So what is your reaction when you read how testy Harbaugh is with the media?

Harbaugh is very bad with the media. He has no tact and he is not diplomatic or politically correct in his answers. He is very blunt and razor sharp in his responses. The media buys ink by the barrell so this can only hold up so long. They will without a doubt turn on him in a big way. Harbaugh is a good coach and football guy and QB developer IMO. But he wants no part of dealing with the media. You could tell that from his very first few press conferences. He could use a little more polish in that area IMO and it's something to work on. You kind of want the media on your side. It's better in a lot of ways.

I like his style. Honestly, a lot of these reporters are just looking to ask the same questions over on controversial subjects just to get a story. Some are baiting these guys (coaches/players) into saying something bad. I think how lucky are these people to ask these guys questions.... some like Maiocco take advantage while others ask stupid questions to look for a story. I'm glad he doesn't put up with their B.S. If you ask a smart intelligent football question you deserve a good answer. You ask something that is dumb or doesn't have anything to do with you you should get blown off. Like some guy asking Vic Fangio what the 49ers are doing about stadium security. Yeah, wrong guy and a waste of time and a question.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Harbaugh is very bad with the media. He has no tact and he is not diplomatic or politically correct in his answers. He is very blunt and razor sharp in his responses. The media buys ink by the barrell so this can only hold up so long. They will without a doubt turn on him in a big way. Harbaugh is a good coach and football guy and QB developer IMO. But he wants no part of dealing with the media. You could tell that from his very first few press conferences. He could use a little more polish in that area IMO and it's something to work on. You kind of want the media on your side. It's better in a lot of ways.

It only matters how well your team does.

You win, you are like Belichick.

you lose, you are like Nolan and Sing.

I love it. I hate how the media wil pick at a certain topic to get a rise out of someone even after they have time and time again to leave the subject to rest. I understand you have to do your job and thats what gets the "good" stories, but damn, be respectful of the mans wishes.

Originally posted by smithgdwg:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Harbaugh is very bad with the media. He has no tact and he is not diplomatic or politically correct in his answers. He is very blunt and razor sharp in his responses. The media buys ink by the barrell so this can only hold up so long. They will without a doubt turn on him in a big way. Harbaugh is a good coach and football guy and QB developer IMO. But he wants no part of dealing with the media. You could tell that from his very first few press conferences. He could use a little more polish in that area IMO and it's something to work on. You kind of want the media on your side. It's better in a lot of ways.

It only matters how well your team does.

You win, you are like Belichick.

you lose, you are like Nolan and Sing.

Yes to a point. But this team doesn't have the talent level at the most important positions that Belicheck has. And it will struggle at best IMO.

His demeanor with the press is low on my list of concerns when it comes to this team. I just sense he's being himself, unvarnished, no B.S. He'll become more polished with time.

I think he answered the questions pretty well. It is not his job to give us the fans a simple yes no because they are not simple yes no questions. They are setup for the next question, so why not nip it at the bud in the 1st place?

Originally posted by Wubbie:
I read a lot of transcripts of Harbaugh handling the media. He's, of course, polite, but often he'll bluntly tell a reporter he doesn't like how a question is phrased or refuse to answer questions.

It seems like he hates talking to the media and just does it because he has to. You could tell he'd rather be out there with the team coaching, then having to talk to the media. I think it's quite entertaining because reporters often ask loaded questions (trying to stir up controversy), questions they already know the answer to, or questions that are just plain silly.

In my opinion, I like that he doesn't back down talking to reporters. He can sense that some of them are trying to get him to say some sort of soundbite, or criticize a player or figure in the NFL.

I say this in preseason when we're all happy though. I'm sure if we're losing, and we're pessimistic about things, this might be something we get annoyed about.

Thoughts?

Why would we give a crap how the coach interacts with the media? I could care less. f**kem feed em fishheads.

i like that. the media is just trying to catch you saying something they can turn around and make you look like a fool anyway. Harbaughs taking the Barry Bonds approach and i applaud him for it lol

Originally posted by TexasNiner:

Originally posted by AthensGaNiner:

Originally posted by TexasNiner:
Actually he reminds me a lot of both Sing and Nolan. Evasive answers, double speak. I know he hates the media and wants to be Belichick, but he's not that good at it and comes off as an ass.

Just answer the damn question or say you don't want to answer it. Don't play dumb or pretend you don't know what the reporter is talking about because of the way the question is phrased.

All of this crap really annoys me:

Do you think the fact that you played quarterback in the NFL, do you think that makes you more understanding when a guy screws up, or does it make you more demanding of a quarterback since you played the position yourself?

“As compared to…?”

As compared to you. When you coach a position and you’ve played the position, you know more about the position, I would assume. So when someone messes up, does it make you more empathetic or more willing to understand that, and say ‘ok move on’. Or does it make you demanding in terms of warning them that they can’t do that.

“Make more or less than what? If you’re asking what my standard, what my style is, it’s basically to teach. To tell them what to do; show them what to do; then let him do. And then tell him what he did right, and tell him what he can improve on.”


Is there any conflict between having a quarterback competing and getting a quarterback ready for the regular season? In other words, if two quarterbacks are competing, does it give either of them the best opportunity to be the starting guy once the season starts?


“All of our quarterbacks … all of our players compete. That’s a given. I would not have it any other way. I just don’t have any pressure on myself, as I look at it, to name a starting quarterback in a timetable manner. So that’s how I was answering that question.”

