Mike Nolan Comments on Problems with 49ers, Trent Baalke and More

Former San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Nolan believes there are deeply rooted issues in the organization, but he stood behind general manager Trent Baalke in an interview regarding the state of the Niners Saturday.

During an appearance on CSN Bay Area's 49ers Insider Podcast (h/t Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com), Nolan was critical of the 49ers due to their constant changes of heart when it comes to coaches and front-office personnel: "The problem there in San Francisco, in my opinion, is systemic. They love you, and then they hate you. They love the next guy, and then they don't like him any more."

Chip Kelly is San Francisco's third head coach in the past three seasons following the departure of Jim Harbaugh and Jim Tomsula, and he is under fire already with the Niners off to a 1-6 start.

Much of the blame has fallen on Baalke's shoulders as well, but Nolan had plenty of praise for the man who went from scout to director of player personnel during Nolan's nearly four years at the helm:

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I think Trent is a good personnel guy. He has shown that. He's done a good job. He was a lead scout for us when I was there. And [he] was the interim general manager when [former 49ers GM] Scot [McCloughan] was dealing with some personal issues when I was there in the fourth year [2008].

So I think Trent does a very good job. I would hate to see Trent let go for anything after the season or if they dump it all on him, because when it comes to winning football games, you need to have good players, and you can do a lot worse than [Baalke] when it comes to picking players.

"

The 49ers haven't had a winning season since 2013, which marked the final season of a three-year run that saw the team make the NFC Championship Game every year, along with one Super Bowl appearance.

Baalke was the GM in charge of all of those teams and put together an impressive collection of talent on both sides of the ball, especially defensively.

Nolan gave Baalke a pass to some degree for the organization's recent struggles due to unexpected circumstances, such as the retirement of linebackers Patrick Willis and Chris Borland.

Above all else, Nolan believes locker-room harmony is needed for the 49ers to go from the basement to contention in the near future: "Obviously, they have to get back on track with the personnel, but outside of that, they have to bring the building together again, in my opinion. Because when you hear a lot of rumblings on the outside that means there is some division on the inside. Otherwise, there would be no talk."

While Nolan's time in San Francisco was a struggle, as he went just 18-37 with no winning seasons, he saw the early building stages of a team that went on to achieve greatness.

It's clear that Nolan is confident Baalke is the guy to get the 49ers back to that point, but plenty around him needs to change before that can happen.

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