Obviously we reached an agreement with Greg Manusky today. It’s an exciting day for me. Certainly I was excited for Ron Rivera to get the opportunity to be a head coach in the league. He’s more than deserving. After the number of times he’s been through the process I thought it was great for him.
Obviously any time you have that situation you want to make the most of the opportunity you have in terms of going out and finding a guy who can help you get better and I think Greg is that guy. He’s got a history here and he’s familiar with the basic ideas and things we do defensively. I think he’s taking it a little different direction than San Francisco. Preparing for them this year I think brought out an appreciation from me for what he was doing. I think they gave you some things scheme-wise that were tough to handle. He’s got a toughness about him, a high energy about him, that I think will help our guys.
I think that being able to keep the rest of our defensive staff that did a great job last year, that’s a bonus. So I think we come away with an outstanding defensive staff.
On if he consulted any players that played under Manusky with the Chargers
I really didn’t. I had a pretty good idea through the years knowing how our guys felt about Greg but I don’t think that’s the issue. I think the issue was finding a guy that fit with our defensive staff and then I really like Greg’s energy level and I like his competitiveness.
Can you characterize how the interview went?
Greg’s an extremely focused guy. I think he’s a very intense guy. It comes across in talking to him. He’s got a passion about football and I think he has a feel for the things – we made a big deal last year in the spring and we put a lot of time into trying to improve our sack total, improve our aggressiveness, eliminate giving up big plays, and I think we did an outstanding job of that defensively. I think that’s Greg’s mindset and I think we’ll build on the things we did well this year.
You said that he took things in a slightly different direction. Can you give us an example of the kind of thing that he did that maybe you hadn’t tried?
I think there’s little things in terms of focusing in on an opponent you’re playing and it may be a combination coverage, it may be a certain way that a coordinator and a defensive staff choose to attack it, protection… they’re very subtle things. I think the way they show up is through production. I don’t think if you’re sitting in the stands you look and you say, ‘Wow, they’re bracketing the No. 2 receiver and they’re pressing the outside guy with a safety over the top. I think you say, ‘They’re playing real good defense.’
These are things that occurred to you while you were watching film, not during the interview process, correct?
Well it’s a combination of both. There’s two things you do. Obviously when you’re watching it, and when we get ready to go play a team you go watch every game they have on defense that’s against a similar style, and then what you really watch is all those game-changing situations, third down, red zone, backed up, all the things that to me are the key things in terms of having success defensively. Obviously creating turnovers, those type of things. And then when you interview a guy you have a chance to have the discussion about the things you’ve observed and that’s the process we went through. We watched considerable tape together. They did play our division so we watched some tape of the 49ers playing against teams in our division and then watched them against some other opponents.
On if he expects continuity despite Rivera moving to Carolina
The great thing about it is, in everything you do, in offense, defense, the kicking game, it is a team effort. The continuity to me comes from John Pagano and Steve Wilks and Don Johnson and the other guys on our defensive staff. The things we did well we’re going to continue to do and obviously Greg is very familiar with those things. He was here. He worked with Pagano years ago and the foundation of that defense hasn’t change. You all go off in different directions so obviously we’re going to work hard at maintaining the things we did well and then if there’s little wrinkles and things we can add we will add, but the continuity to me comes from our defensive staff is intact and then we hired a defensive coordinator.
On his relationship with Manusky
Greg and I have known each other a little bit through the years and have coached against each other a lot. I’m excited because I do believe he has an energy level and he has a toughness about him that will rub off on our guys. Sitting across from him and talking football, it was energizing. It was good. I was excited about it.
Can you give us an idea of a sample question you would ask a defensive coordinator candidate? What do you want to know?
