Go back to Sporting Gray pageSAN FRANCISCO, Calif. Nov. 10 -- The terrible thing about having a .763 winning percentage is that you're never quite sure if you'll have a job next season. Welcome to the world of George Seifert, living under the bizarre shadow f Jimmy Johnson as his 49ers play the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday.
Seifert can ward of the hounds with a victory, which would be one of the 49ers' most significant in years. But if he loses to Dallas, the two-time champions crafted under Johnson's deft touch, the rumors will begin once again.
We're here to say: Knock it off with that stuff, already. Keep George Seifert at all costs. He is the perfect coach or the 49ers or any other successful team trying to establish longevity.
The Johnson-to-the-49ers rumors are not coming from half- drunken bar patrons or imaginative sportswriters. They are coming from the ever-popular ``inside sources'' in the NFL, people who to know Johnson and 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. They say Eddie has been a huge Johnson fan for years, that they have a friendship, that Johnson is angling for the San Francisco job after his strange, contentious relationship with Dallas owner Jerry Jones.
Make no mistake, any team would do well to pick Johnson. The man has an unbelievable track record. He's been a runaway success in the collegiate game (Miami) and the pros. His very presence suggests champagne, hooting, hollering, and a frozen haircut holding firm through hurricanes and typhoons. You want to turn that program around? Get Jimmy Johnson. He's your man. You'll be back on top on two or three years.
Funny thing about the 49ers, though. They don't need to turn around, no matter what happens this Sunday. They have persevered in the post-Bill Walsh era because of Seifert's personality, good sense and knowledge of the game.
People must it's easy to coach the 49ers. Just five the ball to Steve Young and watch him wing it to Rice, Taylor or Jones, or maybe hand off to Ricky Watters for a 47-yard gain. Heck, if you need players, just ask Eddie D. He brought in Deion Sanders, Richard Dent, Ken Norton and Gary Plummer to help the team's suspect defense, and he did so under the severe handicap of a salary ca. Seifert? He's just a pawn, they must be saying. Anybody could win with those players and that kind of front office.
To which we say once again: Wrong.
Not that Johnson couldn't win in San Francisco, but two things should be remembered. One, Johnson is possessed. He's a man of such fierce ambition, he'd probably be off to a new job, a bigger challenge, in three or four years. Two, do you really need that kind of sideshow when Seifert's low-key style works so well?
What do you look for in a pro coach? I don't know about you, but I always liked the classy types like Tom Landry, Bud Grant, Chuck Noll or Walsh. You couldn't rally read their emotions or signs of vulnerability on the sidelines. They were poker-faced, for the most part. If you looked at those men, you knew what you were getting, in good times and bad.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with an emotional coach. John Madden was a treat. Hank Stram used to strut the sidelines in full babble, much of it incoherent just plain silly. George Allen was a cheerleader, George Halas was a madman. And that's all fine. But too many demonstrative coaches eventually betrayed their instability or competitiveness in a crisis, throwing headphones or stomping around the sidelines and tossing any notion of leadership right out the window. And the larger point, with Jimmy Johnson, is this: You don't just get a coach. You get a story, a separate issue, something beyond the players and the won-lost record. And if for some reason things turn sour, you also have a colossal headache.
Seifert is amazing tome. I saw him smile once on the sidelines, Joe Montana cam back in the rain against Detroit. It was an interesting smile, because it didn't say, ``Well, Steve Young, it's been nice knowing you.'' It was merely an appreciation of the Montana legend, and then Seifert moved on. For better or worse, he let Young play the entire playoff game against Dallas that year -- a bleak moment for the team, the coach and the franchise. Seifert (with help from upstairs, no doubt) but his reputation on the line because in his heart, he knew Young deserved to play that game. Young had been the most dynamic, productive quarterback in the league. Being a Montana guy, I didn't agree with Seifert there. But his consistency, especially with regard to on-field demeanor, is both remarkable and admirable.
I've never seen that smile again, at least in the glimpses we get on television. Early this season the 49ers were in full glory at Candlestick, marching down the field at will, making huge defensive plays, looking like the greatest team ever assembled. The field camera zeroed in on Seifert, and it looked like he was passing a kidney stone. Couldn't have appeared more uncomfortable. He was just being George, the poker face, for then and for all time.
Seifert is an interesting guy. He has a rich, varied life outside of football, and his wife is an outdoors type who loves to climb mountains. He shows us precious little of himself, and that's just fine, because we know there's a strong, consistent heart within. He's a fine man, a decent man and a winner. Whatever you do, Mr. DeBartolo, don't let George Seifert go.
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