Harbaugh's flirtation with the Vikings starting to make sense to me
I've been wondering what was behind Harbaugh's flirtation with the Vikings. The most obvious answers are that he wants to finally win a Super Bowl like his brother and that he had done all he thought he could for Michigan.
My friend told me that I need to watch the recent interview with Alex Boone about how he decribes the madness behind Coach Harbaugh. I know that there have been a few posts about the interview before on MGoBlog, but I hadn't see this theory though so here goes:
If you watch the video, at 7:00, Boone says that if Harbaugh doesn't like where things are going with the media, he will do something outlandish so that the media focuses on him and not the team. He had to know that John and the Ravens were going to hire Mike Macdonald as their new DC, maybe even before Jim started interviewing for the Vikings job. So the media would start focusing on the loss of the DC and not the success from the year we just had.
He may have also known that Josh Gattis was not a good fit long term for Michigan either because of his attitude, or that he was a hot commodity and would eventually cause chaos by leaving the team. And Weiss and Moore were better fits to call plays.
So instead of allowing the media to focus on the big changes that were bound to happen, he draws the attention to himself and creates huge drama by interviewing and traveling to Minnesota, even on Signing Day. And then he decides to come back to where he wanted to finish his career all along.
We may not know for a long time what was up, maybe never, unless Harbaugh writes a tell all book with John Bacon.
Just throwing it out there, and to me, it makes sense. All of the oxygen that would have been sucked out of the room by huge coaching changes is now back in the room, and we are now ready for a hopefully good season, with some stability ahead.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
Just throwing it out there
Yes, you did just throw it out there. Next time, use pasta instead of the brown stuff.
February 18th, 2022 at 5:28 PM ^
Great scene, by the way.
Felix: "That's not spaghetti. That's linguine."
Oscar: <Picks up Felix's plate and throws it against the wall> "Now it's garbage."
February 18th, 2022 at 6:46 PM ^
Oscar: "You leave me little notes on my pillow. Told you 158 times I can't stand little notes on my pillow. 'We're all out of cornflakes. F.U.' Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix Ungar."
February 18th, 2022 at 1:12 PM ^
Something, something playing chess while others are playing checkers.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:57 PM ^
I'm going to go occam's razor on this one and say OP is looking into it way too much.
February 18th, 2022 at 3:35 PM ^
Harbaugh in full Spock-mode.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
yeah, and I have this great crypto stock opportunity I want to turn you on to....
February 18th, 2022 at 4:03 PM ^
Probably better to buy crypto directly and not via a stock
February 18th, 2022 at 4:49 PM ^
Miners have made me wonders. Check out HIVE and ANY. There’s your financial advice for the day!
February 18th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
I would say these are plausible as additional considerations to his thinking, but not the primary motivation. As you say, we will never really know unless that tell all book comes out.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:15 PM ^
IF this is true, Harbaugh is a complete idiot for thinking that by cutting his nose off in spite of his face. Nothing like thinking it makes sense to make the entire football world think negatively of you and give your rivals ammunition because you don't want someone to ask why you're losing your coordinators.
I don't buy it. He's not that stupid.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:18 PM ^
Yeah, I would think Harbaugh could find another tree to climb before risking the cohesiveness of his remaining staff, players and recruits.
February 18th, 2022 at 3:05 PM ^
his tree climbing visit is what inspired my profile pic! :)
February 18th, 2022 at 2:17 PM ^
Also, it's not like the loss of OC and DC went totally unnoticed. People can talk and think about more than 1 thing over the span of THE ENTIRE OFFSEASON.
Seems like the OP is desperate for some conclusion other than JH wanted to go back to the NFL and that didn't work out and his attempt caused some issues here.
February 18th, 2022 at 2:41 PM ^
Yeah the DC thing ran it’s course before Harbaugh went to Minnesota and then Gattis left after Harbaugh announced he was coming back. In addition to those departures not going unnoticed, Harbaugh did pretty much nothing to even cause a distraction from those events.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:16 PM ^
Alex f’in Boone is a Buckeye/Niner who has taken shots at Harbaugh forever. Take his comments with a huge grain of salt.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:24 PM ^
You really should listen the the Alex Boone interview. He was GUSHING in his praise of Harbaugh. It really was a good listen. Very flattering!
February 18th, 2022 at 1:47 PM ^
I’d listen to that interview. Do you have a link to it or some key words I can use to search for it?
If he’s gushing about Harbaugh then he’s changed his attitude towards JH…maybe he says why?
February 18th, 2022 at 2:33 PM ^
It's embedded in the OP of this thread.
