As the 49ers search for a new coach, one of the team’s former quarterback’s wants a shot at the job. But he’s sufficiently realistic to know he has no chance.
“Let’s be honest with each other. As much as I believe and feel that I am capable of leading a team, people don’t want you to be able to take the shortcut,” Garcia said Wednesday on KNBR, via NBCBayArea.com. “They want you to go through the process — they want you to start as the assistant, they want you to work your way up to the coordinator, they want you to work your way into that head coach position.”
“They” would be, you know, the owners of NFL teams, who believe that it’s important for a coach to have credibility among the players, the staff, the media, and the fan base. That credibility comes from paying dues and learning the craft and developing skills and growing in to the job.
“I tell you what — the 17 years of professional football experience that I have in my backpocket, and the years of growing up around a father who was a head coach and just being around the game — have prepared me to be the leader of a football team,” Garcia said. “And that’s what this team needs — they need a leader of the football team. . . . They need somebody who is gonna come in and is not gonna take any trash; not gonna take any instability as far as the personality is concerned, and understand that this has to be about the team. It can’t be about your individual success, it can’t be about your individual contract; it’s gotta be about the team.”
On one hand, the 49ers couldn’t do much worse with Garcia than they did with Chip Kelly or Jim Tomsula. On the other hand, it would be a risky move for a team that currently is viewed as one of the most dysfunctional in the league.
With a fine line between thinking outside the box and being effin’ nutty, few would assume that the 49ers have suddenly found the next Bill Walsh in the form of a former quarterback who believes he can do the job.