Solari goes to 49ers.

[T-post Tom]

Perhaps they'd swap Solari for Muir and a few billion dollars.

49ers shuffle offensive line coaches
John Crumpacker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, January 22, 2010
(01-21) 21:26 PST -- Almost as quickly as they lost their offensive line coach to the Washington Redskins on Thursday, the 49ers found a replacement in Mike Solari, who held the same position with the Seattle Seahawks in 2008-09.

Chris Foerster, San Francisco's line coach the last two seasons, was hired away by new Redskins coach Mike Shanahan. Not to be without a line coach himself, coach Mike Singletary reached out to Solari, a former 49ers assistant, to handle his offensive line.

From 1992-96 Solari coached tight ends and was an assistant offensive line coach for the 49ers.

"When I was interviewing for a head coaching job around the league, (Solari) was my No. 1 guy (for offensive line coach)," Singletary said. "The fact I can get him at this juncture is a win-win situation. I think things work out for a reason. I like him as a person, first of all. I like the fact where he's been, the experience he's had. He has really done a great job when I look at his record."

Solari, 55, solidified his reputation working for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1997-2007, first as line coach and the last two years as offensive coordinator. His time in Kansas City overlapped with that of current 49ers offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye.

Solari had a dominating offensive line in Kansas City, featuring guards Will Shields and Brian Waters and tackle Willie Roaf. In 2004 and '05, the Chiefs led the NFL in total offense.

As for Foerster, the Redskins asked permission of the 49ers to interview him for a lateral position and Singletary said no. However, when Foerster explained to Singletary that he wanted to be closer to his family on the East Coast, Singletary relented and gave Washington permission.

Singletary said other NFL teams have asked permission to speak to members of his staff about lateral moves and he has declined.

"I don't want to get into names," he said. "We're moving forward."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz0dPXzxXSp

[Boris The Great]

Yeah, lets dump Muir ASAP, its not like the offensive line improved over the second half of the season or anything.

[T-post Tom]

Originally Posted by Boris The Great

Yeah, lets dump Muir ASAP, its not like the offensive line improved over the second half of the season or anything.

Relative to the beginning of the season? ANYTHING would look good compared to that. What a low standard to hold yourself to. Solari > Muir.

[T-post Tom]

Arrowhead West keeps growing

That Kansas City alumni club in San Francisco continues to grow.

Now, former Chiefs offensive line coach and offensive coordinator Mike Solari is joining the San Francisco 49ers staff as its new offensive line coach.

That gives Mike Singletary's staff four top assistants who formerly worked in Kansas City.

Last week, former Chiefs assistant coach Kurt Schottenheimer was hired as the 49ers special teams coach.

Jimmy Raye, a Chiefs assistant during 1992-97 and offensive coordinator in 1998-00 is the 49ers offensive coordinator; and Greg Manusky, an outstanding special teams player and backup linebacker with the Chiefs during 1994-99, is San Francisco's defensive coordinator.

Schottenheimer was the Chiefs special teams coach during 1989-94; secondary coach during 1995-98 and defensive coordinator in 1999-2000.

Solari spent the last two seasons as the offensive line coach for the Seattle Seahawks. He spent 1997-2005 as offensive line coach with the Chiefs and offensive coordinator in 2006-07.

Solari is one heck of an offensive line coach. He left something to be desired as a coordinator, but it's good to see him still in the league and with the 49ers, where he worked before coming to Kansas City.

It will be fun seeing all these guys when the 49ers visit Arrowhead Stadium next season.

http://chiefsblog.kansascity.com/?q=node/1194

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by T-post Tom

Relative to the beginning of the season? ANYTHING would look good compared to that. What a low standard to hold yourself to. Solari > Muir.

Again, you prove you're a ****ing idiot.

Haley changed the blocking scheme. He went for zone blocking this year, as opposed to Chan Gailey's scheme. Haley unfortunately wanted 30 protection schemes instead of six, which caused immediate issues.

Over the course of the final four games, the Chiefs gave up SIX SACKS.

With Charlie Weis on board, the offense will improve exponentially.

[Psyko Tek]

new Redskins coach Mike Shanahan


**** missed this

wow this should be fum to watch

[T-post Tom]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Haley changed the blocking scheme.
With Charlie Weis on board, the offense will improve exponentially.

Ask around NFL coaching circles and you'll have near unanimous agreement that Solari is an elite o-line coach and better than Muir. Or so says someone I know that worked for the NFL. Based on that and what I've seen: I'd rather have Solari than Muir. That's all I'm saying. We all know that Muir had a dearth of talent to work with. He also had to deal with a volatile, inexperienced and overwrought head coach. Not so easy, yet there was some improvement. And you're right: Weis should definately help. But I'd still prefer Weis & Solari. It's a moot point now, as Solari is gone. No surprise that he was snatched up quickly.

Thank you for your interest in my post. Have a great evening and remember to take your meds.

[Boris The Great]

Dont act like this is just about Solari. A few weeks ago someone started a thread wondering if Krumrie would stay on staff, and you said better him than Muir.

[Wilson8]

Some interesting statements from the 49ers conference call with Mike Singletary and Mike Solari.

Some questions and answers given by Mike Singletary. My comments in red.

