, Sexton said, the 49ers wanted Kiffin very much to be their next coach.

You know, I like Kiffin. Who wouldn't, after the job he has done in Tampa Bay? And if I were the Niners, I can see why they'd want him. But I'm not sure it's such a bad loss for San Francisco. I never got the sense Kiffin burned to be a head coach the same way some of these other candidates do. Kiffin likes building a defense and the sleeping-in-the-office grind of installing the defensive game plan every week.

Now, for where the Niners are going. I don't know. I've had a feeling they were hot on Jets defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell for a while, but I have no idea if he has the edge in the derby right now. San Jose Mercury News columnist Skip Bayless wrote on Sunday that the 49ers are mulling over Rick Neuheisel, the head coach at the University of Washington. I don't know Neuheisel well, but I think that hire would be a mistake. He's pretty, but I haven't seen him be much more than a pretty good college coach. Besides, unless there's some offensive genius out there, the Niners should go defense. They have the offensive staff intact. To the larger point, I can't see knocking a team for taking its time picking a coach. There's no game next week. And you want to get it right.

Now for Detroit. I think the Lions are going to get stung hard by the NFL for not interviewing a black candidate before CEO Matt Millen hired Mariucci last week. And I think the league may dock Detroit a middle- to low-round pick in the April draft. Say it's a fourth-rounder. If you're the Lions, and after the season you were told you could have Mariucci as your coach over the next five years for a mid-round pick, wouldn't you have taken it? I'd have given a second-rounder. So the penalty won't kill them. I'm not sure this could have been avoided, either. I talked to Millen during the process, and he told me he couldn't get a black candidate to agree to come in for an interview. What Millen should have done is call the league to discuss his predicament, and say, Tell me exactly what I should do. That's what Jerry Jones did in Dallas before hiring Bill Parcells, and the league okayed him giving Dennis Green a one-hour phone interview.

Now, there are going to be some heavy slaps on the wrist as the NFL enters into this period of forcing teams to do the right affirmative-action thing and interview at least one black candidate per job opening. It should be that way. This is the right thing. For too long teams never thought of this, and look where the league is. Look at the ranks of football coaching, college and pro. They're too white. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Steelers owner Dan Rooney, whom Tagliabue appointed to chair the league's Diversity Committee, are trying to do right. Give them a chance to do it.

Mooch's money? Hey, a man should get what he can get. Good for him. But I can't see why the Lions broke the bank for a guy who -- and I might be wrong here, but I don't think so -- could have been had for $3.5 million or $4 million a year. The Lions are a team that has frequently elevated salaries of people who haven't won the big one yet (Scott Mitchell, Millen) to the top of the heap. Let them win first. Let Mariucci go 9-7 with this team before you pay him more than Parcells or Jon Gruden.

MMQB: Your dad fought in the Persian Gulf War when you were a teenager. You must know what a lot of these kids and families are going through as they say goodbye to family members who are heading over to the Middle East.

Pittman: I know the feeling, and it hurts. I went through so much pain when my dad left. We were living in San Diego, and so when I saw all the families on TV at the Super Bowl saying goodbye, it brought back a lot of painful memories. For me it got to the point where every football game I played that season, I played for him. It was great motivation.

MMQB: So, how was it to have your dad at the Super Bowl right in your hometown?

Pittman: Unbelievable. Fantastic. When the game was over, I brought [my dad] and my family down on the field, and he hugged me. He said: "We did it. We did it, son."

MMQB: You were probably known as much for a case of domestic abuse before the Super Bowl [Pittman was suspended by the NFL for one game while in Arizona for an incident with his wife, Melissa] as for football. Will your performance in such a big game change that?

Pittman: I never touched my wife. Never hit her. We were just getting to know each other. But that's in the past. I want to forget about that. Now I want to build on this game and have a great career. And I want to be a big role model.

GRUDEN ISN'T LOMBARDI, HE SAYS. From Tony Jackson of Washington, D.C.: "I think Jon Gruden is getting way too much credit in being classified as a great coach. I do agree with you when you say he's a master motivator, but he came aboard a team with a great defense already in place. If you look at the offensive numbers from last year to this year, it wasn't a big difference at all. The real factor was Gruden's motivation and the fact that a lot of teams didn't take them seriously enough because of their recent playoff history. Yes, Tampa has a good chance to repeat, but only if Gruden can get some real playmakers on that offense."

