The 49ers world began turning today with coach Mike Singletary addressing the unexpected departure of assistant Johnnie Lynn, 53, who resigned this week after five years on the staff for what the team termed “personal reasons.”
Lynn, a special assistant to Singletary who also coached the defensive backs with Vance Joseph, left the Niners in the wake of a 34-16 loss to Green Bay in which the secondary allowed 298 passing yards and three touchdowns.
Is there a connection between Lynn’s exit and the secondary’s play this
season?
The 49ers are ranked 18th in the NFL in passing defense and
opposing quarterbacks have a rating of 91.9 (25th in NFL) and have
completed 64.6 percent of their passes (25th).
Singletary didn’t shed much light on the subject.
In fact, he began by saying of Lynn’s departure, “I lose a good friend.” Later, he said, “Johnnie and I remain friends.”
The lack of clarity was a theme with Singletary, who said of the
circumstances surrounding the resignation that “… Johnnie and his family
will deal with it.”
That suggested Lynn might have left for non-football reasons. But
Singletary was later asked if Lynn’s “personal reasons” were outside the
realm of football. If so, wouldn’t “yes” be an appropriate response that would still protect Lynn’s privacy?
Instead, Singletary said, “I’m going to say personal. Period.
And leave it there.”
Was the decision mutual?
“When personal matters come up, it’s very important that you really
don’t get into, ‘Was it this, was it that?'” Singletary said. “I just
want to say that a personal issue came up and Johnnie is going to have
to handle it in the best way possible. I wish him all the luck in the
world.”
Safety Reggie Smith said he didn’t learn of Lynn’s resignation until
this morning. If Lynn is dealing with a personal, non-football issue,
Smith wasn’t told.
“They said personal reasons so I don’t really know what the deal is,”
Smith said. “But I’m going to call him later in the day to find out what
the deal is.”
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