Fixing broken class: from hiring a coach to selecting a franchise quarterback, through a videotape scandal and the tragic loss of a player, this is the inside story of the 49ers' restoration

But it is the upper echelon that still needs better direction. York instructs his top executives to formulate policies to prevent any recurrences. He also will bring in a vice president of communications to handle corporate affairs. Nolan is influential in the hiring of Aaron Salkin, a former Falcons public relations director, to replace Reynolds. Nolan wants to fill the front office with football guys who understand how to be professional and build a winner. "I find the tape distasteful and not representative of how my wife or I believe," says York. "We are beyond the negative part. It's not the way we are now. Mike being here only makes my job easier because we have one and the same message."

Thomas Herrion

Minutes after their August 20 exhibition game in Denver, the 49ers gather in the locker room to recite the Lord's Prayer. They end with "Amen." And Thomas Herrion, a guard with practice-squad aspirations, falls to the ground in a seizure. His teammates scream for the trainer. Medical personnel turn the locker room into an ER unit. York, a pathologist, helps cut away his uniform. Some 49ers pray; others yell encouragement: "Come on, Thomas, you can do it." They look on, disbelieving, as doctors use a defibrillator to try to start his heart. The heart monitor doesn't change. He is removed on a stretcher for a local hospital.

Later, before they fly home, the players assemble in a hangar at the airport. "Thomas has passed away," Nolan tells them. Herrion was 23. An autopsy later reveals he had heart disease. Everyone is grieving, many are in shock. It is a team on the emotional brink, in need of guidance and strong leadership.

What follows is a remarkable week of compassion and emotion and empathy. The players receive grief counseling. They ask questions of the doctor who administered to Herrion in the locker room. They attend a private memorial service, where guard Eric Heitmann, a trained pianist, plays an original composition and receiver Otis Amey performs an original rap song. Sobs fill the church.

Throughout the days after Herrion's passing, Nolan tries to think like a parent, not a coach. Football appropriately takes on less importance. "I think what happened and the way it happened, we were at the bottom of the barrel," says Jennings, the left tackle. "As a group, you can either go up or go down. We had no choice but go up."

On Friday, the 49ers beat the Titans at home in the third exhibition game and assemble in the locker room. They say the Lord's Prayer. Nolan hesitates before starting. The next day, a contingent of 49ers flies to the funeral in Fort Worth. The players volunteer to pay for the funeral; York says he will handle it. "We have definitely seen Coach's efforts to be straight and honest with us in his decisions, and how he handled the tragedy of Thomas Herrion really impressed me," says safety Tony Parrish. "But it's all surreal now. Did it really happen? Were we really there?"