You can read more at - http://www.ninersnation.com/2010/1/2...ry-mike-solari

On what he likes about Solari as an offensive line coach:

"Well, first of all, I like him as a person, first of all. From there, I like the fact that where he's been, the experience that he's had, and I guess he's really done a great job when I look at his track record. I think he knows what I'm talking about, in terms of the physicality that I'm talking about bringing, in terms of the mental make-up that I would like to have as an offensive line because everything starts with the offensive line. I think he understands that very well and I talked to him a few times, and there's a lot to like about him."

On whether physicality is a part of Solari's background:

"Yes it is, particularly when he was at Kansas City. He had a very physical offensive line there, very mentally tough, dominating-type of an offensive line. The fact that he has experience as a coordinator, the fact that [offensive coordinator] Jimmy Raye is familiar with him, I think it's an ideal situation."

On how much input offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye had on Mike Solari from their three years together in Kansas City:

"Well, first of all, I had already contacted Mike Solari, and Jimmy was calling after I had talked to Mike, initially made contact with him, and Jimmy was calling to make me more familiar with him. I just told Jimmy that I knew about him, and he was my No. 1 guy when I was interviewing for o-line guys. So, I just kind of helped Jimmy understand that I had a good idea of who he was and what he was about."

On whether Solari would have been his No. 1 choice:

"He would have been my No. 1 choice."

On how he knew Mike Solari so well back then:

"This is a small league, and I think even though there are 32 teams, you just kind of get around as you're asking people, ‘Who does good work?' And, you look at the film, word of mouth and that kind of thing. Got to know Mike and talked to him a couple of times. So, that's kind of how it happened."


Some questions and answers given by Mike Solari

On when he interviewed with Coach Singletary:
"I interviewed this morning with Coach Singletary."
Singletary must have thought highly of Solari to hire him on the same day.

On whether he had made contact prior to this with Coach Singletary at any point about joining his staff if Coach Singletary were hired as a head coach:

"Yes, we had. When I was in Kansas City, we spoke and I always really admired Mike from afar and I always looked forward to the opportunity to work with him. I was excited about the possibility when he was up for some different head coaching jobs in the NFL."

On whether it was for offensive line or offensive coordinator:

"It was for offensive line."
Good thing for the 49ers. Good OL coach, bad OC.

On how their styles and philosophies mesh:

"I think in the sense that we understand that the most important part of the game are the big people up front on the offensive line being able to be physical and come off the line of scrimmage together and being able to orchestrate as one. I think we are very similar in the sense of understanding, in the sense of fundamentals and techniques win championships. It's a matter of those five guys coming together and orchestrating as one."

On how familiar he is with what the 49ers have on the offensive line:

"I know that the offensive line - the San Francisco 49ers have some young offensive linemen and it is exciting for an offensive line coach to have those men to be able to coach and get them to play at a level they want to play at. I'm really looking forward to coming in and working with them with their techniques and fundamentals."

On working with former 49ers offensive line coach Bobb McKittrick in the mid-90s and what he takes from him and whether what he did then is still applicable today:

"The key thing about Bobb, he was a great line coach. It was great to work with him. I learned quite a bit from Bobb. The thing about Bobb was the details and how no stone was unturned. It was the little things and the blueprint of building a championship and the blueprint of building an offensive line unit in the sense of technique, fundamentals, crowd their sled, development of offensive linemen into very good football players. I learned a lot from Bobb and I still use those fundamentals today, in working with the offensive line, no matter where I've been, whether it be Kansas City or my time in Seattle, Bobb was a tremendous coach and person."

On whether there are similarities between what the Chiefs ran with Jimmy Raye and what the 49ers do here:

"I believe so. Jimmy Raye is an outstanding football coach and he has tremendous knowledge in the game. I was really fortunate to work with Jimmy those many years and learned a lot from him. Again, he loves the power running game very much, like Coach Singletary. Being physical at the point of attack, coming off the line of scrimmage and again, Jimmy is the same, in the sense that he understands you win with technique and fundamentals."

On whether the personnel matches up with what the Chiefs had a decade ago:

"I think it's a little bit different. I think the San Francisco 49ers line has a little bit more youth that needs to be further developed. When I was at Kansas City, we had [T] Willie Roaf at the end of his career and we had a little bit more of an offensive line with a [G] Will Shields and a [C] Casey Wiegmann, [G] Brian Waters was the young player then. Here, there's more youth on this offensive line and like I said, it's kind of exciting to come in and being able to coach some of these young guys, like a [T] Joe Staley and [G] Chilo [Rachal] at the right guard position. I'm looking forward to working with them."

On how many times in the past he has taken a high draft pick and turned them into a starter on the offensive line:

"We did it this year. Most recently would have been this year with a young man named [C] Max Unger out of the University of Oregon. We drafted him in the second round and started him at right guard and the last three games of the season, we moved him from right guard to center and that would be the most recent one, in the sense of starting a rookie and developing him and getting him up to speed. We had [T] John Tait at Kansas City, a first-round draft choice. He came in, we started him at LT and again those guys are always learning on the run and you try to get them as familiar with the offense as possible with the techniques that you need to be successful at this level and they are always kind of behind because they are always learning, but that would be most recent."

