Jed York has to get it right this time

We pause in our regularly scheduled bashing and trashing of Mike Singletary to bring you this word from the boss of the 49ers, Jed York:

"HELLLLP!"

In firing Singletary, York said, "There's no reason that we aren't the team that won this division this year."

Actually there is a reason. Jed York.

Twice in a row, York - with assists from his mom and dad - hired spectacularly wrong coaches.

York, 29, has to get it right this time, because you know what the rule is in hiring people to lead your team: Three strikes and you're out ... unless you own the team, in which case you can take all the mulligans you want.

Actually, it's not that easy. For the 49ers, there are stadium issues and fan-support issues. One more bad coach, or coach/GM combo, and York might be forced to rethink his career choice.

York is learning on the job - he was named team president only two years ago - and it's been rough. Twice in a row the York-led 49ers have been buffaloed by bombast and blarney.

Twice Jed (and his parents) were hypnotized. The old swinging-pocket-watch trick.

When the Yorks hired Mike Nolan, do you remember what they told us was Nolan's No. 1 qualification for the job? That Nolan's father had once been head coach of the 49ers, so Mike understood how important winning is to this franchise.

That was spit-out-the-coffee reasoning. Winning has the same meaning and importance in Ulan Bator as it has in San Francisco.

What made Singletary attractive to Jed York is that Singletary is a master motivator. He gives speeches that fire up ordinary people! Imagine what he can do with a football team.

Singletary's first game as a head coach, he went with the classic halftime motivational tool of dropping his trousers. The 49ers lost the game.

Singletary was given a strong voice in player acquisition. His advice, he revealed, was based entirely on his ability to read a man's character from face-to-face conversation. Mystical powers. And York believed.

The problem wasn't Singletary overselling himself, it was York overbuying what Singletary was overselling.

Give York credit for this: Singletary was never boring. San Francisco is a town that appreciates drama and quirkiness, and Singletary didn't shortchange anyone there.

But coach? When the 49ers brought a scale model of their proposed new stadium to the KNBR radio studio, morning show co-host Brian Murphy said, "Wow, it's so realistic that if you look close, you can see Mike Singletary burning a timeout."

Fans are mostly ready to move on to a new franchise phase that involves winning. They want winners. Can York find 'em?

That's the big question, whether Jed York has developed, through trial and error, a feel for hiring men who can capably lead this team. York said he would hire a GM first and give him complete authority to hire a coach.

"Our general manager is going to put that (coach candidate) list together," York said Monday, "so I'm not going to say, 'You're the GM, but you can't hire this guy as your head coach.' Our general manager is going to have the ability to hire whoever he wants as the head coach."

But what if the GM wants to hire another Macy's float - an attractive package full of hot air? If that happens, York has to exercise his been-there/done-that veto powers.

York might want to be part of the selection process so he can ask a prospective coach questions like, "How do you feel about bell cows? How do you spell physical?"

And why should York lock himself into hiring a GM first? Certain coaches he might want to hire - Jon Gruden, Jim Harbaugh - might refuse to work for certain GMs. A package deal might be the way to go - a coach and GM who agree in advance to work together.

So it's not as easy as it sounds. The next coach and GM will be under heavy scrutiny from the start, but the real pressure will be on Jed York. Youthful indiscretions can be overlooked only to a point.

York was asked Monday, "You're going to be hiring a general manager. Can you assure the fan base that you have the expertise to make that decision?"

"Yes," York explained.

(Crickets.)

E-mail Scott Ostler at sostler@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle