jim harbaugh
coaching fiasco 2014

SEARCHBITS XXV: TELEPHONE TIME Comment Count

Brian

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never not funny

ANOTHER DAY FULL OF TREAD. Status quo after the Dolphins news yesterday. May get some leaks tomorrow if the players get some info; I am guessing Hackett doesn't put anything definitive in that call because he knows anything he says is going to get out. Hoping we get a coy but confident read from that.

Insiders now settling in: most are saying they are cautiously optimistic, think Harbaugh has told people it's happening, but are wary of NFL offers. Steve Lorenz pulled the trigger on a 247 Crystal Ball pick, so there's that. He's been on the verge of one for a while, and a couple things pushed him over the line($), including "'strong rumblings' from the agent side of things"—again information that does not seem to be part of the Michigan echo chamber.

UNLESS…? There are some rumblings this could be the done deal day. Those Who Stay says there's an agent meeting today; Mysterious Insider GFunk has been positive before and just went to 100% on Rivals; some rando who likes My Name Is Earl on twitter says it's done. I've got a couple of similar reports.

Individually I'd shrug those off, but a lot of them coming in quick succession may be a real thing.

MORE POSITIVE BITS. Another day, more confidence from within the echo chamber. Gregg Henson has a couple former players who are on board now and weren't before. Meanwhile the NFL reporter moonwalk continues:

Pretty much the same number and level of NFL jobs will come open as everyone was expecting earlier this year. That's some spin right there.

TELEPHONE EXEMPLAR. Jay Glazer is reporting that the 49ers and Harbaugh are going to part ways within 48 hours of the season's end; he appears to be the only one doing so. It's tough to tell these days as any piece of news is replicated across a dozen platforms with REPORT tacked on the front of it, but I think it's just Glazer in a brief TV segment. Kawakami tweeted something similar, but he's not being passed around as a REPORT.

I bet Glazer's right; I also think that people are reading too much into his statement. He picked an intentionally vague phrase to communicate what's going down: "end that relationship." SI transformed that into "fired." Rivals asserts that Glazer is reporting the 49ers "will not seek a trade for compensation." Glazer did no such thing. He just said expect the two parties to move quickly after the season.

This obviously has implications for Michigan. If the 49ers are going to fire Harbaugh that potentially saves them some money; if they've given up on the idea of trading him at all that's a big hint as to where things are going. Unfortunately, Glazer said no such thing.

That's a good example of how things get twisted as they get passed along, at least. Why I'm more cautious than might be warranted.

PLAN B. This isn't directly about Michigan, but Adam Schefter reports that David Shaw isn't even thinking about leaving Stanford for the NFL:

Any NFL team hoping to make a major run at Stanford head coach David Shaw will, in all probability, come away disappointed, sources tell ESPN. …But those who know the 42-year-old Shaw now believe he will not leave Stanford, no matter how much the NFL wants him.

This is the opposite of the usual play for a coach coming off a meh year. Agents will float their guy as a possibility here or there in an effort to get an extension or at least some patience; this is not a guy who thinks he's under any threat saying stay away. That almost certainly means he won't be responsive to Michigan inquiries.

I didn't want to punt from the opponent 29 anyway.

ALSO IN PLAN B. Michigan is covering all their bases. They had a meeting Friday about Plan B, C, and D options. No names came out of that, unfortunately. They are checking out NFL coordinators, which is disappointing but sensible given the landscape post-Harbaugh. If Mullen and Miles aren't real candidates for whatever reason, the next option is…? I honestly don't know.

Don't panic—Michigan remains confident they'll get their guy. They are doing due diligence so they can move quickly even if Harbaugh doesn't come. This means it is not a "done deal"… as of a few days ago.

I'M NOT SURE THAT'S WHO YOU WANT TO RIDE WITH. That Rivals report also addresses that La Canfora article scoffed at around here yesterday:

For the record, he's right about Harbaugh briefly accepting the Michigan job [in 2011], U-M coveting his brother and John Harbaugh making it clear he wants to stay at Baltimore, and we've reported that in the last month. We also reported Michigan's interest in Payton, at which point reporters like Fletcher Mackel out of New Orleans dismissed it as "embarrassing."