On how he was let go from Seattle:

"The actual fact was I met with Pete Carroll and Pete was bringing in Alex Gibbs and it was something that Pete felt strongly about in the sense that he had Alex come by USC every year to work with the coaches. They talked about the schemes, like the wide zone and the tight zone, and Pete decided if he got another job in the NFL he would hire him. So, Pete told me that he was going to hire Alex Gibbs as the offensive line coach and if I'd be interested in staying as the tight ends coach. My love is the offensive line and I think my strength is coaching the offensive line, so this was something I wanted to do. It was a great opportunity here with Coach Singletary and I'm very fortunate how things worked out and it was a great opportunity for me to be back here and I really appreciate the York's for giving me the opportunity to come back and be the offensive line coach with the San Francisco 49ers."

On how much input he will have in devising the run game:

"Well, I have to sit down with Jimmy Raye and again, whatever Jimmy needs to be successful, I'll do and again, the most important thing is we are all pieces of a puzzle put together as a staff and our job is to make sure that Jimmy has whatever he needs to be able to call the game that he needs to call up to win and that will be decided by Jimmy Raye and what he needs done by me on my part."

On how much, percentage-wise, he incorporates zone and man blocking techniques:

"Well, what happened this year with Coach [Jim] Mora, we went with the theory that it was going to be -we were going to go with zone blocking, wide zone and tight zone, to answer your question. I guess what I should be saying is, you need a little bit of both, the wide zones, the tight zones, [inaudible], but also you need to be able to run a power scheme, have man blocking and variations. Now, with more teams going to the 3-4 front, you need some variation because the wide zone, what they are doing is taking away the wide zone and you are seeing that from the 34 front teams they are biting those outside linebackers and they are penetrating them up the field where your back can't press the line of scrimmage and get a good cut off that first step which is very, very important in the wide zones. You need to change up the variations of your blocking scheme and you need to do what the strength of your personnel is with your runner and your offensive line."

On what the 49ers strength is right now:

"Again, I need to do more work and look at the film. Again, the offensive line is a group of young men that are talented with some different things. But again, that's something that Jimmy Raye is right on top of and he is an outstanding coach. He's on top of that with what their strengths are and so forth. That's where I need to get caught up to speed, watching some film on these guys and then also having some suggestions on what I think, what I believe that they can do, but Jimmy Raye has a great deal of that."

On one of the needs on the team being a tackle and whether he would like to have some input on who they draft:

"Yes, I'll give my input, but again, it's up to Mike and how he wants to utilize it. I'm sure they'll give me some offensive linemen to evaluate and it's my job to evaluate them. It's my job to have a very good feel of the offensive linemen here and to be able to insert them where they would fit, in the sense of, they are better than this player here and not as good as these players here and be able to insert them and be able to make a statement that I believe they can improve the offensive line or this guy is a starter, I'm sure they would take my reports and understand what I'm trying to say on the reports and being able to evaluate the offensive line and how I see them."

On whether it's accurate that Coach Singletary and his wife Kim talked to him:
"Yes."
Pretty interesting that Singletary and his wife interviewed Solari and his wife.

On whether that was the first time that he had ever been evaluated by a head coach's wife:

"I enjoyed it. I enjoyed her company. I enjoyed her being a part of it. It was great. My wife was there also. It was special. It was special for my wife. On my part, Patty, my wife, they're such an important part of the profession. They work so hard and they literally raise our families because of the hours that we invest as a professional coach, just like all coaches at different levels. It's unbelievable what these wives do to be able to do a great job in our home."

On how old his children are:

"Tamara is our oldest. She's 24 years old and she's up in Seattle with us. Stephanie just graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois, she's 22 and then Michael is our youngest, he's going to Missouri-Rolla and he's 21."
Go Miners

On the interview being this morning:
"Yes."

[T-post Tom]

Originally Posted by Boris The Great

Dont act like this is just about Solari. A few weeks ago someone started a thread wondering if Krumrie would stay on staff, and you said better him than Muir.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Muir's o-line coaching. But I also admire Solari independent of that. Have for MANY years. Please don't tell me what my motivations are; I think I know them a little better than you do.

[T-post Tom]

Originally Posted by Wilson8

Some interesting statements from the 49ers conference call with Mike Singletary and Mike Solari.

Some questions and answers given by Mike Singletary. My comments in red.

You can read more at - http://www.ninersnation.com/2010/1/2...ry-mike-solari

On what he likes about Solari as an offensive line coach:

"Well, first of all, I like him as a person, first of all. From there, I like the fact that where he's been, the experience that he's had, and I guess he's really done a great job when I look at his track record. I think he knows what I'm talking about, in terms of the physicality that I'm talking about bringing, in terms of the mental make-up that I would like to have as an offensive line because everything starts with the offensive line. I think he understands that very well and I talked to him a few times, and there's a lot to like about him."

On whether physicality is a part of Solari's background:

"Yes it is, particularly when he was at Kansas City. He had a very physical offensive line there, very mentally tough, dominating-type of an offensive line. The fact that he has experience as a coordinator, the fact that [offensive coordinator] Jimmy Raye is familiar with him, I think it's an ideal situation."

On how much input offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye had on Mike Solari from their three years together in Kansas City:

"Well, first of all, I had already contacted Mike Solari, and Jimmy was calling after I had talked to Mike, initially made contact with him, and Jimmy was calling to make me more familiar with him. I just told Jimmy that I knew about him, and he was my No. 1 guy when I was interviewing for o-line guys. So, I just kind of helped Jimmy understand that I had a good idea of who he was and what he was about."

