Apparently, there won’t be any follow-up questions from Dennis O’Donnell.
In the wake of last week’s tense interview with coach Mike Singletary, the host of the “Coach’s Corner” segment on KPIX has been replaced by Kim Coyle. Coyle takes over starting with today’s taping.
Because the show is done as part of a contracted partnership, the 49ers have editorial input. 49ers spokesman Bob Lange said changing hosts was a “joint agreement (with KPIX) to give the interviews a better dynamic going forward.”
The key, Lange said, is that Coyle will be able to do the interviews face-to-face with Singletary at the 49ers’ team headquarters in Santa Clara. O’Donnell asked his questions from the KPIX studio in San Francisco.
Last week, Singletary was rankled by questions about the communication problems that plagued the 49ers’ in their season-opening defeat.
When O’Donnell asked about quarterback Alex Smith, for example, Singletary snapped: “Alex will be fine Monday night. Watch the game and you will see that Alex will be fine. I don’t want to talk about time. I don’t want to talk about clock. I don’t want to talk about any of that. I want to talk about New Orleans if you want to talk about that.”
Singletary on Tuesday acknowledged that he lost his cool during the interview. He vowed to be more measured in his responses.
“I say things that I feel, and I do have to do a better job at not letting the media bait me the way they did last week in one particular incident,” Singletary. “I do have to do a better job at that, and I have to be smarter in that situation.”
O’Donnell and Ron Longinotti, the KPIX general manager, did not return phone calls.
Davis made a similar prognostication a week ago, saying the 49ers were a better team than the Saints. Before a nationally televised game last year, he said the 49ers would “blow up” the Chicago defensive front.
Asked about Davis’ latest salvo, Chiefs defensive end Shaun Smith was unfazed, according to the Kansas City Star.
“That’s just Vernon Davis being Vernon Davis,” Smith said. “You know him. “… That’s just a guy trying to get some locker-room talk, some locker-room chatter. That’s also a guy trying to get his team going.
“For him to put out there on line, guaranteeing victory, that’s him. We’ll see what happens on Sunday.”
Smith then consults one of the 180 plays affixed to his left wrist. Smith began wearing the encoded wristband against the Saints.
For more on the 49ers, see Daniel Brown’s Hot Read blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers. E-mail dbrown@mercurynews.com.
