Two NFL head coaches go old school.

Mike Nolan

Los Angeles daily News: Nolan and Del Rio dressed for success
by Billy Witz, Columnist

Jerry Rice, looking ever so graceful as he ran one last route for Steve Young in a caramel-colored suit, and the new-look 49ers, no longer resembling the NFL's street urchins, were all dressed up Sunday with someplace to go.

For Rice, it was a halftime ceremony honoring his career. For the 49ers, after their third consecutive victory, 20-14 over the Seahawks, dare we say ... the playoffs?

OK, that may be getting carried away - even if this is the NFC West - but at least they're starting to look the part.

The same could be said for Mike Nolan.

Skeptics wondered last season if the rookie head coach was in over his head, but his young 49ers, whose roster has been overhauled from the mess Terry Donahue left behind as general manager, own the NFC's longest winning streak and are one game behind Seattle for the division lead.

He didn't look bad getting there, either.

Nolan became the first NFL coach in 13 years to wear a coat and tie on the sidelines, sporting a black suit, a crisp, white shirt and a red-black-and-gold striped tie.

Nolan looked more Joe Friday than Giorgio Armani, but style in the NFL is all relative. Across the field, Mike Holmgren - in a polo shirt and slacks - was dressed less to the nines than to the back nines.

That's the way most coaches have looked since 1993 when Reebok entered into a licensing agreement with the NFL to outfit all coaches. Long gone are the days when Hank Stram strutted up and down the sidelines with a red handkerchief tucked inside the breast pocket of his blazer, or when Paul Brown and George Halas wore their Sunday best.

Gradually, fedoras have given way to frump.

When Nolan became the 49ers coach a year ago, he planned to wear a jacket and tie during games as a tribute to his father, Dick Nolan, who coached the 49ers and Saints in the `60s and `70s, and Dan Reeves, his mentor.

But the NFL nixed the idea since Reebok didn't manufacture suits. In the off-season, the apparel company designed a suit for Nolan and also for Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio, who wore a gray suit with a black-and-teal tie Monday night.

Jack Del Rio

The idea seems popular with fashionistas and football fans.

"I thought it was great," said Heather Cocks, a Los Angeles resident whose Web site www.gofugyourself.com throws darts at celebrity fashion faux pas. "He looked dapper. It's probably more comfortable to wear those grandpa sweater vests if you're running around and screaming at officials, but wearing a suit is classy. I'll be fascinated to see whether it catches on."