On whether Solari would have been his No. 1 choice:

"He would have been my No. 1 choice."

On how he knew Mike Solari so well back then:

"This is a small league, and I think even though there are 32 teams, you just kind of get around as you're asking people, ‘Who does good work?' And, you look at the film, word of mouth and that kind of thing. Got to know Mike and talked to him a couple of times. So, that's kind of how it happened."


Some questions and answers given by Mike Solari

On when he interviewed with Coach Singletary:
"I interviewed this morning with Coach Singletary."
Singletary must have thought highly of Solari to hire him on the same day.

On whether he had made contact prior to this with Coach Singletary at any point about joining his staff if Coach Singletary were hired as a head coach:

"Yes, we had. When I was in Kansas City, we spoke and I always really admired Mike from afar and I always looked forward to the opportunity to work with him. I was excited about the possibility when he was up for some different head coaching jobs in the NFL."

On whether it was for offensive line or offensive coordinator:

"It was for offensive line."
Good thing for the 49ers. Good OL coach, bad OC.

On how their styles and philosophies mesh:

"I think in the sense that we understand that the most important part of the game are the big people up front on the offensive line being able to be physical and come off the line of scrimmage together and being able to orchestrate as one. I think we are very similar in the sense of understanding, in the sense of fundamentals and techniques win championships. It's a matter of those five guys coming together and orchestrating as one."

On how familiar he is with what the 49ers have on the offensive line:

"I know that the offensive line - the San Francisco 49ers have some young offensive linemen and it is exciting for an offensive line coach to have those men to be able to coach and get them to play at a level they want to play at. I'm really looking forward to coming in and working with them with their techniques and fundamentals."

On working with former 49ers offensive line coach Bobb McKittrick in the mid-90s and what he takes from him and whether what he did then is still applicable today:

"The key thing about Bobb, he was a great line coach. It was great to work with him. I learned quite a bit from Bobb. The thing about Bobb was the details and how no stone was unturned. It was the little things and the blueprint of building a championship and the blueprint of building an offensive line unit in the sense of technique, fundamentals, crowd their sled, development of offensive linemen into very good football players. I learned a lot from Bobb and I still use those fundamentals today, in working with the offensive line, no matter where I've been, whether it be Kansas City or my time in Seattle, Bobb was a tremendous coach and person."

On whether there are similarities between what the Chiefs ran with Jimmy Raye and what the 49ers do here:

"I believe so. Jimmy Raye is an outstanding football coach and he has tremendous knowledge in the game. I was really fortunate to work with Jimmy those many years and learned a lot from him. Again, he loves the power running game very much, like Coach Singletary. Being physical at the point of attack, coming off the line of scrimmage and again, Jimmy is the same, in the sense that he understands you win with technique and fundamentals."

On whether the personnel matches up with what the Chiefs had a decade ago:

"I think it's a little bit different. I think the San Francisco 49ers line has a little bit more youth that needs to be further developed. When I was at Kansas City, we had [T] Willie Roaf at the end of his career and we had a little bit more of an offensive line with a [G] Will Shields and a [C] Casey Wiegmann, [G] Brian Waters was the young player then. Here, there's more youth on this offensive line and like I said, it's kind of exciting to come in and being able to coach some of these young guys, like a [T] Joe Staley and [G] Chilo [Rachal] at the right guard position. I'm looking forward to working with them."

On how many times in the past he has taken a high draft pick and turned them into a starter on the offensive line:

"We did it this year. Most recently would have been this year with a young man named [C] Max Unger out of the University of Oregon. We drafted him in the second round and started him at right guard and the last three games of the season, we moved him from right guard to center and that would be the most recent one, in the sense of starting a rookie and developing him and getting him up to speed. We had [T] John Tait at Kansas City, a first-round draft choice. He came in, we started him at LT and again those guys are always learning on the run and you try to get them as familiar with the offense as possible with the techniques that you need to be successful at this level and they are always kind of behind because they are always learning, but that would be most recent."

On how he was let go from Seattle:

"The actual fact was I met with Pete Carroll and Pete was bringing in Alex Gibbs and it was something that Pete felt strongly about in the sense that he had Alex come by USC every year to work with the coaches. They talked about the schemes, like the wide zone and the tight zone, and Pete decided if he got another job in the NFL he would hire him. So, Pete told me that he was going to hire Alex Gibbs as the offensive line coach and if I'd be interested in staying as the tight ends coach. My love is the offensive line and I think my strength is coaching the offensive line, so this was something I wanted to do. It was a great opportunity here with Coach Singletary and I'm very fortunate how things worked out and it was a great opportunity for me to be back here and I really appreciate the York's for giving me the opportunity to come back and be the offensive line coach with the San Francisco 49ers."

On how much input he will have in devising the run game:

"Well, I have to sit down with Jimmy Raye and again, whatever Jimmy needs to be successful, I'll do and again, the most important thing is we are all pieces of a puzzle put together as a staff and our job is to make sure that Jimmy has whatever he needs to be able to call the game that he needs to call up to win and that will be decided by Jimmy Raye and what he needs done by me on my part."