My question is more along the lines of if a guy’s competing, he’s going to want to do the things that he does well, maybe rather than working at something that needs improvement because he wants to put his best foot forward to win the job. Do you see it that way at all?

“No, I’m not following your train of thought. We’re going to give, if you’re talking about reps. Is that where you’re going?”
Just instead of working on stuff on the practice field that needs improvement, a player is going to want to look good on the practice field all the time in order to win the job, to impress the coaches, and win the job.

“Yeah, I’m not following where you’re headed with that one. We want them to do well at a lot of things. You put your players in a position to be successful, to do what they do well, to get the work on the practice field so they can go into a ball game and not be unsuccessful. Those things are taking place and competing that’s a natural, or a given requirement of the position at all times in every form and fashion.”


All of that were basically two simple questions and all he had to do was say "Yes or No" that he is harder or easier on QBs having played the position himself. He knows what was meant and it's an easy question to answer.

Same thing with the "competition" question. If you don't think "competing" for the job distracts from "preparing" for the start, just say "no I don't think so", don't pretend you don't understand the question.

He comes across as either a jackass or an idiot the way he's answering those questions.

I can kind of see your point on the first exchange, but when Harbaugh asks for some clarification, the reporter's attempt to clear it up on his second try is even more long winded. To borrow your paraphrasing, "Are you harder or easier on QBs having played the position yourself, as compared to someone who's never played the position?" I'm combining a little bit there, but it's a much cleaner question. I get what your saying a little bit here, though.

The second exchange is exactly what I was talking about above, where Harbaugh is aware of any subtext in the questions that he's asked. The subtext here is that a player in a competition might be tempted to only show off his current skills to win the competition rather than trying to improve his game. This would imply that a player wasn't trying to "get better every day". Harbaugh has said more than once that he will not tolerate questions that are loaded with any sort of insinuation about the players.

Who's the interviewer on your post? I believe he's had a few tense moment with the younger Cohn. If it's Grant doing the asking, perhaps there's also a measure of left-over frustrations from other interviews?

It is Cohn, and I'll be the first to say that he's a dumbass.

But there are much better ways to defuse the questions than to act ignorant of the question or to be that deliberately evasive. If he wants to be like Belichick, than he should either just give a curt answer, say he won't answer the question, simply say "no", or even call out the question by saying, "that's a dumb question, I won't answer it." End of discussion.

His whole end around of acting like he doesn't understand the question or trying to draw out his perceived "subtext" is ridiculous.

For the first question, if he doesn't want to answer it or doesn't feel there is a difference it is simple enough to say "I treat them like I treat any other player, there is no difference." Period. End of story. It doesn't require the rest of the BS.

Same thing with the second question. Easy enough to just say "No." And that could be it. Or "No. There is no conflict, competition helps preparation."

And I don't care that he hates the media or is annoyed at Cohn. I just can't stand his BSing on complete non-issue questions. It really makes me wonder how he will respond when there are real questions to be answered about losses, bad play calls, personnel decisions and other things that may come up throughout the season when at times this team will face issues and he will have to deal with the press.

The stuff he is dealing with now is nothing. These are softballs and he's acting like he's being asked about his Mom losing her virginity. What's he going to do when there are real questions to be answered?

We have the advantage of a text version of the interview, where we have time to dissect the question and time to think of a better wording answer. Harbaugh doesn't. The question being asked verbally, especially the second one was around and about, hard to follow, with a lot of assumptions. And the extended answers from Harbaugh may just be him trying dissect the question and giving himself time to think up of an adequate answer. It sounds to me like Harbaugh was trying to answer the questions sincerely, but at the same time selecting his wording carefully so as to not give up any specific details indication of how he is currently judging his quarterbacks. That would be a slippery slope into further questions of criticism of each qb.

Harbaugh actually answer the second question very well by basically saying, he will put his quarterbacks in all different type of situations so that they can be prepare to do well in the game. Whether that quarterback does well in practice is up to that individual. The question of the interviewer assumes that the quarterback on his own accord, gets to choose what he wants to work on in practice to make himself look good, which is not true at all. Thus Harbaugh is a bit confused by the stupid premise of the question.

Dealing with the press is part of the deal. He needs to make it fun for himself and the press, with some humor. He can do that and life will be more fun. The snarky answers diminish him.

I get a boner.

His treatment of the press doesn't bother me a bit. I think he's actually just doing what a lot of people wish they could do when they get asked idiotic questions. I for one am ready for a coach with enough jackass in him to go out and shlack a crappy opponent 55-10.

He's been fine with the media, what do people expect? His job is to put a winning product on the field, not deal with speculation created by a bunch of over-emotional columnists.

He's been refreshing. He lets the media know what he will and will not answer. The questions he will answer are responded intelligently and fully, the questions where the media is fishing for a bite so they can write a moronic article about pure speculation, he turns it around and asks for more specifics until he basically calls out the media for trying to get some type of sound bite from him so they can write a blog on pure speculation. The truth is that he is smarter than most journalists out there and knows bullsh*t when he sees it, so he calls them on it. What is wrong with that? Guess what, all the better coaches do this and deflect questions back to the media when they know that some journalist wants a sound bite to run with and make a completely outlandish article that has no basis in reality.

Cant we all just rejoice in finally having a coach that is smarter than the fans? I mean with Sing, anyone with a bachelors or masters degree in any thing other than communications or physical therapy (no offense to any majors, just making a point.... and you know those classes were easy as sh*t ) could legitimately destroy in an argument, Harbaugh went to Michigan, that aint a school known just for football.

Wow, now there's a right and wrong way to talk.