<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Barlow rips Nolan over his trade to JetsHE CLAIMS 49ERS COACH HAS TOO MUCH POWERBy Cam InmanMediaNewsFormer 49ers running back Kevan Barlow lashed out at Coach Mike Nolan and the direction of the franchise in a series of phone calls to the Contra Costa Times on Tuesday, two days after being traded to the New York Jets for a 2007 fourth-round draft pick.``Nolan just doesn't know what he's doing. He's a first-time head coach with too much power,'' Barlow said from New York. ``He has too much power as a first-time head coach. He walks around with a chip on his shoulder, like he's a dictator, like he's Hitler. People are scared of him. If it ain't Nolan's way, it's the highway.''Two phone calls later, Barlow softened his stance and blamed some of his statements on the emotional whirlwind he endured the previous 48 hours.``I was kind of harsh on him, saying he's a dictator. That's bad. Saddam Hussein is a dictator,'' Barlow said three hours after his initial call. ``I was speaking on emotion.''Although he sounded like many disgruntled players with an ax to grind, Barlow also expressed concern over how his ex-teammates perceive Nolan and whether Nolan can resurrect the team.``It's unfortunate he feels that way,'' Nolan said. ``Personally, I feel Kevan is a good kid. When I came here I heard negative things about him and trouble in the locker room. When I was here, I thought he did the right things, like calling me if he was late or calling if he said the wrong thing to the media. As long as he was here, he was a model citizen.''Barlow played five seasons for the 49ers and was penciled in as their starting running back this season. He said Nolan informed him of the trade Sunday, 30 minutes before the 49ers headed to Oakland for an exhibition game.But because of a chat they had last week in which Nolan allegedly told him not to worry about trade speculation, Barlow called Nolan ``a liar'' for trading him. Nolan and vice president of player personnel Scot McCloughan said Sunday that trade talks didn't turn serious until the Jets made their final offer that day.Barlow said his former teammates ``can't believe'' how the trade occurred so abruptly before a game and after last week's talk with Nolan.``It was dirty. He had no respect for me or the organization,'' said Barlow, 27. ``He doesn't know about the 49ers way, and that's too bad because even his dad (Dick) was coach of the 49ers. Bill Walsh set the standard there, and he ain't living up to it.''Nolan inherited a 2-14 team upon being hired last year and became the ultimate authority figure over personnel issues. The 49ers went 4-12 last season, and nine players have been traded in the past 13 months.``I try to run a tight ship,'' Nolan said. ``I want people to do their job and not look over their shoulders. Everything's functioning effectively in what we do. Everybody is safe and secure in this environment and uses their imagination to be the best player they can be.''Barlow contends that players are afraid of Nolan and their job status if they fail to produce. He also voiced concern for 49ers fans, whom he said are getting ``cheated'' for not getting to watch the team's best players.``(Nolan) still is my problem because I've got friends on the team. Half my (former) teammates feel this way but can't say that,'' Barlow said. ``You can't be yourself in there. Dudes are uptight and walking on eggshells. How are you supposed to go out and make plays the way you've always done?''Second-year running back Frank Gore is taking Barlow's spot in the lineup, and Barlow said that's only because Gore -- whom he praised -- was a third-round pick last year in the first draft under Nolan and McCloughan.``Nobody has a good relationship with Coach Nolan, and the only person that does is probably (quarterback) Alex Smith. He does because (Nolan) picked him. His job is in Alex Smith's hands,'' Barlow said. ``Coach Nolan could be a good head coach, but he's not going to be because he has too much power.``He calls all the shots. He needs somebody above his head. He doesn't know what he's doing.''Nolan, an NFL assistant for 18 seasons before joining the 49ers, defended his desire to coach and also preside over personnel matters.``Not a decision I make comes without involving the people around me that I rely on, and (owner) John York is one of those people, along with Scot McCloughan and (executive vice president) Lal Heneghan and others,'' Nolan said. ``Ultimately, I make the final decisions. But this isn't the Almighty, and I don't pretend to be that.''As for playing in New York with the Jets, Barlow said he's ``happy to be where I'm wanted.''He's just not happy with how he arrived there.</div>LinkGot this on a 49er board, hilarious posts towards this outburst by Barlow lol.