On how much, percentage-wise, he incorporates zone and man blocking techniques:

"Well, what happened this year with Coach [Jim] Mora, we went with the theory that it was going to be -we were going to go with zone blocking, wide zone and tight zone, to answer your question. I guess what I should be saying is, you need a little bit of both, the wide zones, the tight zones, [inaudible], but also you need to be able to run a power scheme, have man blocking and variations. Now, with more teams going to the 3-4 front, you need some variation because the wide zone, what they are doing is taking away the wide zone and you are seeing that from the 34 front teams they are biting those outside linebackers and they are penetrating them up the field where your back can't press the line of scrimmage and get a good cut off that first step which is very, very important in the wide zones. You need to change up the variations of your blocking scheme and you need to do what the strength of your personnel is with your runner and your offensive line."

On what the 49ers strength is right now:

"Again, I need to do more work and look at the film. Again, the offensive line is a group of young men that are talented with some different things. But again, that's something that Jimmy Raye is right on top of and he is an outstanding coach. He's on top of that with what their strengths are and so forth. That's where I need to get caught up to speed, watching some film on these guys and then also having some suggestions on what I think, what I believe that they can do, but Jimmy Raye has a great deal of that."

On one of the needs on the team being a tackle and whether he would like to have some input on who they draft:

"Yes, I'll give my input, but again, it's up to Mike and how he wants to utilize it. I'm sure they'll give me some offensive linemen to evaluate and it's my job to evaluate them. It's my job to have a very good feel of the offensive linemen here and to be able to insert them where they would fit, in the sense of, they are better than this player here and not as good as these players here and be able to insert them and be able to make a statement that I believe they can improve the offensive line or this guy is a starter, I'm sure they would take my reports and understand what I'm trying to say on the reports and being able to evaluate the offensive line and how I see them."

On whether it's accurate that Coach Singletary and his wife Kim talked to him:
"Yes."
Pretty interesting that Singletary and his wife interviewed Solari and his wife.

On whether that was the first time that he had ever been evaluated by a head coach's wife:

"I enjoyed it. I enjoyed her company. I enjoyed her being a part of it. It was great. My wife was there also. It was special. It was special for my wife. On my part, Patty, my wife, they're such an important part of the profession. They work so hard and they literally raise our families because of the hours that we invest as a professional coach, just like all coaches at different levels. It's unbelievable what these wives do to be able to do a great job in our home."

On how old his children are:

"Tamara is our oldest. She's 24 years old and she's up in Seattle with us. Stephanie just graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois, she's 22 and then Michael is our youngest, he's going to Missouri-Rolla and he's 21."
Go Miners

On the interview being this morning:
"Yes."

Good post. Singletary was smart to snatch him so quickly.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Wilson8

Some interesting statements from the 49ers conference call with Mike Singletary and Mike Solari.

Some questions and answers given by Mike Singletary. My comments in red.

You can read more at - http://www.ninersnation.com/2010/1/2...ry-mike-solari

On what he likes about Solari as an offensive line coach:

"Well, first of all, I like him as a person, first of all. From there, I like the fact that where he's been, the experience that he's had, and I guess he's really done a great job when I look at his track record. I think he knows what I'm talking about, in terms of the physicality that I'm talking about bringing, in terms of the mental make-up that I would like to have as an offensive line because everything starts with the offensive line. I think he understands that very well and I talked to him a few times, and there's a lot to like about him."

On whether physicality is a part of Solari's background:

"Yes it is, particularly when he was at Kansas City. He had a very physical offensive line there, very mentally tough, dominating-type of an offensive line. The fact that he has experience as a coordinator, the fact that [offensive coordinator] Jimmy Raye is familiar with him, I think it's an ideal situation."

On how much input offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye had on Mike Solari from their three years together in Kansas City:

"Well, first of all, I had already contacted Mike Solari, and Jimmy was calling after I had talked to Mike, initially made contact with him, and Jimmy was calling to make me more familiar with him. I just told Jimmy that I knew about him, and he was my No. 1 guy when I was interviewing for o-line guys. So, I just kind of helped Jimmy understand that I had a good idea of who he was and what he was about."

On whether Solari would have been his No. 1 choice:

"He would have been my No. 1 choice."

On how he knew Mike Solari so well back then:

"This is a small league, and I think even though there are 32 teams, you just kind of get around as you're asking people, ‘Who does good work?' And, you look at the film, word of mouth and that kind of thing. Got to know Mike and talked to him a couple of times. So, that's kind of how it happened."


Some questions and answers given by Mike Solari

On when he interviewed with Coach Singletary:
"I interviewed this morning with Coach Singletary."
Singletary must have thought highly of Solari to hire him on the same day.

On whether he had made contact prior to this with Coach Singletary at any point about joining his staff if Coach Singletary were hired as a head coach:

"Yes, we had. When I was in Kansas City, we spoke and I always really admired Mike from afar and I always looked forward to the opportunity to work with him. I was excited about the possibility when he was up for some different head coaching jobs in the NFL."

On whether it was for offensive line or offensive coordinator:

"It was for offensive line."
Good thing for the 49ers. Good OL coach, bad OC.

On how their styles and philosophies mesh:

"I think in the sense that we understand that the most important part of the game are the big people up front on the offensive line being able to be physical and come off the line of scrimmage together and being able to orchestrate as one. I think we are very similar in the sense of understanding, in the sense of fundamentals and techniques win championships. It's a matter of those five guys coming together and orchestrating as one."