I've heard a lot of different things about Harbaugh "briefly accepting" the job in 2011, and they're all semantics. Mostly those assertions are used to make the insider feel good about being wrong or paint Harbaugh in a negative light. I don't buy them, and I've heard as much stuff about how Brandon scared Harbaugh off as stuff about how it almost happened.

We know that The Process didn't end up firing Rodriguez until January 5th, the same day Harbaugh met with the 49ers for five hours. The Michigan job is open for all of a day before Harbaugh is hired. Either Michigan was actively undermining the guy who was supposedly still their head coach or the brief acceptance thing is a joke. It is certain that there was no point at which Harbaugh agreed to coach Michigan while the job was actually open. If he verbally assented to coach Michigan in December, it is on Dave Brandon for not locking that down by maintaining the fiction that Rich Rodriguez had a shot to keep his job.

Meanwhile, trying to buttress your argument that Sean Payton was really an option with an article that mentions Doug Marrone and Jason Garrett…

ETC.: Pat Narduzzi a prime candidate at Pitt. Doug Marrone has "nothing to do" with the Michigan job.

Comments

Boom Goes the …

December 22nd, 2014 at 2:27 PM ^

I wasn't around these parts in 07 or 11 so I have nothing else to base this on, but this stuff has to generate as much or more traffice to the site as during or after any big game Michigan plays.  Fun times.  But seriously it needs to end soon!

Joined: 02/24/2013

MGoPoints: 4292

'07LesMilesMafia

December 22nd, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^

edge sources say conference call was held between hackett, agent, regents with cameo from lloyd and ross.  sounded pretty confident that everything on the UM front is solid.  now we just wait on JH.  i know i've been pessimistic the last day or two, and that's mostly out of nervousness.  the ball is entirely in jim's court.  hope he does the right thing!

Joined: 12/05/2014

MGoPoints: 1395

UMich87

December 22nd, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^

by Tony from the Edge of the Internet just before noon declared white smoke and had oddly specific facts such as Ross being conferenced in on the call with Hackett and the agent to say he would help cover assistant coach salaries. Brian, is he connected or a lunatic?

Joined: 09/07/2009

MGoPoints: 4142

FrankMurphy

December 22nd, 2014 at 2:46 PM ^

I dunno; I don't think it's all that far-fetched that Harbaugh verbally agreed to take the job but then flaked on Brandon at the last minute. Remember this post from the last search in which Brian quoted a source as saying "something terrible happened in the last two days", which Brian surmised as Harbaugh backing out. 

I think it's plausible that Harbaugh verbally agreed shortly after the end of the regular season that he would take the job but said that he didn't want to sign anything until after the Orange Bowl (keep in mind that this was Harbaugh's first BCS bowl and he probably wanted to get the W before bolting). Brandon relied on Harbaugh's assurance and kept Rich Rod through the Gater Bowl because he wanted to avoid the media firestorm that would have ensued if the job were held open for almost a month and a half. Simultaneously, he gave everyone in the program the impression that Rich Rod was a dead man walking. The 49ers fired Mike Singletary on December 26, which changed the equation for Harbaugh and perhaps prompted him to change his mind, putting Brandon in a tight spot.

Joined: 08/19/2008

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TheVictors

December 22nd, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^

Denver Broncos wanted Luck (before Manning) and talked to Harbaugh via Elway/Stanford at same time about Broncos HC. Same time 49ers fire Singletary ...Niners falls into his lap and he wants it -- I think same sort of confluence of circumstances is what's bringing him to A2 now. It all worked out. 'Verbal' in 2011 or not (think not), it all just fell into place to get the SF job

Joined: 09/16/2009

MGoPoints: 349

charblue.

December 22nd, 2014 at 2:37 PM ^

if you know where to find information that people find relevant based on confirmation from other sources. Hence the reason why this twitter feed has generated Brian's interest and endorsement.

A coaching search isn't unlike a political campaign in terms of the way its covered, sound bites and appearances are dissected, which lead to a crush of coverage that is neither forceful or newsworthy except to those necessarily  intrigued by the process.

Meantime, the people in the campaign get represented with spokespeople and handlers and the candidates get talked about and pigeonholed in terms of their positions and POV on certain subjects.

The best sourcing for Harbaugh would be his family, best friends and closest business advisors. So presumably these would be his dad, whomever you regard as his best friends and his agent and company. Unless, you know the guy personally and he confides in you, you have to sense and parse things coming from other filters and places based on past experience, their level of access, and their ability to generate credible information based on that. You sift and analyze.

