49ers coordinators: Coaching will have to wait

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Feb. 16, 2011MAIOCCO ARCHIVE49ERS PAGE49ERS VIDEOMatt MaioccoCSNBayArea.comSANTA CLARA -- The 49ers' new offensive and defensive coordinators are preparing for the 2011 season as if, well, there will be a 2011 season.Offensive coordinator Greg Roman and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Wednesday that their teaching of the new schemes will begin March 14, the designated opening date for the 49ers' offseason program.However, the league's unsettled collective bargaining agreement might force a work stoppage on March 3. If there is a lockout, the coaches will not be able to have any contact with players or send home any written material.RELATED: NFLPA memo shows huge rookie wage divide
"We're not going to have any contact with the players in a football sense," Roman said during his first meeting with the media after Jim Harbaugh named him as coordinator."That's my understanding of it. And we haven't up to this point. We're too busy dotting I's and crossing T's. You don't want to give players information that's not fully in concrete."But some players apparently have been studying aspects of the new 49ers playbook. On Feb. 9, 49ers tight end Vernon Davis wrote on Twitter, "(A)bout to watch film and hit the playbook with my coach!!"Teams do not generally allow playbacks to leave the area. But if the 49ers players would be able to take notes prior to March 3 and study on their own.That is particularly relevant with scheduled free-agent quarterback Alex Smith, who has met on several occasions with coach Jim Harbaugh. Smith and the 49ers are keeping their options open for 2011, but Smith will not be given any team-issued material to study during a potential work stoppage.Roman said the offensive staff is preparing as if there will be a typical offseason. And then they'll make any necessary adjustments. Regardless, he said he is not too concerned about a lack of time to get the schemes installed."Week to week during a season, as you build a game plan, a lot of times these game plans are so specific, you're presenting a lot of new things," Roman said. "It's amazing what you can get done in a short period of time."Fangio said his interaction with defensive players has been on personal levels. He said he does not expect to be speaking with players about the 49ers' scheme before March 3."(With) the sensitivity of this issue that's going on now, the only interaction I've had with players is if they're here in the building, passing in the hall, saying hello and introducing themselves trying to find out about them as people," Fangio said. "My feeling is until we can get direction and really seriously jump into the coaching of the football, we'll wait until them."Both Roman and Fangio said they will be stationed upstairs on game days.

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