The recent news of Jim Harbaugh leaving Stanford to coach the 49ers has left me scratching my head. From Harbaugh's perspective, it's a no brainer. He coaches at Stanford, hardly a school with a big football tradition. Even though he went 11-1 this year, eventually they won't have Andrew Luck and eventually they will be middle of the pack again. Right now he is the IT coach. He clearly wanted to go to the NFL someday, and today, San Fran offered him $5 million a year. It's a no-brainer.
From the 49ers standpoint, it seems like a no brainer, too. Here is a team that is looking to regain the proud legacy of Walsh, Montana, Young, Rice. They have been dreadful the past few years with Alex Smith, Shaun Hill, JT O'Sullivan and Troy Smith as their QB's. They have been dreadful the past few years with Dennis Erickson, Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary as their coaches. They need something to grab on to; something to believe in. Enter the IT college-coach who happens to be working just down the road from them.
It seems almost too prefect. You know how the saying goes: if something appears too good to be true, it probably is. Now I'm not Nostradamus. I can't predict how good Harbaugh is going to be. Hell, he has the bloodline (his brother John is the Ravens coach) and he has playing experience (14 years in the NFL), so who knows, he might be good. The thing that makes me weery though is the recent failure of college coaches going to the Pros. Now I know Pete Carrol has led the Seahawks to the playoffs, but he at least had been an NFL coach before and he coached at USC for a decade. Harbaugh has been at Stanford for 4 years and San Diego 3 years before that. That's it. When I hear that, I can't help but think of the long line of coaches not named Carrol to have made the jump and failed. I'm talking: Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino, Steve Spurrier, Dennis Erickson, Butch Davis, Rich Brooks and Mike Riley.
I don't know. Maybe I am being a moron here, but this hiring just doesn't feel as good to me as it does to others. I am hoping that my 49ers insider (ok, not really an insider, but a long-suffering fan) can offer his thoughts on the signing.
Hey JerseySounder-
ReplyDeleteAs one of the many long-suffering fans of the Niners, I have to agree that we shouldn't get TOO excited about this signing. Certainly, I learned just this past season what high expectations can do.
Be that as it may, bringing in an offensive minded coach to a team that has decent/superb talent at the skill positions seems like a good formula for some mild success.
I'm hoping that we can just show a little progress, much like he did at Stanford when he took over the 1-11 team. At the very least, he certainly can't be a downgrade from the last 3 "regimes" we've had.
He's also being given the benefit of the doubt becausde of the weakness of the division. Everyone got pretty hyped up about the Rams, but next year they won't creep up on anyone. Seattle has as many QB decisions to make as "we" do. And Arizona is a mess, even if they nab McNabb.
So to give you my take on things, I go into the season with restrained excitement. The O-Line will have an offseason to gel. The defense is still a top-10 unit, especfially if the offense can keep them of the field or give them a lead to play with (witness the beatdown of the 'Hawks in SF). QB will be a question for a while (and no I DO NOT want McNabb).
Creative game-planning, a decent O-Line, and a good defense as least give me hope that we can be closer to what we were SUPPOSED to be this year.
And weirdly, I think the only real indicator we have of how well he can potentially be is his brother; maybe coaching runs in the Harbaugh blood-line. At least I hope.
At the very least, we have a GM, so we've already upgraded hahahaha...