Well, first of all, Greg was being interviewed by a couple other teams and they had a strong interest in him and the first thing you want to ask is, ‘Do we have a chance of getting you here under contract?’ I think the one thing I asked is, ‘What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to get done?’ and Greg’s answer was short and simple, he said, ‘I want to win a Super Bowl.’ I think his decision reflects on – he knows we’re a good football team. He knows we have an outstanding offense. He knows we’ve played (well) on defense. I think we all know the areas we have to get better. He was excited in talking to him that we hired Rich Bisaccia as a special teams coach because he knows his reputation and what he’s done in Tampa. We all look at it and say, ‘Hey, we’re working on making sure the pieces are in place to give ourselves the best chance to do the things we want to do.
Were there any philosophical issues that you had to resolve? Anything about his approach or the way he designs the defense?
I think the biggest thing is because he coached at one point with Wade (Phillips) and he’s been here with this defense and then you look at the defense he’s coached in San Francisco, there’s so many similarities. I think being with Mike Nolan was a plus for him. I think there’s some things that Mike has done and done in San Francisco when I was there, done in Miami and had great success with, that Greg has incorporated. What you want to look for is a guy who is growing, who’s done a good job and wants to get better.
On if he’s concerned that some of the free agents will jump to Carolina
All of those decisions we’re in the process of evaluating and you know how it works. Those decisions are going to be made over a period of time in terms of the guys who are on our team we’re evaluating. It’s funny because I’ve done this obviously and gone to a new team. Everyone’s perception of someone else’s players is different and I know Carolina has a great feel for the guys they have on defense and they feel they’re a pretty talented football team in a number of areas and they might look at some of the guys we have that we feel are real talented and may not feel they’re as talented, so I don’t think you can figure that out until someone starts making overtures and obviously you can’t do that until free agency starts.
You have two guys on the staff that are disappointed because they didn’t get promoted. Do you have to manage that in some way?
I would be really disappointed if the guys I interviewed on our staff weren’t affected initially by the fact that they didn’t get it because I know they want to. They want to be coordinators. They want to be the guy in charge making the calls and be the guy who’s having the most input in terms of where we’re going. When you put together the opportunities we had, and I talked to John, who’s been a big part of what we’ve done defensively, and I talked to Steve Wilks, who I think is one of the best and might be the best secondary coach I’ve been with, when I looked at the three options in terms of it was Wilks or if it was Pagano or if it was Manusky, obviously the group that you could put together with Manusky as the leader and have Wilks and Pagano here, is a very, very strong group and has a chance as we grow – because everyone’s looking and trying to get better, I think it has a chance to be just an outstanding staff.
What can Rich (Bisaccia) do that Steve Crosby could not?
I would never look at it that way and I would never look back. I think when you go look at a guy and you evaluate a coach and you go look to hire a coach, you look at his body of work and you look at what their team has done and you look at what they’ve done in that area and I believe looking forward this was a great opportunity for us. I just think he’s going to bring great energy to our special teams and I do believe he has a track record of working with younger players and getting younger players ready to go at a fast rate.
On if Bisaccia gets a voice in personnel
Everyone has a voice and everyone has an opportunity to express, particularly when you come from another team. You’re asking about Ron, just flip it over. If there’s someone there that might be available and if it fits us, but we have a nucleus of young guys that obviously got hurt in camp or got hurt early, a 
At this point, you expect there to be no other coaching changes on the defensive side of the ball?
I don’t anticipate any, no.
On if he makes reference calls when preparing for hires and what the feedback was like if so
You know, it’s an entire process. The biggest thing for me, and obviously you talk to a lot of people like you would in any situation where you’re evaluating a person or player or a coach, the biggest thing to me always is the after-affect with both Rich and with Greg, I was blown away a little bit with the number of guys that called about Rich and said, ‘You’ve got a heck of a coach,’ and I had a couple of guys from that division call and say, ‘Thanks for getting him out of the division,’ so that speaks more than maybe before the fact, and obviously I’ve already had four or five calls from people who I respect and know that obviously think we did well in getting Greg Manusky.
On if there’s any news he’s aware of regarding the Collective Bargaining Agreement
You’ve got the wrong guy. Honestly I pick up the paper like you guys do and follow it and read it. There’s not obviously a lot going on.
Any word on this Nnamdi Asomugha speculation?
I would say it’s speculation.