On how familiar he is with what the 49ers have on the offensive line:

"I know that the offensive line - the San Francisco 49ers have some young offensive linemen and it is exciting for an offensive line coach to have those men to be able to coach and get them to play at a level they want to play at. I'm really looking forward to coming in and working with them with their techniques and fundamentals."

On working with former 49ers offensive line coach Bobb McKittrick in the mid-90s and what he takes from him and whether what he did then is still applicable today:

"The key thing about Bobb, he was a great line coach. It was great to work with him. I learned quite a bit from Bobb. The thing about Bobb was the details and how no stone was unturned. It was the little things and the blueprint of building a championship and the blueprint of building an offensive line unit in the sense of technique, fundamentals, crowd their sled, development of offensive linemen into very good football players. I learned a lot from Bobb and I still use those fundamentals today, in working with the offensive line, no matter where I've been, whether it be Kansas City or my time in Seattle, Bobb was a tremendous coach and person."

On whether there are similarities between what the Chiefs ran with Jimmy Raye and what the 49ers do here:

"I believe so. Jimmy Raye is an outstanding football coach and he has tremendous knowledge in the game. I was really fortunate to work with Jimmy those many years and learned a lot from him. Again, he loves the power running game very much, like Coach Singletary. Being physical at the point of attack, coming off the line of scrimmage and again, Jimmy is the same, in the sense that he understands you win with technique and fundamentals."

On whether the personnel matches up with what the Chiefs had a decade ago:

"I think it's a little bit different. I think the San Francisco 49ers line has a little bit more youth that needs to be further developed. When I was at Kansas City, we had [T] Willie Roaf at the end of his career and we had a little bit more of an offensive line with a [G] Will Shields and a [C] Casey Wiegmann, [G] Brian Waters was the young player then. Here, there's more youth on this offensive line and like I said, it's kind of exciting to come in and being able to coach some of these young guys, like a [T] Joe Staley and [G] Chilo [Rachal] at the right guard position. I'm looking forward to working with them."

On how many times in the past he has taken a high draft pick and turned them into a starter on the offensive line:

"We did it this year. Most recently would have been this year with a young man named [C] Max Unger out of the University of Oregon. We drafted him in the second round and started him at right guard and the last three games of the season, we moved him from right guard to center and that would be the most recent one, in the sense of starting a rookie and developing him and getting him up to speed. We had [T] John Tait at Kansas City, a first-round draft choice. He came in, we started him at LT and again those guys are always learning on the run and you try to get them as familiar with the offense as possible with the techniques that you need to be successful at this level and they are always kind of behind because they are always learning, but that would be most recent."

On how he was let go from Seattle:

"The actual fact was I met with Pete Carroll and Pete was bringing in Alex Gibbs and it was something that Pete felt strongly about in the sense that he had Alex come by USC every year to work with the coaches. They talked about the schemes, like the wide zone and the tight zone, and Pete decided if he got another job in the NFL he would hire him. So, Pete told me that he was going to hire Alex Gibbs as the offensive line coach and if I'd be interested in staying as the tight ends coach. My love is the offensive line and I think my strength is coaching the offensive line, so this was something I wanted to do. It was a great opportunity here with Coach Singletary and I'm very fortunate how things worked out and it was a great opportunity for me to be back here and I really appreciate the York's for giving me the opportunity to come back and be the offensive line coach with the San Francisco 49ers."

On how much input he will have in devising the run game:

"Well, I have to sit down with Jimmy Raye and again, whatever Jimmy needs to be successful, I'll do and again, the most important thing is we are all pieces of a puzzle put together as a staff and our job is to make sure that Jimmy has whatever he needs to be able to call the game that he needs to call up to win and that will be decided by Jimmy Raye and what he needs done by me on my part."

On how much, percentage-wise, he incorporates zone and man blocking techniques:

"Well, what happened this year with Coach [Jim] Mora, we went with the theory that it was going to be -we were going to go with zone blocking, wide zone and tight zone, to answer your question. I guess what I should be saying is, you need a little bit of both, the wide zones, the tight zones, [inaudible], but also you need to be able to run a power scheme, have man blocking and variations. Now, with more teams going to the 3-4 front, you need some variation because the wide zone, what they are doing is taking away the wide zone and you are seeing that from the 34 front teams they are biting those outside linebackers and they are penetrating them up the field where your back can't press the line of scrimmage and get a good cut off that first step which is very, very important in the wide zones. You need to change up the variations of your blocking scheme and you need to do what the strength of your personnel is with your runner and your offensive line."

On what the 49ers strength is right now:

"Again, I need to do more work and look at the film. Again, the offensive line is a group of young men that are talented with some different things. But again, that's something that Jimmy Raye is right on top of and he is an outstanding coach. He's on top of that with what their strengths are and so forth. That's where I need to get caught up to speed, watching some film on these guys and then also having some suggestions on what I think, what I believe that they can do, but Jimmy Raye has a great deal of that."

On one of the needs on the team being a tackle and whether he would like to have some input on who they draft:

"Yes, I'll give my input, but again, it's up to Mike and how he wants to utilize it. I'm sure they'll give me some offensive linemen to evaluate and it's my job to evaluate them. It's my job to have a very good feel of the offensive linemen here and to be able to insert them where they would fit, in the sense of, they are better than this player here and not as good as these players here and be able to insert them and be able to make a statement that I believe they can improve the offensive line or this guy is a starter, I'm sure they would take my reports and understand what I'm trying to say on the reports and being able to evaluate the offensive line and how I see them."

