Niners hire Kris Kocurek as DL coach

Originally posted by Kolohe:

Great!!! I had a hard time saying Zgonina now how they hell do you say this guys name!!!

Every time I see Zgonina's name I hear Pat Summerall's voice saying it in my head. "Jeff Skuh-nina".

Originally posted by CorvaNinerFan:

Niners outbid some teams to get this guy...yeah, this was definitely a good "get". Hopefully, he'll have some new talent to work with. Anxious to see this guy do his thing and get that DL to up their games.

If this is so, then that is the way i like to see our money spent. Get the BEST guys for OC, DC, and all position coaches. The fact we had some guys get released for poor results is certainly not unexpected with a brand new GM and HC , esp when the HC was hired way late the first yr. It put him at a disadvantage hiring his helpers, Er, coaches. And yr 3 would be the yr to have a good read on who did well, and who didn't. Also, they finessed the saleh thing with hiring a co-defensive pass play coach. You gotta like the way they still kept Saleh (who they obviously like) and yet fixed, or hopefully at least improved the pass D. Our last DB coach flamed out with an F.

Originally posted by Ensatsu:

Originally posted by Fanaticofnfl:

This will be an aggressive offseason IMO. If it's not and we suck, Kyle and Lynch's seats would be in flames.

meh, I'm giving Kyle Shanahan the Marvin Lewis treatment.

8-8 is my expectation next year. We can't compete with the Rams or Seahawks unless I see significant changes. I expect to compete within the next decade.

Nah, over .500 is what I'd expect. 8-8 would be a disappointment, assuming they do what I expect I. The draft and FA

Dude looks like he's going to light up a school or something.

Seems like a lot of assistant coaches are jumping around this year.

Originally posted by NYniner85:

Originally posted by PopeyeJonesing:

Also worth saying that sometimes coaches just miss things sometimes too, and once they're missed it's hard to come back.

The 9ers have a TON of resources invested in Solomon Thomas, and Zgonia not believing in him could totally result in Zgonia needing to move on.

And Zgonia could be right and he could be wrong.

Back when I used to coach O-Line (no big deal, just JV high school level) I had a guard who never got any run with me, and I just didn't see it in him at all. Because of his size and because they had a hole in the roster they brought him up to Var the next year and by the end of that year he was anchoring the line on a ranked team that sent five or six people to D1 schools.

We had all been coaching together for long enough and I had been right enough times for people to not think I was an idiot, but coaches would ask me all the time what the heck happened and why he'd never gotten any run. And all I could say was "man, I don't know. I just really didn't see it." Everyone who has coached for any amount of time has had that happen to them before.

Of course I don't believe that some schmuck coaching high school ball is equivalent to a professional NFL coach, but the point is this stuff *does* happen.
Position coaches hold more sway than some people realize, and they're right sometimes, but wrong sometimes too. Getting Zgonia out of there and Kocurek in there could do nothing for Thomas, but it could do a lot too.

This is true!

I also feel like some coaches might have certain "guidelines" when it comes to what players play where. Mitchell is like 310 and he might value size and be a big component of stopping the run above anything else. Thomas was good as a edge defender, but couldn't pass rush to save his life on the outside. I think it was pretty obvious that they want Thomas inside as much as possible by getting him up to like 285 and having him PR vs guards/center all through training camp.

I feel like the coaching change couldn't hurt Thomas.

I think the best thing to do with Solomon is start all over, like Day 1. Different , new line coach, saleh has a much better read on what he is supposed to be doing, and what he is EXPECTED to be doing, we know Solomon's strength iies inside, and just hit restart. Saleh now knows he is responsible for ALL THINGS D, and has to pay attn to them all. Saleh is a good guy, (reread his statement with SEA on why and how he felt he could help their team...it's a beaut)...and is an honorable guy. Easy to see why kyle liked him, and same for JL.

His inexperience with DBs has been fixed, hopefully with Joe W, and now Saleh can go out and do what a DC is supposed to do. Item #1 is knowing WTF is going on at every position on the D. I think a lot of what happened is explained by saleh not really understanding all that a DC needed to do and know. Well , now he does. And he has some excellent help for DBs, with a co coordinator for passing D. No way yet i can see how that works but i am sure they have it outlined.

Also this is a new yr for Solomon who had a terrible family tragedy last yr, and that did not help his play. Let's just assume things are looking up for him this'yr because while a collegian, the kid was a terrific player and teammate. No question he belongs on inside but maybe they have rethought this and put him at DE...or not..and he lines up next to Buck. If we draft Q in March, then we will know. If Bosa, he stays inside. Or maybe they have come up with some tweener position, altho can't think of what that might be. #3 pick who is a great athlete...they'll figure it out. And saleh will be a lot more invested in watching where Solly plays and when. With a new line coach, who knows aforehand what the quandary is with Solly, they'll figure it out.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
I think the best thing to do with Solomon is start all over, like Day 1. Different , new line coach, saleh has a much better read on what he is supposed to be doing, and what he is EXPECTED to be doing, we know Solomon's strength iies inside, and just hit restart. Saleh now knows he is responsible for ALL THINGS D, and has to pay attn to them all. Saleh is a good guy, (reread his statement with SEA on why and how he felt he could help their team...it's a beaut)...and is an honorable guy. Easy to see why kyle liked him, and same for JL.

His inexperience with DBs has been fixed, hopefully with Joe W, and now Saleh can go out and do what a DC is supposed to do. Item #1 is knowing WTF is going on at every position on the D. I think a lot of what happened is explained by saleh not really understanding all that a DC needed to do and know. Well , now he does. And he has some excellent help for DBs, with a co coordinator for passing D. No way yet i can see how that works but i am sure they have it outlined.

