Carmen Policy

That's exactly what he was.

And in his last season of 1988, I mean, Carmen Policy, I did a book event, you know, to promote the game in Berkeley, California.

I guess it would have been two weeks ago today.

And when I was talking to him, Carmen told me, flat out, Bill Walsh had a nervous breakdown that season.

You know, there was a lot of intensity in those great years.

And I had a great sit down today with Carmen Policy, and we talked a lot about that intensity and some of the parallels that he sees.

between this year's Niners.

We're going to play that tomorrow night and Saturday on 49er forecast.

His last year coaching, and they ended up winning the Super Bowl, but in mid-season to late season, they were six and five.

Carmen Policy, the president of the team, told me, I don't know, 18 months ago, I thought I was watching our dynasty go down the drain or go up in flames.

Walsh was totally losing it, losing it.

He sat there twice that night, that season, at Eddie DiBartolo's condo in Menlo Park, California, bawling his eyes out, you know, because he just couldn't get control of himself and couldn't get the team to play well, to win.

And so I wanted to go back and see, you know, why is it that Bill Walsh truly cracked up in his last season as a coach? He just had a very, very difficult time as the year went on.

I mean, Carmen Policy told me, and I did not use this in the book, Carmen Policy, the president of the Niners, told me that Bill had a nervous breakdown in the middle of that season.

I mean, nobody knows this stuff.

But I wanted to answer all the questions that I had over the years.

Well, I would say the one that really occurs to me and that appeals to me most is the time that I was able to spend with Reggie White as he was trying to figure out where he was going in free agency.

And the reason why it was so interesting is that nobody thought that he would go to Green Bay.

And his decision to go to Green Bay was kind of controversial because at the end of that decision-making process, He called Carmen Policy and Eddie DiBartolo, the president and owner of the 49ers, and he called them.

They were in a restaurant in San Francisco.

The reason is that, um, he was so intelligent about how to throw a football, how to coach someone to throw a football, the, uh, all the mechanics about the football, uh, you know, about playing the position of quarterback.

Um, I wrote a chapter on his last year in 1988, where, you know, Carmen Policy, the president of the 49ers...

I was just with him the other day in Berkeley, California, at an event, and, you know, we're there in front of the crowd, and he said flat out Bill Walsh had a nervous breakdown in his last year coaching.

That was the year that, in 1988, he won his last Super Bowl.