49ers moving on after McCloughan exit

ORLANDO, Fla. -- In the wake of the abrupt departure of general manager Scot McCloughan from the San Francisco 49ers' front office, the state of the NFC West franchise has been characterized as a dysfunctional situation.

With McCloughan no longer running the personnel department after some private issues that included a pending divorce, according to court documents, director of player personnel Trent Baalke is in charge.

Now, the 49ers are trying to regroup.

“Obviously when you lose someone like Scot, it’s one of those things where it’s going to create a little bit of a shake here and there," 49ers coach Mike Singletary said today at the NFL owners meetings at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes. "Thankfully, we’ve worked hard all offseason to create theboard and get the work done that we need to get done. For us as an organization, I’m very thankful Jed is doing the things he’s doing in terms of the leadership that needs to be there. Jed will continue to do the best job he can at putting the right people together and continuing to go forward and have a great organization.”

In terms of how the change affects his job, Singletary, who has been visible at a handful of Pro Day workouts, including Florida State and Florida A&M, said that communication has been good between himself and Baalke, team president Jed York and the rest of the staff.

"I think we just have to continue to pull it in a little bit more and make sure everyone is seeing it the same way and continue to move forward with that," Singletary said. "But I’m very excited about where we are as an organization and the upcoming draft and very thankful for where we are right now.”

Singletary described his role in talent evaluation is gathering critical information and learning as much as possible about a player's character. 

“The most important thing for me is to know that when you have the right people studying and watching these guys for two or three years that it makes me a lot better as a talent evaluator
simply because of the information we’re able to pass on," Singletary said. "The more information I get, the better it is. But I think I really lean on the scouts, the personnel for all of the information of how fast a guy can run, what are some of the things the guy has done in certain situations. But the thing that really helps me is I do some of the work on the back end and make sure I’m talking to the right people to get some of the information they might not have.

" I’m always looking for what is it that I don’t know about this kid. Who is it that I need to talk to? Who is the point person in this kid’s life that I need to get to to find out the real personality? I think as far as how good a talent evaluator I am, I think it really boils down to having all the pieces in place. The more pieces to the puzzle you have, the better talent evaluator you’re going to be.”

In his usual low-key manner, the Hall of Fame middle linebacker turned coach said he doesn't concern himself with the sky-is-falling reaction in the Bay Area after the McCloughan episode.

“I never worry about the perceptions," Singletary said. "The most important thing for us to do is stay focused on the goal at hand -- becoming a great organization and a contender to go to the Super Bowl and winning games. I don’t know what the perception is and I’ll never really know what the perception is because I don’t pay attention to it.

"I focus on our team and I know how our team feels. I know how our players feel and our coaches feel. We just have to continue to go forward and let all those other things fall by the wayside.”

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