Also this is a new yr for Solomon who had a terrible family tragedy last yr, and that did not help his play. Let's just assume things are looking up for him this'yr because while a collegian, the kid was a terrific player and teammate. No question he belongs on inside but maybe they have rethought this and put him at DE...or not..and he lines up next to Buck. If we draft Q in March, then we will know. If Bosa, he stays inside. Or maybe they have come up with some tweener position, altho can't think of what that might be. #3 pick who is a great athlete...they'll figure it out. And saleh will be a lot more invested in watching where Solly plays and when. With a new line coach, who knows aforehand what the quandary is with Solly, they'll figure it out.

Great points, Doc. I agree.

Kyle has said that he likes the way Kocurek has his DLmen play from past experiences of playing against him. Kocurek has worked closely with Jim Schwartz in the past and the two have been proponents of the wide 9 technique.

The 49ers (many teams) already do this in obvious passing downs, but with Kocurek being a disciple of Schwartz, perhaps the teachings he can bring to this style of play is the gain in this hire. We'll see if it's used on non-obvious passing situations.
Marsh and Elvis at wide 9 (passing down)


Old article with Kocurek snippet:
https://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2011/12/detroit_lions_wide_9_scheme_do.html
"It's all about just setting a strong edge, and that's what we want to do," he said. "If you look at the history of the Wide 9, there's been some really good run defenses played. It's not like we're just lining up out there and leveraging the ball to the sideline. We're turning the ball back inside, and that's just the whole concept behind the defense - just set a strong edge with the Wide 9."

Originally posted by thl408:

Kyle has said that he likes the way Kocurek has his DLmen play from past experiences of playing against him. Kocurek has worked closely with Jim Schwartz in the past and the two have been proponents of the wide 9 technique.

The 49ers (many teams) already do this in obvious passing downs, but with Kocurek being a disciple of Schwartz, perhaps the teachings he can bring to this style of play is the gain in this hire. We'll see if it's used on non-obvious passing situations.
Marsh and Elvis at wide 9 (passing down)


Old article with Kocurek snippet:
https://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2011/12/detroit_lions_wide_9_scheme_do.html
"It's all about just setting a strong edge, and that's what we want to do," he said. "If you look at the history of the Wide 9, there's been some really good run defenses played. It's not like we're just lining up out there and leveraging the ball to the sideline. We're turning the ball back inside, and that's just the whole concept behind the defense - just set a strong edge with the Wide 9."

Terrific. And in continuation of our conversation, agreed...it can help in setting that edge and turning the RB back inside shrinking the field but there's a bigger gap there too inside so that puts added pressure on the inside pursuit.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Terrific. And in continuation of our conversation, agreed...it can help in setting that edge and turning the RB back inside shrinking the field but there's a bigger gap there too inside so that puts added pressure on the inside pursuit.

Like everything in football it's all a give and take.

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Terrific. And in continuation of our conversation, agreed...it can help in setting that edge and turning the RB back inside shrinking the field but there's a bigger gap there too inside so that puts added pressure on the inside pursuit.

Like everything in football it's all a give and take.

Yup yup!

Originally posted by thl408:

Kyle has said that he likes the way Kocurek has his DLmen play from past experiences of playing against him. Kocurek has worked closely with Jim Schwartz in the past and the two have been proponents of the wide 9 technique.

The 49ers (many teams) already do this in obvious passing downs, but with Kocurek being a disciple of Schwartz, perhaps the teachings he can bring to this style of play is the gain in this hire. We'll see if it's used on non-obvious passing situations.
Marsh and Elvis at wide 9 (passing down)


Old article with Kocurek snippet:
https://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2011/12/detroit_lions_wide_9_scheme_do.html
"It's all about just setting a strong edge, and that's what we want to do," he said. "If you look at the history of the Wide 9, there's been some really good run defenses played. It's not like we're just lining up out there and leveraging the ball to the sideline. We're turning the ball back inside, and that's just the whole concept behind the defense - just set a strong edge with the Wide 9."

I think this helps the case for drafting Josh Allen, he could probably hold up from the wide 9 in our Snickel package, still think we'd prefer to have him at SAM in base though.

Originally posted by 49erBigMac:

Originally posted by thl408:
Kyle has said that he likes the way Kocurek has his DLmen play from past experiences of playing against him. Kocurek has worked closely with Jim Schwartz in the past and the two have been proponents of the wide 9 technique.

The 49ers (many teams) already do this in obvious passing downs, but with Kocurek being a disciple of Schwartz, perhaps the teachings he can bring to this style of play is the gain in this hire. We'll see if it's used on non-obvious passing situations.
Marsh and Elvis at wide 9 (passing down)


Old article with Kocurek snippet:
https://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2011/12/detroit_lions_wide_9_scheme_do.html
"It's all about just setting a strong edge, and that's what we want to do," he said. "If you look at the history of the Wide 9, there's been some really good run defenses played. It's not like we're just lining up out there and leveraging the ball to the sideline. We're turning the ball back inside, and that's just the whole concept behind the defense - just set a strong edge with the Wide 9."

I think this helps the case for drafting Josh Allen, he could probably hold up from the wide 9 in our Snickel package, still think we'd prefer to have him at SAM in base though.

The man can cover, it's insane.

I hope he's a guru of DL coaches. If he doesn't think much of Solly and/or AA, I hope Lynch has the balls to part ways asap.

Originally posted by LVJay:

I hope he's a guru of DL coaches. If he doesn't think much of Solly and/or AA, I hope Lynch has the balls to part ways asap.

Same.