Hear me out on this: But why Jim Harbaugh?

I am a football fan, but I do not live in Pac-10 country (SEC West baby, you heard of it? ). So, I have an outsider's appreciation for what Jim Harbaugh has done at Stanford--academic institution that is playing in a premier bowl game? Ok, I am impressed.

But is it enough for him to coach the Niners?

And I understand that he met and spoke with Bill Walsh, which around these parts is like talking to Jesus, the Burning Bush, the Prophet, the Buddha, Silent Bob, The "Hoff", "Hef", Yoda, and Chuck Norris.

But is it enough for him to coach the Niners?

And yeah, I remember him as Captain Comeback. I actually liked him when he played for the Colts (drafted by the Bears in 87), I never thought he was great, but good enough to win. A guy that was not hard to like.

It seems like to me that we are trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice. Didn't we already try that with Mike Nolan? His father was a 49er head coach, and some, myself included, bought into his son's love for the helmet. That worked out well for us didn't it? Granted, Harbaugh has head coaching experience, but Nolan had NFL experience. I'll let some of you debate that point away.

Again--and it really is sad that I have to clarify myself on this, but around these parts, you speak a bad word about a fan favorite and they tie you up by your (censored) and make you listen to recordings of Samuari Mike's greatest hits collection--I have no dislike for the guy.

But, are we not doing the same thing by placing all of our collective hopes into the image of Jim Harbaugh? But, instead of a family connection, it is a Bill Walsh one? Hell, is it a niner one:

1. In 1995, he was comeback player of the year with Garrison Hearst

2. His big ten passing efficiency record was broken by Elvis Grbac

The following I lifted from wikipedia (as with the above tidbits); no, I don't trust wiki, but for this type of stuff, and on short notice, this is the best I have:


San Diego Toreros:
2004 San Diego 7–4 4–1 2nd
2005 San Diego 11–1 4–0 1st
2006 San Diego 11–1 7–0 1st
San Diego: 29–6

Stanford Cardinal (Pacific-10 Conference) (2007–present)
2007 Stanford 4–8 3–6 T–7th
2008 Stanford 5–7 4–5 T–6th
2009 Stanford 8–5 6–3 T–2nd L Sun
2010 Stanford 11–1 8–1 2nd Orange †

Stanford: 28–21 21–15

Total: 57–27

Is this enough of a resume to lay the hopes of the next five years or longer on?

Again, I have no agenda here, I like the guy, hope to hell if we get him that he wins, and this will probably get merged, but I am curious about why Harbaugh has captured the hearts and minds of many 49ers fans.

I can see the Gruden and Holmgren stuff--granted, you can make the Walsh connection to them, but both of them have won in the NFL. But, are we pinning for Harbaugh because we think he is the next Bill Walsh, and if so, isn't that a rather dumb thing to do?



EDIT: Here is not HEAR

EDIT 2: I can't f*cking spell today: lightning

[ Edited by fropwns on Dec 29, 2010 at 13:33:22 ]

HERE you are, HERE we are,

HERE a he, HERE a she, HERE HERE CHICKEN

Originally posted by vrabbit:
HERE you are, HERE we are,

HERE a he, HERE a she, HERE HERE CHICKEN

Even I can stumble.

Hangs his head in shame

what about Gary Kubiak...Walsh guy..great offensive mind. I am starting to like it.

I mean it's not like the 49ers are the only team interested in him.

Other NFL teams would be as well.

He's a smart guy who is more of an NFL mind who coached in college for a few years.

He also turned around 2 programs.

look at the stats you posted....every program he takes over, he turns around. plus, he does a great job at developing the QB position.

this is EXACTLY what the San Francisco 49ers football organization needs right now.

Offensive minded coach who turned a bad team with recruiting restrictions into a top team in the country.

Those numbers are from Stanford and San Diego, pretty impressive.

That being said, I like 1. Gruden 2. Harbaugh 3. Billick.

fro,
He also has assistant coach experience in the NFL.

Note: we actually did hit "lightning" in a bottle with hiring Nolan: the first Nolan gave us 0 superbowls and so did the second. I shouldn't really say lightning more so than a night light.

I say it's just a difference between people who find comfort in "experience" and those who find comfort in "potential".

I do hear some valid points on both sides.

His plays are genius...i loved watching the plays he would come up with.

Don't know how well that will tranfer over to the NFL?

but he did take a bunch of nerds and turned them into beasts

I can understand your reasoning, but isn't the hiring of a HC somewhat of a crapshoot.

When you are able to take "inferior" talent (which means scholars and not just athletes) and beat teams that have "superior Athletes" that has to mean that you know how to develop a game plan.

