Word earlier today was that 49ers head coach Mike Nolan was going to be fired next week, but now, according to Jay Glazer (who's not Chris Mortensen so we know it's true) Mike Nolan has officially been fired by the 49ers.

As a 49ers fan, I couldn't be happier. Nolan was a bad coach, period. He came over from Baltimore as a supposed defensive whiz, but about the only thing he ever did to improve the defense was draft Patrick Willis.

On the offensive side, he really knew next to nothing, and often openly admitted it. That was one of the main reasons Mike Martz was brought in during the offseason. Nolan was also regrettably tied directly to Alex Smith, who is now one of the biggest NFL busts in history. But what really soured me - and many Niners fans - on Nolan was his refusal to acknowledge Alex Smith's injured shoulder during the 2007 season.

Smith separated his shoulder early in the season, and when he came back, it was clear he wasn't 100%. Smith ultimately told the 49ers after 3 games that he just simply didn't think he could play with his shoulder being as bad as it was. Instead of listening to his quarterback, Nolan openly questioned Smith's toughness through the media - not privately. Smith then accused Nolan of undermining his stature in the locker room, which Nolan had clearly done.

While I was never a big fan of Smith's, he did indeed develop shoulder tendinitis during that 2007 season after he toughed it out coming back from the shoulder separation. And that shoulder separation may very well have resulted in the broken shoulder he suffered at the end of training camp this year. Smith wasn't great, but at least he worked hard.

I'm not sure I can say the same thing of Nolan. He seemingly learned nothing in his three plus years as a head coach. He better never get a head coaching gig in this league again.

Supposedly, the team is going to name Mike Singletary head coach, rather than Mike Martz. Singletary has been considered a hot commodity of late and is a good choice in my mind for the long term. The only problem is that this team needs a ton of help. It's clear JT O'Sullivan isn't working as quarterback, nor is the team defense particularly good. It's going to take a major rebuilding effort to get this team back to being respectable. And with the incredibly stingy ownership - the awful York family - that may not even be possible. Personally, I'd like to fire owners as well, but we'll save that for another time.

Although this is a good move, and a necessary one, it looks like we're still a long way away from the Niners being good again.