I'm not sure what to think about this one....Yesterday <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>"As soon as I walked in, he took me under his wing. He embraced me," Barlow said. "Curt was the guy I looked up to as a kid. There was no one bigger than Curtis Martin in Pittsburgh. To learn under Curtis is wild to me ... I was sitting in the locker room before practice and I was in awe. I was like, 'Wow, I've got Curtis Martin, a Hall of Fame running back, sitting next to me.'"Unlike Martin, Barlow has some character issues. In San Francisco, he clashed with coaches, criticized teammates and feuded with fullback Fred Beasley. Barlow claimed, "I'm a great guy," attributing the past problems to immaturity. Mangini said he did a background check, and that he's "comfortable" with the results.</div>Now maybe it's just me, but that does not sound like the same person who said both of those quotes. I'm going to hold my opinion until I see what Barlow has to say about these 'quotes' cause im sure the New York Media is going to pounce all over it any second now.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>"If I could take it back, I would," Barlow said. "I was very emotional. All I knew at the time was San Francisco, that was where I started my career, that's where my house was. It was a shock to me."I'm a passionate player, I'm an emotional guy when it comes to on the field and off the field. Sometimes it gets the best of us. I put it behind me, and I'm glad to be a Jet."Barlow was upset with the trade, mainly because Nolan assured him he wouldn't be dealt.</div>That's all I need to hear.An apology and the reason why. I cant blame the guy for being pissed when being 'assured' he wont get dealt and then he is dealt.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AdropOFvenom @ Aug 23 2006, 06:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'> "If I could take it back, I would," Barlow said. "I was very emotional. All I knew at the time was San Francisco, that was where I started my career, that's where my house was. It was a shock to me."I'm a passionate player, I'm an emotional guy when it comes to on the field and off the field. Sometimes it gets the best of us. I put it behind me, and I'm glad to be a Jet."Barlow was upset with the trade, mainly because Nolan assured him he wouldn't be dealt.</div>That's all I need to hear.An apology and the reason why. I cant blame the guy for being pissed when being 'assured' he wont get dealt and then he is dealt.</div>Kinda like we assured John Abraham that he wouldn't be franchised...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AdropOFvenom @ Aug 23 2006, 06:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'> "If I could take it back, I would," Barlow said. "I was very emotional. All I knew at the time was San Francisco, that was where I started my career, that's where my house was. It was a shock to me."I'm a passionate player, I'm an emotional guy when it comes to on the field and off the field. Sometimes it gets the best of us. I put it behind me, and I'm glad to be a Jet."Barlow was upset with the trade, mainly because Nolan assured him he wouldn't be dealt.</div>That's all I need to hear.An apology and the reason why. I cant blame the guy for being pissed when being 'assured' he wont get dealt and then he is dealt.</div>Barlow wasnt assured that he wouldnt be dealt. He talked with Nolan and was told that the 49ers didnt have serious talks with the Jets, and they didnt. Nolan even said no one is assured that they will not be traded, Nolan will trade a player if the right deal comes along; the Jets gave him one. Barlow is right, he wasnt wanted in SF so Im glad he is happy to be in NY where he is wanted. P.S. I think Barlow would look tight as hell in a Jets jersey and green facemask.
[quote name='Jon_Vilma' post='65904' date='Aug 23 2006, 05:19 PM'][quote name='AdropOFvenom' post='65903' date='Aug 23 2006, 06:17 PM'] That's all I need to hear.An apology and the reason why. I cant blame the guy for being pissed when being 'assured' he wont get dealt and then he is dealt.[/quote]Kinda like we assured John Abraham that he wouldn't be franchised...[/quote]Except that we never assured him he wouldnt be franchised. We assured him we would try to sign a long-term deal with him and never could, so we tagged him again and traded him to somewhere that would meet his rediculous demands. That's kinda irrelevant now anyways though.As for Barlow, im just going by this... and I think it's pretty clear that Barlow took the conversation they had as that he wasn't going to be traded, Now maybe Nolan didn't mean to leave that impression, but it sounds like he did. Then Barlow took it badly when he was traded, as if he was stabbed in the back by Nolan, who he thought told him he wasn't going to be traded. Sounds like a miscommunication, and some press idiot caught Barlow at the wrong time to get some nice quotes. Im not too worried about it though.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>After snooping around the 49ers training camp Wednesday, I can report that none of the players is goose-stepping on eggshells. Could it be that the 49ers have been gag-ordered into a massive coverup of the dictatorial regime by coach Mike Nolan? It's possible. It's much more likely, however, that the only thing just-traded running back Kevan Barlow blew the lid off Tuesday was his head. And despite Barlow's accusations, the 49ers' players -- while enjoying all the paranoia, insecurity, fear and loathing that comes with an NFL career -- are down with their coach. Barlow was traded Sunday. Tuesday he unloaded to a Contra Costa Times reporter. A sample: "He (Nolan) walks around with a chip on his shoulder like he's a dictator, like he's Hitler. People are scared of him. If it ain't Nolan's way, it's the highway." And "Dudes are up-tight and walking on eggshells." Before the story was written, Barlow phoned the writer and softened the rhetoric, including a take-back of the dictator part. But the Hitler cat was out of the bag. Maybe Barlow eventually will claim he was referring to his peewee league football coach, Billy Hitler, who banned popsicles at practices. For sure, Barlow is now in reputation-damage-control mode. But this is the 49ers, a team with massive local interest and a recent history of massive dysfunction, so Hitler/eggshells/highway talk can't be lightly dismissed. Besides, training camp gets boring, fans and media are hungry for titillating news, and Barlow got a lot of juices flowing. The 49ers' coaches and players probably aren't hungry for tabloid stuff, but the Barlow trade-'n'-tirade might prove to be positive. It created a window making two things visible: One: Barlow is exactly what the 49ers don't need -- a loose cannon who battles with teammates, not to mention a running back who forgot how to run (3.3 yards per carry over the last two seasons). Two: Nolan is exactly what the 49ers do need. While we still don't know if the second-year coach is the guy to pull the 49ers out of the quicksand, Nolan seems to have earned some respect and faith from his players. "I think he (Nolan) has always promoted team unity, chemistry," defensive end Marques Douglas said. "I think he's always left the table open for player response. I think he's definitely approachable, he has taken the team in a positive direction. ... He's always listened to the players, he's had the attitude that you should" be accountable for your actions and your play. That seems less Hitlerish and more Walshish. Nolan handled the matter with grace. He had only kind words about Barlow, noting that the running back left an apology message on Nolan's answering machine Wednesday morning. Nolan said he wasn't taking Barlow's blowup personally because the coach's job is to make tough decisions and to expect non-benign reactions. "My son tells me when I discipline him that he hates me and wishes I was dead," Nolan said. Nolan said that he makes an effort not to surround himself with yes men, that he expects people like assistant head coach Mike Singletary to tell him if he's losing his players, if he's going dictator-eggshell on them. There's no question Nolan demands company loyalty. Jamie Winborn was shipped out because he wasn't aboard that team-first train. Nolan possibly felt that Barlow would revert to his disruptive ways if and when he was demoted to second string. Barlow has had off-field scuffles with at least two 49ers running backs. Or Nolan simply took the opportunity to unload a mysteriously unproductive runner. The Barlow trade won't be another Charles Haley story. Defensive end Haley, seen as wildly disruptive to the 49ers' chemistry, was sent to the rival Cowboys in 1992 and helped Dallas win three Super Bowls. It's more likely that in the Barlow deal, the regret will go the other way. Barlow "might get a big wakeup call," linebacker Jeff Ulbrich said, "going to New York and realizing how good he had it here." Considering that Barlow is going from a 4-12 team to a 4-12 team, Ulbrich's words sound like a vote of confidence for Nolan's program. Wednesday, Barlow's old dressing stall was stripped clean, his nameplate gone. All that remained was a small, printed sign taped to the side of the stall. The sign, which hangs in the stalls of all the running backs, reads: "Accountability."</div>Link<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>SANTA CLARA San Francisco 49ers players stood behind coach Mike Nolan, not their ex-teammate, the day after angry comments by running back Kevan Barlow. Nolan reacted mildly Wednesday, calling Barlow a "good kid" who simply became "emotional" over Sunday's trade to the New York Jets for a fourth-round pick in next year's NFL draft. In his comments Tuesday, Barlow labeled Nolan a "dictator" and likened him to Hitler and Saddam Hussein. He said the players on the 49ers are "walking on eggshells" and fear for their jobs, and that half the players on the team feel the same way as him. Nolan said Barlow left him a voice mail Wednesday morning apologizing for the remarks. He also said two Jewish friends phoned him in reference to the comparison to Hitler. "They were ribbing me," Nolan said. Players in the locker room seemed to take the stance that this was simply a case of Barlow being Barlow. "Kevan's a very emotional guy," linebacker Jeff Ulbrich said. "We all knew that. That's part of what makes him a really good football player, and that's sometimes what hurts him. ... He kind of puts his foot in his mouth once in awhile."Guard Justin Smiley added, "We know he's an emotional person. He wanted to be here, and he's made this place his home." Barlow also said quarterback Alex Smith, last year's first overall draft choice, is probably the only player on the team who has a good relationship with Nolan. He suggested Nolan gets along with Smith because his success as a coach heavily depends on him. After practice Wednesday afternoon, Smith said, "Coach Nolan has dealt with all of us the same way. He's the last person to give anyone special treatment. He demands the same out of all of us." Part of what appears to have fueled Barlow's anger is a conversation he had with Nolan about a week ago. Nolan told him there hadn't been "serious talks" with the Jets; Barlow appears to have interpreted this to mean there would be no trade, and in Tuesday's remarks he called Nolan a "liar." Nolan said Wednesday when he spoke to Barlow last week, the Jets had not made a concrete offer for the sixth-year back. Nolan said the trade talk did not intensify until Sunday morning, and the Jets were always the ones initiating the discussions. As for the references to despots and tyrants, Nolan said, "My son tells me when I discipline him that he hates me, and he wishes I was dead. I've heard it probably a hundred times. I still love my son. I enjoy Kevan. I think he's a good kid." Nolan said if Barlow had remained on the team he had concern over how the veteran would handle it if second-year back Frank Gore were named the starter ahead of him. "If it came to that," Nolan said, "I was going to have to address that issue to make sure that we nip it in the bud early." Nolan has cleaned house since his hiring in January 2005, which came in the aftermath of the 49ers' league-worst 2-14 record in 2004. Only 21 of the 78 players he inherited from the regime of ex-general manager Terry Donahue remain. So the players appear to have reason to be treading lightly, particularly when you consider there are 82 players on the current roster and 29 of them will be gone when final cuts are made in nine days. "Everybody on this team should be (walking on eggshells)," Smiley said. "Nothing's guaranteed around here. Our contracts aren't guaranteed." Defensive lineman Marques Douglas added, "I feel like I'm always on eggshells. I feel like I always have to prove myself." Douglas, a former Raven, said Nolan is the same person he was when he was Baltimore's defensive coordinator. "I think he's definitely approachable," Douglas said. "There's no secret there were some guys on the team who maybe weren't with the system. He made it known from Day 1 if you're not with what's going on, you won't be around here." Smiley went through an experience similar to Barlow's at the start of training camp, when there were rumors of a trade to Denver for a first-round draft choice. There were no reassurances from Nolan, Smiley said, and he didn't expect any. "I think that you're very silly to think that there's any reassurance here," Smiley said. "You're only as good as your last play. I don't care who you are. ... To me, it's in my hands. If I play well, it's going to work out for me." Nolan said he's pleased with the direction of the team. He said he's unconcerned he might be losing his grip on the locker room, but if a trusted confidant such as assistant head coach Mike Singletary told him otherwise, he would listen. Nolan often has spoken of the importance of the "smell" in the locker room. Wednesday, he said the aroma wafting around the building suits him fine, but he won't hesitate to make more changes no matter how much he likes his players. "I think it smells good," he said. "I like the smell in the building. I like the guys on our team. But at the same time I'm not going to let that sway me from being who they expect me to be."</div>LinkBye Barlow :bigfinger:
All your links did was confirm to me that I was likely right in that it stemmed from a miscommunication between Nolan and Barlow. Weather that was Nolan's intent or not, he left Barlow with the impression that he wasnt going to be traded and naturally it pissed him off when 6 hours before Game-Time he finds out that he was traded. I'm definately not excusing what he said, but we've all said some fucked up things when we're pissed off, it just happens Barlow's happened to be caught by a media reporter. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Part of what appears to have fueled Barlow's anger is a conversation he had with Nolan about a week ago. Nolan told him there hadn't been "serious talks" with the Jets; Barlow appears to have interpreted this to mean there would be no trade, and in Tuesday's remarks he called Nolan a "liar."</div>As for the rest of the articles, even if what Barlow said was completely true and that Nolan is acting like he is Hitler, there wasn't going to be a single person on the 49ers willing to admit that. Unless you have no value of your job in this league your not going to talk trash about your coach when you still work under him, so be sure to take all of that with a major grain of salt.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AdropOFvenom @ Aug 24 2006, 11:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>All your links did was confirm to me that I was likely right in that it stemmed from a miscommunication between Nolan and Barlow. Weather that was Nolan's intent or not, he left Barlow with the impression that he wasnt going to be traded and naturally it pissed him off when 6 hours before Game-Time he finds out that he was traded. I'm definately not excusing what he said, but we've all said some fucked up things when we're pissed off, it just happens Barlow's happened to be caught by a media reporter. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Part of what appears to have fueled Barlow's anger is a conversation he had with Nolan about a week ago. Nolan told him there hadn't been "serious talks" with the Jets; Barlow appears to have interpreted this to mean there would be no trade, and in Tuesday's remarks he called Nolan a "liar."</div>As for the rest of the articles, even if what Barlow said was completely true and that Nolan is acting like he is Hitler, there wasn't going to be a single person on the 49ers willing to admit that. Unless you have no value of your job in this league your not going to talk trash about your coach when you still work under him, so be sure to take all of that with a major grain of salt.</div>Comparing a NFL head coach to one of the evilest men to ever live? A man that had millions of people killed? Barlow is an ignorant bitch, like the article said; we dont need a player like him but we do need a demanding coach like Nolan. I know the players respect him, they're trying harder than I've ever seen.
