A preview of Singletary's feature in this week's Sports Illustrated

Mike Singletary is featured in this week's Sports Illustrated magazine.
(Image courtesy of Sports Illustrated)

In this week's Sports Illustrated magazine, which is available in newsstands on Wednesday, writer Jim Trotter has a feature on San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Singletary.

Here is a synopsis of the article from Sports Illustrated:

In his article, Trotter shows how Singletary has brought together a group of players and united them under a common thought and goal. Since becoming the head coach of the 49ers, Singletary has set out to change the tone of the once dominant organization. However crazy or unconventional his methods may seem, Mike Singletary has begun to change the attitude within the 49ers locker room since becoming head coach. Singletary and his players will focus less on their record and more on getting better each and every day.

Sports Illustrated was nice enough to give me a full copy of the article. I'll give you a little bit of it. Grab a copy of the magazine tomorrow to read the full article.

BE LIKE MIKE!
By Jim Trotter
Sports Illustrated Magazine

For years the once great 49ers lacked direction, purpose and commitment. Not anymore. In his first full season as coach, Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary has San Francisco playing his way: intense, no-nonsense, team-first football.

Practice was over, and now the 49ers gathered in a tight circle on the far field of their facility in Santa Clara, Calif., last Thursday, each raising one arm to form a human umbrella. After a brief silence, a voice rose from within the group and asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¶ In unison the players answered, Yes . . . I . . . am! ¶ That the team-binding phrase has its roots in the Bible is appropriate. Some would consider the task facing Mike Singletary, in his first full season as coach, tantamount to turning water into wine. The Niners, one of the league’s showcase franchises in the 1980s and ’90s, haven’t had a winning season since 2002. In three of the past six seasons they lost 11 or more games. Coaches have come and gone, draft picks have been squandered, and through it all the legacy of Walsh and Montana, of Rice and Young and Lott, of five Super Bowl championships in 14 seasons, has been tarnished.

By opening 2009 with consecutive defeats of NFC West favorites Arizona and Seattle, however, the 49ers are leading the division and walking with their heads high again. “Are we a championship team right now? No, we’re not,” says middle linebacker Patrick Willis. “But can we be a championship team? I think so. I know so.”

The man leading the charge is Singletary—or, as his players respectfully call him, Joe Clark, after the no-nonsense, baseball- bat-wielding inner-city high school principal on whom the 1989 movie Lean on Me was based. Just as Clark sought to change the culture of failure at Eastside High in Paterson, N.J., by getting rid of troublemakers and students who didn’t want to learn, Singletary, after being named interim coach midway through the 2008 season, set out to change the tone of the 49ers.

His methods are often unconventional and always attention- grabbing. In his first game after replacing Mike Nolan, a 34–13 home loss to the Seahawks last Oct. 26, Singletary benched starting quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan, dropped his pants at halftime as a motivational ploy, sent starting tight end Vernon Davis to the showers in the fourth quarter after he was flagged for unnecessary roughness, and launched a legendary postgame rant about not tolerating selfish players. “I want winners!” Singletary bellowed, planting the seeds for a marketing campaign that bears his likeness on Bay Area billboards.

Whatever his style, Singletary has gotten results. The 49ers won five of their final seven games last season to finish 7–9, and this season they’ve exhibited discipline and toughness in their 20–16 defeat of the defending NFC champion Cardinals in Arizona and their 23–10 win over the Seahawks on Sunday at Candlestick Park. “This can be a special team, and I want them to realize how good they can be,” Singletary says. “The most important thing was for us to come together and believe in one another and have that as our foundation going forward.”

Pick up your copy of Sports Illustrated tomorrow. I already read this whole piece and I think Trotter grabbed onto what Singletary wants in the 49ers nicely.

For more 49ers news: Visit my my blog at Mining the Gold Rush .