On whether it's accurate that Coach Singletary and his wife Kim talked to him:
"Yes."
Pretty interesting that Singletary and his wife interviewed Solari and his wife.

On whether that was the first time that he had ever been evaluated by a head coach's wife:

"I enjoyed it. I enjoyed her company. I enjoyed her being a part of it. It was great. My wife was there also. It was special. It was special for my wife. On my part, Patty, my wife, they're such an important part of the profession. They work so hard and they literally raise our families because of the hours that we invest as a professional coach, just like all coaches at different levels. It's unbelievable what these wives do to be able to do a great job in our home."

On how old his children are:

"Tamara is our oldest. She's 24 years old and she's up in Seattle with us. Stephanie just graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois, she's 22 and then Michael is our youngest, he's going to Missouri-Rolla and he's 21."
Go Miners

On the interview being this morning:
"Yes."

Just in case someone missed it the last time it was quoted....

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by T-post Tom

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Muir's o-line coaching. But I also admire Solari independent of that. Have for MANY years. Please don't tell me what my motivations are; I think I know them a little better than you do.

Boris is first rate hack... Just ignore him... Anytime you bring up facts and stats, he runs...

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by Wilson8

Some interesting statements from the 49ers conference call with Mike Singletary and Mike Solari.

Some questions and answers given by Mike Singletary. My comments in red.

You can read more at - http://www.ninersnation.com/2010/1/2...ry-mike-solari

On what he likes about Solari as an offensive line coach:

"Well, first of all, I like him as a person, first of all. From there, I like the fact that where he's been, the experience that he's had, and I guess he's really done a great job when I look at his track record. I think he knows what I'm talking about, in terms of the physicality that I'm talking about bringing, in terms of the mental make-up that I would like to have as an offensive line because everything starts with the offensive line. I think he understands that very well and I talked to him a few times, and there's a lot to like about him."

On whether physicality is a part of Solari's background:

"Yes it is, particularly when he was at Kansas City. He had a very physical offensive line there, very mentally tough, dominating-type of an offensive line. The fact that he has experience as a coordinator, the fact that [offensive coordinator] Jimmy Raye is familiar with him, I think it's an ideal situation."

On how much input offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye had on Mike Solari from their three years together in Kansas City:

"Well, first of all, I had already contacted Mike Solari, and Jimmy was calling after I had talked to Mike, initially made contact with him, and Jimmy was calling to make me more familiar with him. I just told Jimmy that I knew about him, and he was my No. 1 guy when I was interviewing for o-line guys. So, I just kind of helped Jimmy understand that I had a good idea of who he was and what he was about."

On whether Solari would have been his No. 1 choice:

"He would have been my No. 1 choice."

On how he knew Mike Solari so well back then:

"This is a small league, and I think even though there are 32 teams, you just kind of get around as you're asking people, ‘Who does good work?' And, you look at the film, word of mouth and that kind of thing. Got to know Mike and talked to him a couple of times. So, that's kind of how it happened."


Some questions and answers given by Mike Solari

On when he interviewed with Coach Singletary:
"I interviewed this morning with Coach Singletary."
Singletary must have thought highly of Solari to hire him on the same day.

On whether he had made contact prior to this with Coach Singletary at any point about joining his staff if Coach Singletary were hired as a head coach:

"Yes, we had. When I was in Kansas City, we spoke and I always really admired Mike from afar and I always looked forward to the opportunity to work with him. I was excited about the possibility when he was up for some different head coaching jobs in the NFL."

On whether it was for offensive line or offensive coordinator:

"It was for offensive line."
Good thing for the 49ers. Good OL coach, bad OC.

On how their styles and philosophies mesh:

"I think in the sense that we understand that the most important part of the game are the big people up front on the offensive line being able to be physical and come off the line of scrimmage together and being able to orchestrate as one. I think we are very similar in the sense of understanding, in the sense of fundamentals and techniques win championships. It's a matter of those five guys coming together and orchestrating as one."

On how familiar he is with what the 49ers have on the offensive line:

"I know that the offensive line - the San Francisco 49ers have some young offensive linemen and it is exciting for an offensive line coach to have those men to be able to coach and get them to play at a level they want to play at. I'm really looking forward to coming in and working with them with their techniques and fundamentals."

On working with former 49ers offensive line coach Bobb McKittrick in the mid-90s and what he takes from him and whether what he did then is still applicable today:

"The key thing about Bobb, he was a great line coach. It was great to work with him. I learned quite a bit from Bobb. The thing about Bobb was the details and how no stone was unturned. It was the little things and the blueprint of building a championship and the blueprint of building an offensive line unit in the sense of technique, fundamentals, crowd their sled, development of offensive linemen into very good football players. I learned a lot from Bobb and I still use those fundamentals today, in working with the offensive line, no matter where I've been, whether it be Kansas City or my time in Seattle, Bobb was a tremendous coach and person."

On whether there are similarities between what the Chiefs ran with Jimmy Raye and what the 49ers do here:

"I believe so. Jimmy Raye is an outstanding football coach and he has tremendous knowledge in the game. I was really fortunate to work with Jimmy those many years and learned a lot from him. Again, he loves the power running game very much, like Coach Singletary. Being physical at the point of attack, coming off the line of scrimmage and again, Jimmy is the same, in the sense that he understands you win with technique and fundamentals."

