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Bill Walsh
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The 49ers’ dynasty has come crashing to earth, and it doesn’t appear that
there’s anybody in the front office with the energy, will or judgment to put it back
together.
Bill Walsh, who started the whole thing when he became coach/general manager in 1979,
came back as the club’s general manager early last year and was supposed to figure
out a way to rid the 49ers of the huge salary-cap burden they carried and get them squared
away on a rebuilding program that would put them back on top.
When the salary-cap era began, Carmen Policy had formulated a plan, with the blessing
of then-owner Eddie DeBartolo, that would enable the 49ers to keep their nucleus of star
players together by deferring salary-cap obligations with restructured contracts each
year. Policy realized that this would eventually catch up to the 49ers like a balloon
payment on a mortgage, but he also reasoned that, as long as the team had QB Steve Young
and WR Jerry Rice, the 49ers would have a chance to win it all.
He was right on both counts. The 49ers won a Super Bowl after the ’94 season and
were in the playoffs every year through the ’98 season. But the salary-cap problems
caught up to them in a big way this year, and when Young was knocked out for the year with
a concussion in the team’s third game, the 49ers collapsed like an overdone souffle.
The team that was 2-1 after the Arizona game lost 11 of its last 13.
When he took over last year, Walsh spoke of the importance of having a football man in
control and said there would be no more restructuring; the 49ers would start living within
their means. But, in fact, he operated in much the same way as Policy, restructuring
contracts to get under the cap limit and postponing the tough decisions for another year.
Many of his decisions were simply a matter of reaching back to the past. He signed DE
Charles Haley, a great pass rusher for Walsh’s teams in the late ’80s, and added
to the cap problems by giving Haley a signing bonus, part of which will count against the
cap next season, when Haley is gone. Walsh traded FB Marc Edwards and signed Tommy
Vardell, who had starred at Stanford just before Walsh returned to coach there in
’92. Vardell had little left in the tank and was inactive most of the season. Walsh
signed one quarterback, Steve Stenstrom, who had played for him at Stanford, and another,
Jeff Garcia, who had played against him (for San Jose State).
Walsh made one good call: When Garrison Hearst was sidelined for the season with
complications from surgery on his broken ankle, Walsh signed Charlie Garner, who led the
team with 1,229 yards rushing. But that surprised Walsh as much as anybody. He thought
— along with most people in football — that Garner would not be durable enough
to hold up for the season as an everyday back. So, Walsh signed Lawrence Phillips, whom
Walsh declared to be the most talented of the backs the 49ers had had in for a tryout.
Phillips, of course, had a troubled past, beating and dragging his girlfriend down
stairs when he was in school at Nebraska and allegedly punching a woman in a nightclub
while with the Dolphins, which caused Jimmy Johnson, who has a high tolerance for
misbehavior by good players, to cut him.
That should have been the tipoff, because Johnson would not have cut Phillips if he
thought Phillips could contribute. With the 49ers, it quickly became obvious that Phillips
could do nothing but run fast in a straight line. He could not elude tacklers, and he went
down instantly on contact. He saw only occasional use until, after refusing to go through
drills during practice, he was cut.
The 49ers were lucky Phillips didn’t cause them problems off the field, but he
caused a major one on it: It was his missed block that made possible the hit that knocked
Young out for the season.
Walsh’s behavior increasingly undercut the authority of head coach Steve Mariucci.
In St. Louis, after the Rams had destroyed the 49ers in what became the start of an
eight-game losing streak, he embraced Rams head coach Dick Vermeil in the dressing room
and said, "You’re going all the way, baby!" Walsh and Vermeil are old
friends, but the dressing room was not the place for that kind of scene.
As the losing streak continued, Walsh started to hold meetings with players and even
did a little on-field coaching. When a story appeared about his coaching, he denied it,
but the writer had witnessed it during a 49ers practice. As the season neared its end,
Walsh was talking to writers and television announcers about changes that would have to be
made before next season. Mariucci, trying desperately to win games and keep his team
together, could only gnash his teeth.
As if that weren’t enough, Walsh has also chafed at the presence of Denise
DeBartolo York’s husband, John York, who now oversees the franchise. York is
determined to learn about every aspect of the operation, and his constant questions have
irritated Walsh.
Mariucci has York’s support, and York has told Walsh that Mariucci and Terry
Donahue, Walsh’s heir apparent and now the team’s personnel director, will have
to be more involved in the decision-making for next season. Walsh has agreed, but he has
never shared authority before.
There are many tough decisions ahead, starting with Young and Rice. Both want to return
next season, though Young has not received medical clearance. If the pair does return, the
49ers will have to cut so many other veteran players that Young and Rice won’t have
the support they need to win.
There’s a question, too, whether Walsh is the man to make these tough decisions.
He’s 68, not a time in life for starting long-term projects, and his wife is in poor
health, which has forced him to spend much of his time away from the office. It seems the
49ers would be better-served by having a younger man with more time and energy — Matt
Millen has been rumored to want the job — but Walsh insists he’s going to stay
on board.
Humpty Dumpty has fallen, and he won’t be put back together again any time soon.
Editor's note: Glenn Dickey is a columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle and has
covered pro football since 1967. He can be reached via e-mail at dickey@sfgate.com |