Tony, I must disagree with you. In a big way. This has become more and more a coach's game. The Bucs had a far better scoring margin this year than they did in the Tony Dungy Era. They demolished a pretty good 49ers team in the divisional round, dominated the Eagles in pathetic weather up north, and embarrassed the Raiders. They averaged 35 points a game in the playoffs. They knew what Oakland would do so well, as I wrote last week, that the safeties were sure that when Raiders QB Rich Gannon pump-faked left, he'd then throw right, and they'd be waiting for an interception, which happened. What changed in Tampa? Gruden. (Bill Muir also came on board as line coach, too, which helped immensely.) I think if Gruden doesn't flame out -- which is possible, seeing as he's only 39 and gets to work before 4 o'clock every morning -- he's going to go down as one of the great coaches of all time.

OH NO. MORE ABUSE FOR MY FAN COMMENTS ... From Salman Mitha of Munich: "I agree that the Super Bowl MVP point system is kind of 'wack,' with the fan-vote winner getting all four votes, but is that our fault? Maybe you should direct that to the people in charge ... the NFL. But to say we, the fans, should not have a say on who decides the MVP is way off-base. That's the beauty of voting -- everyone has their choice. And the fans were not that far off in choosing Jackson."

I never said that. I said you shouldn't decide it, just as I shouldn't decide it. I think, as I said last week, that to give the four fans' MVP votes all to one player is unfair.

... AND ANOTHER, WHO REALLY SEEMS TO DISLIKE ME ... From Andrew Bargen of Iowa City, Iowa: "You said, 'I didn't say fans shouldn't have a say, I just said they shouldn't decide it.' Um, since I'm just a dumb football fan and you are an omnipotent sports columnist, could you explain this concept to me? If you give fans any input at all (proportional or otherwise), there remains the possibility that when there is a close vote for Super Bowl MVP among you sportswriter gods, the fans' vote will tip the scales for one candidate or the other. In such a case we would still have those dim-witted, gap-toothed, buffoon fans deciding the issue. What a pity. Seriously, you could have taken the high road the second time around and apologized to football fans (your bread and butter) for insulting their collective intelligence. Instead, you chose to backpedal and try explain away what you said by insisting that you were misunderstood. Of course, if such a tactic is good enough for a former president of the United States, I'm that sure it's good enough for you."

He slices. He dices. He scores.

... AND ONE MORE. From Gordon Wilkie of Boston: "The reason you are upset with the current system is that by having electoral voting by fans, a fan's vote counts more than a sportswriter's vote. Simply put, whoever wins a fan vote receives four votes to the one vote that a writer has. As so many of my fellow football fans have already so eloquently stated, we should have a weighted vote because we put the money in all of your pockets. Get over yourself. You picked Randy Moss as the No. 1 fantasy player this year. You should lose any say in any football matter based on that fact alone."

Ouch. But on your larger point -- and with this e-mail, I'm going to end the discussion on this issue, if you all don't mind, because it would be a never-ending one if I didn't -- let me say this, with all due respect: You have missed the point by 16 miles. Of the people who voted in the Internet poll, 83 percent did not vote for Dexter Jackson. Five out of every six people who logged on to vote, then, had their vote count for nothing. All I proposed to do is make every fan's vote count equally. You say that a fan's vote counts more than a sportswriter's vote. How is that? My vote, half for Greg Spires and half for Simeon Rice, is counted. Five of six Internet votes are not.

GIVE BARRET ROBBINS A BREAK. From J.B. of Boston: "I don't know anything more about the Barret Robbins situation than what I've read. But I've been a little upset about what sports reporters and NFL players have been writing and saying. They make it seem as if the guy decided to blow off the Super Bowl and go do his own thing. From my own experience, I can tell you one thing: If he has a real history of bipolar disorder or depression, folks need to cut him some slack. Depression is a disease, just like cancer, diabetes or MS. What it does is descend on your brain like a fog, or some kind of thunderstorm that you don't have any control over. If Robbins had a problem with his medication or somehow got stuck in a depressive episode, then he was every bit as incapacitated as someone who had broken their leg or hurt themselves in an auto accident. I don't know what he was doing drinking the day before the Super Bowl. But if it had to do with depression, he needs friends right now, not a bunch of reporters and players sharpening their knives. Sports reporters have been very gracious to sports figures who suffer from cancer or liver disease. Can't they do the same for those with depression?"