Am I saying that Harbaugh is the 2nd coming of Christ (or Bill Walsh), no. However, he comes from a family that has been in the coaching business for some time. I say this because one of the reasons that Phillip Rivers has been so successful is that he was coached up. So was Elway, since his father was a Coach.

We have him as a potential candidate, but frankly I am not sure he would sign on with us if his Alma Mater gave him and offer he couldn't refuse.

The difference for me with Harbaugh is that he was an NFL QB, has NFL coaching experience (not a huge amount) and HC coaching experience at two levels in College that have been successful.

fro for GM.

Originally posted by fropwns:
I am a football fan, but I do not live in Pac-10 country (SEC West baby, you heard of it? ). So, I have an outsider's appreciation for what Jim Harbaugh has done at Stanford--academic institution that is playing in a premier bowl game? Ok, I am impressed.

But is it enough for him to coach the Niners?

And I understand that he met and spoke with Bill Walsh, which around these parts is like talking to Jesus, the Burning Bush, the Prophet, the Buddha, Silent Bob, The "Hoff", "Hef", Yoda, and Chuck Norris.

But is it enough for him to coach the Niners?

And yeah, I remember him as Captain Comeback. I actually liked him when he played for the Colts (drafted by the Bears in 87), I never thought he was great, but good enough to win. A guy that was not hard to like.

It seems like to me that we are trying to catch lightening in a bottle twice. Didn't we already try that with Mike Nolan? His father was a 49er head coach, and some, myself included, bought into his son's love for the helmet. That worked out well for us didn't it? Granted, Harbaugh has head coaching experience, but Nolan had NFL experience. I'll let some of you debate that point away.

Again--and it really is sad that I have to clarify myself on this, but around these parts, you speak a bad word about a fan favorite and they tie you up by your (censored) and make you listen to recordings of Samuari Mike's greatest hits collection--I have no dislike for the guy.

But, are we not doing the same thing by placing all of our collective hopes into the image of Jim Harbaugh? But, instead of a family connection, it is a Bill Walsh one? Hell, is it a niner one:

1. In 1995, he was comeback player of the year with Garrison Hearst

2. His big ten passing efficiency record was broken by Elvis Grbac

The following I lifted from wikipedia (as with the above tidbits); no, I don't trust wiki, but for this type of stuff, and on short notice, this is the best I have:


San Diego Toreros:
2004 San Diego 7–4 4–1 2nd
2005 San Diego 11–1 4–0 1st
2006 San Diego 11–1 7–0 1st
San Diego: 29–6

Stanford Cardinal (Pacific-10 Conference) (2007–present)
2007 Stanford 4–8 3–6 T–7th
2008 Stanford 5–7 4–5 T–6th
2009 Stanford 8–5 6–3 T–2nd L Sun
2010 Stanford 11–1 8–1 2nd Orange †

Stanford: 28–21 21–15

Total: 57–27

Is this enough of a resume to lay the hopes of the next five years or longer on?

Again, I have no agenda here, I like the guy, hope to hell if we get him that he wins, and this will probably get merged, but I am curious about why Harbaugh has captured the hearts and minds of many 49ers fans.

I can see the Gruden and Holmgren stuff--granted, you can make the Walsh connection to them, but both of them have won in the NFL. But, are we pinning for Harbaugh because we think he is the next Bill Walsh, and if so, isn't that a rather dumb thing to do?



EDIT: Here is not HEAR

Hey, hey now. You forgot his two years of NFL assistant experience with Oakland. He was there in 2002 and 2003. In 2002, the Raiders went to the Super Bowl. Harbaugh's results are fine enough to warrant strong consideration, but when you look at the things he does that aren't necessarily measurable statistically, that's another big push in his favor.

Harbaugh is a brainiac kind of guy. He's cool under pressure. Mentally stable... He knows offense. He's a budding, young coach who's on the verge of becoming something special.

Originally posted by Joecool:
fro,
He also has assistant coach experience in the NFL.

Note: we actually did hit "lightning" in a bottle with hiring Nolan: the first Nolan gave us 0 superbowls and so did the second. I shouldn't really say lightning more so than a night light.

Fixed.


And you're right, we sort of batted a smooth zero on that one. Wait, what?

Originally posted by AZZ:
what about Gary Kubiak...Walsh guy..great offensive mind. I am starting to like it.

Not every apple falling from the Walsh tree is good to eat. Not saying that anything is wrong with Kubiak but we've gotten into a habit of assuming that any fruit that fall from the Walsh coaching will be like the tree it's self. The same goes for Coaches that coach at the same college that Walsh coached at.

I just want the organization to be intelligent about the whole process.