Mike Singletary wanted to see how Alex Smith would respond to possibly being benched, so he tested Smith by yelling at him in front of the whole country. Singletary liked Smith’s response, so he kept him in the game.
If you think that entire episode was a little silly, a Hall of Fame coach agrees with you.
“That’s something that, a lot of things go on in a game that you’re not proud of as a coach,” Madden said on KCBS radio via the San Francisco Chronicle.
“That’s really not part of coaching, that’s sometimes I worry about that. I see youth football and I see high school football and coaches yelling at players and I cringe when I see it. I think people get the picture that’s what coaching is and believe me, that’s not what coaching is.”
Singletary seems to have the motivational speeches down, but is he a teacher? Can he give a player information that will help him win?
“You have to coach, you have to teach, you have to strategize, you have to encourage,” Madden said. “That’s what coaching is, not the opposite.”
Madden said he doesn’t think Singletary should be fired during the season, but seemed to doubt the 49ers could make the playoffs.
“What was it, Bill Parcells’ quote . . . you are what your record says you are,” Madden said.