Truth is, you can decipher how he makes his choices, how important certain influences have been and what has molded his POV and coaching moves. You could wait for Meet the Press or Hard Ball with Chris Matthews to interpret this or you could just think for yourself.

You could even assess the fact that his criticism of Michigan academics was a motivational gambit aimed at a future coaching job. And having looked at all this, we know this probably factors into certain choices. But if he didn't think he could change it, why bring it up? 

Those within the NFL  gauging his future wouldn't see this stuff as very enlightening. It's not dollars and sense stuff or career moving. It's just stuff in the emoitional attic that might move his nostalgia needle a bit. Except when you consider how he coaches and his greatest coaching mentor and how his ideas and language have guided him to now,  you would recognize what is important to him, why he is seriously considering Michigan instead of another job leading him back to the SB in the NFL.

The NFL insiders until recently never believed it was possiblle for Harbaugh to leave the league and its life. So they paid lip service to the Michigan back story and continued quoting his agents who are paid liars looking to boost their own bottom line through the benefit of their client. If you rely them for sourcing, better understand their motive for talking to you.

And that is always the best and last word when it comes to analyzing a story: understand the motive for the people who are reporting and where they get their information. It's not their age, wisdom or even experience so much, it's where they get their information and whether it passes your smell test.

Joined: 05/25/2010

MGoPoints: 11405

Chitown Kev

December 22nd, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^

whether Coach Harbaugh (**crossing fingers and toes that he's OUR future coach) reads the Searchbits or mgoblog, generally...I'm sure that Brian/Ace/Seth knows...

 

In the meantime, I need more Searchbits.

Joined: 10/01/2011

MGoPoints: 4970

michgoblue

December 22nd, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^

Does anyone (Brian?) know what time Hackett is having his meeting / conference call with the team tomorrow? 

Given the sudden slew of "done deal" reports, along with Harbaugh's non-denial from his presser just now, I am expecting a situation in which Harbaugh is introduced to the team tomorrow. 

Remember the reports of special video-conference equipment being flown from Michigan to San Fran (or something like that) and most of us mocked it, saying "come on, if they wanted to talk, they wouldn't need to do that- they could use gotomeeting, facetime, or a host of other methods of having a face to face video meeting."  Sure, if the meeting was between Hackett and Harbaugh.  But, if the entire team is dialing into a secure video meeting with Hackett, then perhaps the hardware is being used to introduce Harbaugh to the team via computer?  He is, after all, still in San Fran, while the team is currently scattered.

My prediction - team told tomorrow, leaks shortly after the meeting, presser late in the day.  It's happening (.gif).

Joined: 11/16/2009

MGoPoints: 32166

MosherJordan

December 22nd, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^

I thought this was a possible reason for the video equipment yesterday, but based on the rumored details of the agent meeting today reported by the Edge, it makes more sense that the video equipment involved Harbaugh + Agent one one side, and Hackett + regents on the other.

It wasn't done using Skype because you don't have a meeting where you're trying to do everything you can to assure JH that Michigan is committed to doing whatever it takes to return to prominence, including shell out big money for assistants, and then ask the dude to jump on Skype. Cheapskates use skype, ballers send a video crew.

Joined: 01/10/2011

MGoPoints: 529

Nicholasgoblue

December 22nd, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^

As much as I hope you are correct,I don't think this will happen. JH wants to see his team through until the very end. With that said; we all know that if the team was informed of his accepting the M job tomorrow that it'd be leaked the second his imagine was on screen even before saying a word. Hope I'm wrong!

Joined: 12/14/2014

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west2

December 22nd, 2014 at 4:03 PM ^

when has the Patriots job been open? 20 years ago. Just a question, why is Harbaugh waiting really, to see what the other offers might be, test the waters?

Joined: 01/23/2011

MGoPoints: -998175

michgoblue

December 22nd, 2014 at 4:11 PM ^

that's what I have been wondering for a few days now.  He is obviously gone in SF.  What is to be gained by waiting until the bitter end?  If he is intent on coming to Michigan, accept the job and then make a "good guy" offer to SF to stay on until 12/29 to finish out the season (SF would never accept, especially with the season over).  What's the hold up?  Makes me nervous.

Joined: 11/16/2009

MGoPoints: 32166