Eloquently put. Assuming this is why he went AWOL, you make a terrific case for the accusers to shut their mouths and learn something.

2. I think the Broncos sound more and more like the future employers for Jake Plummer. Good move. He'll blossom under Mike Shanahan. I have absolutely no idea where Brian Griese will end up. If I were him, I'd try to go to either of two places -- to Pittsburgh, and wait for Tommy Maddox to become mortal, or to Chicago, simply because there's a great situation there waiting for someone to grab it.

3. I think Bill Walsh is mystified by and steamed at Jimmy Johnson for Johnson's comment late in the season that Walsh would take credit for anything that went well with the 49ers. It's amazing to me, by the way, that TV writers don't give Johnson more credit. For my money, his is the gutsiest voice on any of the studio shows, and I always know he's telling me what he really thinks about an issue. Unless, of course, it's about the Dolphins and his friends Dave Wannstedt and Norv Turner.

4. I think these are my personal thoughts of the week:

a. King Family Quote of the Week: From daughter Laura, a Tufts sophomore and apparent Joe Millionaire fan: "I wish I went to college in the Martin Luther King Era, not the Joe Millionaire Era."

b. I attended my first Mock Trial ever last week. Montclair High, with plaintiff's witness Mary Beth King, against the Essex County Home-Schoolers, on the ninth floor of the Essex County Courthouse in Newark. Great fun. Interesting to see how the kids perform in the brainy arena, rather than the athletic one. For those who don't know (like me, before this year), Mock Trial pits schools against each other in a legal case that every Mock Trial team in the county is given in the fall to start practicing. If you survive one trial (we beat the home-schoolers), then you move to the next, which for us was prestigious Seton Hall Prep. Won that one, too. More county play continues Monday night. Anyway, Mary Beth played an edgy chick badly burned in a barn fire. She had to be convincing, on the verge of tears, and sympathetic. By my account, she was all three. I am, as you know, slightly prejudiced.

c. Mary Beth leaves for Italy with her Latin class Thursday. (How insanely fortunate and privileged is she, by the way?) Anyway, she brought home a fact sheet about the trip recently, and we were going over it last night, and at the bottom, she had written in: "If war is declared ... trip = off."

d. One last Mary Beth thing: Softball practice is four weeks away, and I had the occasion to catch her southpaw slants Saturday for the first time this winter. Kid's got some mustard, and her pitches move more now than they have in the past. Could be a fun year.

5. I think this is quickie movie review of the week: I caught About Schmidt on Sunday. Terrific. A tad slow, but a very good movie with a fine lesson. Jack Nicholson has to win an Oscar as Best Actor.

6. I think if I'm the Bengals, I'm in a trading mode with that first pick. They'd better hope someone gets really excited after Carson Palmer's workout.

7. I think Jason Elam would have looked very good in Giants' blue. The Broncos did the right thing in not letting him become a free agent.

8. I think, had I watched basketball this weekend, the LeBron James game would have interested me far more than the NBA All-Star exhibition.

9. I think I notice in USA Today that Dusty Baker's unhappy about the new rule that says kids now have to be at least 14 to serve as major league batboys now. It was Baker's 3-year-old son, Darren (Three! Can you believe it? Three!), who almost got bowled over at home plate during the World Series when he went out to retrieve a bat at the wrong time. "I'd hate for him to have a complex when he grows up that it was his fault," Baker said. "He made a mistake." Dusty, everyone says you're one of the great guys in the game. HE didn't make the mistake. YOU made the mistake in letting him be a batboy at the absurdly young age of 3. Three!

10. I think, on the occasion of pitchers and catchers reporting, I'd like to remind those in new football withdrawal that it's about five months and two weeks till the opening of training camps. Don't worry. It'll be here before you know it.

 

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