On whether the personnel matches up with what the Chiefs had a decade ago:

"I think it's a little bit different. I think the San Francisco 49ers line has a little bit more youth that needs to be further developed. When I was at Kansas City, we had [T] Willie Roaf at the end of his career and we had a little bit more of an offensive line with a [G] Will Shields and a [C] Casey Wiegmann, [G] Brian Waters was the young player then. Here, there's more youth on this offensive line and like I said, it's kind of exciting to come in and being able to coach some of these young guys, like a [T] Joe Staley and [G] Chilo [Rachal] at the right guard position. I'm looking forward to working with them."

On how many times in the past he has taken a high draft pick and turned them into a starter on the offensive line:

"We did it this year. Most recently would have been this year with a young man named [C] Max Unger out of the University of Oregon. We drafted him in the second round and started him at right guard and the last three games of the season, we moved him from right guard to center and that would be the most recent one, in the sense of starting a rookie and developing him and getting him up to speed. We had [T] John Tait at Kansas City, a first-round draft choice. He came in, we started him at LT and again those guys are always learning on the run and you try to get them as familiar with the offense as possible with the techniques that you need to be successful at this level and they are always kind of behind because they are always learning, but that would be most recent."

On how he was let go from Seattle:

"The actual fact was I met with Pete Carroll and Pete was bringing in Alex Gibbs and it was something that Pete felt strongly about in the sense that he had Alex come by USC every year to work with the coaches. They talked about the schemes, like the wide zone and the tight zone, and Pete decided if he got another job in the NFL he would hire him. So, Pete told me that he was going to hire Alex Gibbs as the offensive line coach and if I'd be interested in staying as the tight ends coach. My love is the offensive line and I think my strength is coaching the offensive line, so this was something I wanted to do. It was a great opportunity here with Coach Singletary and I'm very fortunate how things worked out and it was a great opportunity for me to be back here and I really appreciate the York's for giving me the opportunity to come back and be the offensive line coach with the San Francisco 49ers."

On how much input he will have in devising the run game:

"Well, I have to sit down with Jimmy Raye and again, whatever Jimmy needs to be successful, I'll do and again, the most important thing is we are all pieces of a puzzle put together as a staff and our job is to make sure that Jimmy has whatever he needs to be able to call the game that he needs to call up to win and that will be decided by Jimmy Raye and what he needs done by me on my part."

On how much, percentage-wise, he incorporates zone and man blocking techniques:

"Well, what happened this year with Coach [Jim] Mora, we went with the theory that it was going to be -we were going to go with zone blocking, wide zone and tight zone, to answer your question. I guess what I should be saying is, you need a little bit of both, the wide zones, the tight zones, [inaudible], but also you need to be able to run a power scheme, have man blocking and variations. Now, with more teams going to the 3-4 front, you need some variation because the wide zone, what they are doing is taking away the wide zone and you are seeing that from the 34 front teams they are biting those outside linebackers and they are penetrating them up the field where your back can't press the line of scrimmage and get a good cut off that first step which is very, very important in the wide zones. You need to change up the variations of your blocking scheme and you need to do what the strength of your personnel is with your runner and your offensive line."

On what the 49ers strength is right now:

"Again, I need to do more work and look at the film. Again, the offensive line is a group of young men that are talented with some different things. But again, that's something that Jimmy Raye is right on top of and he is an outstanding coach. He's on top of that with what their strengths are and so forth. That's where I need to get caught up to speed, watching some film on these guys and then also having some suggestions on what I think, what I believe that they can do, but Jimmy Raye has a great deal of that."

On one of the needs on the team being a tackle and whether he would like to have some input on who they draft:

"Yes, I'll give my input, but again, it's up to Mike and how he wants to utilize it. I'm sure they'll give me some offensive linemen to evaluate and it's my job to evaluate them. It's my job to have a very good feel of the offensive linemen here and to be able to insert them where they would fit, in the sense of, they are better than this player here and not as good as these players here and be able to insert them and be able to make a statement that I believe they can improve the offensive line or this guy is a starter, I'm sure they would take my reports and understand what I'm trying to say on the reports and being able to evaluate the offensive line and how I see them."

On whether it's accurate that Coach Singletary and his wife Kim talked to him:
"Yes."
Pretty interesting that Singletary and his wife interviewed Solari and his wife.

On whether that was the first time that he had ever been evaluated by a head coach's wife:

"I enjoyed it. I enjoyed her company. I enjoyed her being a part of it. It was great. My wife was there also. It was special. It was special for my wife. On my part, Patty, my wife, they're such an important part of the profession. They work so hard and they literally raise our families because of the hours that we invest as a professional coach, just like all coaches at different levels. It's unbelievable what these wives do to be able to do a great job in our home."

On how old his children are:

"Tamara is our oldest. She's 24 years old and she's up in Seattle with us. Stephanie just graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois, she's 22 and then Michael is our youngest, he's going to Missouri-Rolla and he's 21."
Go Miners

On the interview being this morning:
"Yes."

Whats everyones thoughts on this?

[Wilson8]

It was hard enough for me to post it once. I wasn't planning on posting over and over.

When I posted it the first time, it had some interesting info in it on how Mike Solari and Mike Singletary operate and coach.