Just got off the phone with Bobby April, presumably the 49ers leading candidate for special teams coordinator. April, 56, said he had a good conversation with Mike Singletary in Orlando on Tuesday. He said that Singletary did not offer him the job, although the two plan to speak by telephone later this week. April also has met with the Steelers about their vacancy at special teams coordinator and that he's heard from other teams as well. He declined to identify those teams before anything was concrete.
April is a New Orleans native who spent three years with the Saints under then-coach Mike Ditka. "Coach Ditka on many, many occasions used Mike Singletary as the quintessential guy you want to be like in the league," April said. "And that always resonated with me."
April said he had never met Singletary until Tuesday. He said that Ditka's description of Singletary came to life when they met. "He definitely has an aura," April said. "He has a presence that projects strength and projects character. He's a person of conviction."
During their meeting, Singletary said he spoke about the importance of family. In fact, Singletary wanted April to bring his wife and children to California to meet with Singletary and his wife, Kim. April, however, has school-aged children and couldn't make the trip. Instead the two will speak by phone.
Asked about his time line for making a decision, April said he'd like to make it "relatively quickly. I'm going to weigh a couple of things. I'm going to talk to some people. I have options," he said. "A lot of guys don't have options. I'm very fortunate to have options, and I don't take that lightly."
Most of April's NFL jobs have been in the eastern time zone, and he spent the last six seasons with the Buffalo Bills. But he said he was not averse to moving to the west coast. After all, he spent 11 years at the University of Arizona and another four at USC.
Singletary also has interviewed Larry Mac Duff for the position. Mac Duff ran the 49ers special teams from 2003-2006. He was succeeded by Al Everest. Last week, the 49ers decided not to renew Everest's contract
-- Matt Barrows
