Jimmy

Friday afternoon was a great day to be a fan (of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish). As for the 49ers, color me skeptical of big Jim and the 49ers move. In no particular order, here are some thoughts on Mr. Harbaugh.

1. He's a very good college coach
The idea that Stanford can go 12-1, stomp on Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, and probably finish #3 in the country (especially if Oregon wins convincingly Monday night) is still ridiculous. While some of their success certainly can be pinned on Andrew Luck, Harbaugh deserves credit for bringing him in 3 years ago when they were rebuilding. Furthermore, their offense is a balance scheme that doesn't depend on Luck winning the game on his own and their defense is certainly competent enough despite not having many guys who have a chance to play on Sunday. As a fan of a college team that plays both Stanford and Michigan every year, I'm pretty happy he won't be at either school.



2. He seems like a massive jerk.
After Va. Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor make a great scramble and throw Monday night, he seemed to get a heated conversation with Harbaugh on the sidelines (it looks like Harbaugh is the guy in black pullover pointing at the sideline). Whether Taylor stepped on the sidelines is not material. The fact that Harbaugh, instead of directing his anger at the official who made the call, starting yapping at Taylor is. Coaches shouldn't be jawing with opposing players, especially at the college level where there is a massive age gap and the coaches are suppose to be greater role models/father figures. While some people may like Harbaugh's passion, I think it just shows he's a jerk who still thinks he's a player. It reminded me of when Harbaugh failed to shake Jimmy Clausen's hand for because he's a sore loser. And the time he went for 2 against USC up 25 points. And those general ESPN stock clips of him before a game, where he looks like he's in the mosh pit at a Soundgarden concert.

3. The 49ers had no choice.
After boy genius Jed York (whose qualifications to run the team are that his family owns the team, everyone hates his dad, and his uncle has been banned for bribing politicians) fired pantless Mike, he made it clear that changes would be made. Of course 3 days later, he made the interim GM (the one who inherited the job only because the last one resigned for "personal reasons" 2 weeks before the draft) the full time GM, which inspired no confidence in the Bay Area. While there were other candidates out there, such as Marty "Punt to Start Overtime" Mornhinweg, clearly Harbaugh was the big name out there and even more so in the Bay Area. If they had failed to bring in a respectable name, the fans base would have immediately given up on Jed and the team, which is a bad thing when you're still trying to leverage the city into building you a new stadium. So while 5 years/$25M seems like a lot, it would have looked worse if someone like the Dolphins, Michigan, or Stanford outbid them. Given that the years and dollar amount are the same Dan Snyder gave Steve Spurrier 10 years ago, it doesn't look that bad.

4. This isn't going to end well.
For every Bill Walsh (who really made his name as an assistant on the Bengals in the mid 1970s before going to Stanford) or Jimmy Johnson, there are many more Nick Sabans and Bobby Petrinos, and recent years have only exacerbated the divide between college and professional coaching. Given what I said in point 2, I don't know if NFL players will buy the tough guy act that Harbaugh spend so much time portraying. It's one thing to be the intimating coach at Stanford (where the students probably are already more respectful to authority than the average college football player); it's quite another to do in the land of $20 million bonus and the salary cap. If Jim doesn't like a guy, he just can't recruit a replacement or even threaten to pull the scholarship. Instead, you are stuck with the hand you are dealt. The decrease in authority is something both Pete Carroll and Nick Saban talked about when they went to college, and I can't imagine it will sit well with Harbaugh long term. Even if he does quite well, then the odds of a power struggle between Harbaugh and new GM Trent Baalke will just rise exponentially as Harbaugh tries to regain the personnel authority he enjoyed at Stanford. Ultimately, I will be shocked if he actually finish his 5 years and even more shocked if the Niners enjoy serous success (NFC Championship game appearance or better).