February 18th, 2022 at 3:28 PM ^
CW, do yourself a favor and listen to at least a few minutes of it. it will get you geeked about JH staying on as our coach.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
You will likely get downvoted for baseless speculation and opinion, but I like the way you think. When Harbaugh decided to stay, it almost felt like we had just won the lottery again like when he was first hired, and it certainly pumped life into me personally as a fan. I never bought into all the “collateral damage” he created bullshit. Also, the Gattis departure didn’t bother me one bit, and I think, subconsciously, that could have been because Harbaugh came to his senses and decided to stay home, with enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
You're both nuts. He wanted one more shot at the SB, the Vikings were the only team interested, they weren't a tire fire in a weak division (assuming Rodgers doesn't return to GB) so a possibility to get there within a couple of years. There wasn't a fit. He's back. That's it.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
Harbaugh told Michigan they should hire Gattis to succeed him. Gattis's attitude was, according to Harbaugh, one of the most important pieces of last year's run. Gattis was the blueprint Harbaugh used to make almost every hire he's made since. Gattis letting his emotions get the better of him when he got offered a contract he thought was below him is a mistake I know he regrets, but let's keep that in perspective of the rest of the things we know about him.
Also let's not give Harbaugh credit for conspiracies. When he does change the narrative, he's so blunt about it you can see it coming from a mile away. Like timing his donation of his bonuses to the athletic department with the Tucker and Franklin deals. You knew the moment it happened that he wanted the comparison (and I've happily obliged). The NFL pursuit was real.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:26 PM ^
I still say he will coach the Lions next. Hutchinson will be there, and he can keep kids in AA. The Lions would give him free reign, and imagine his legacy if he were to win the Super Bowl here.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
Super Bowl?
Fuckin A, Lions fans are a special breed.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:58 PM ^
Maybe I am reading this wrong, but youre saying Gattis regrets taking the Miami job?
February 18th, 2022 at 2:27 PM ^
I think he punched his ticket out of town (whether bc of his reaction to not getting what he thought was coming his way, or bc of any number of Gattis-related rumors) ... and he is regretful of whatever it was that got him pushed out.
February 18th, 2022 at 2:34 PM ^
I think he's talking about Gattis's text to the players here complaining that our administration did him wrong.
February 18th, 2022 at 4:43 PM ^
Has Gattis said anything to lead to your certainty that he regrets his comments? I certainly hope so.....but haven't seen anything of that nature.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
Mind
Ka Plowzie
February 18th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
Harbaugh erased of the good will and vibes he earned from this past season with the Vikings dalliance. I don’t think he would have risked doing that to distract eyes from coaching changes.
His pursuit of a NFL did far more damage to the program than coordinators leaving. It’s why I am agnostic about him staying.
February 18th, 2022 at 2:51 PM ^
You assert all these things as fact, when they're quite obviously your opinions. So far--and this is my opinion--it looks like little damage was done. We now know that Harbaugh was absolutely behind Gattis, so it will wait to be seen how the offense operates next year. But the Vikings job arose late; Harbaugh was interested. It's his business, his alone, to vie for it. If the word "all" is what's missing from your first sentence, you're (IMO) pretty far off the mark.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
Don't overthink this stuff.
This is a guy who was one possession away from winning the Super Bowl. It's completely normal that he would have some residual interest in the NFL. He investigated it for a few weeks but now seems happily back at Michigan.
People need to stop acting like this is a marriage. It's a job. Looking at another job is not committing adultery. He can like working at Michigan and still be curious about what else is out there.
February 18th, 2022 at 4:38 PM ^
Marriage, adultery...
You are right, its not those..but I'd go a step further and suggest in big-time sports its closer to 'open' relationships than monogamy...everyone is looking around for the next best opportunity...
But more to the point...I want Harbaugh to be coveted by others...as that only happens if he's highly successful at UM...and I'm confident that if it happens he will be straightforward and open with it and, establish a successor plan with the AD.
Pretty much every other coach, sans old and successful guys like Sabin, is looking for their next opportunity...be it at a more powerful institution or the league. But the vast majority of them are going to lie about it until they are on the plane to Baton Rouge, or LA, or where ever...
February 18th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
Thanks for your $0.02. You should get a Twitter.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
Used the Charlie Day conspiracy pic but was beaten to it. NEG ME!
February 18th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
Welcome to my Facebook page.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
― Sun tzu, The Art of War
February 18th, 2022 at 4:56 PM ^
Vladimir Putin must have read this classic.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:46 PM ^
That's a lot of work to avoid having to answer a few questions about a DC change.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:51 PM ^
When you're putting this much effort into trying to spin this, doesn't it betray your true feelings?*
*Not specific to just this OP.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:52 PM ^
Just throwing it out there, and to me, it makes sense. All of the oxygen that would have been sucked out of the room
I think the only way this post makes sense is if the oxygen has been sucked out of your brain for a few minutes
February 18th, 2022 at 1:53 PM ^
Yeah, this is crazy.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
Humans are really good at making shit up to make sense of situations they don't understand. I get it. I was doing it too during this whole saga.
I just didn't make threads about each one of those thoughts.
February 18th, 2022 at 3:19 PM ^
I read this post in Bender's voice it was funny until the last line. I suggest replacing it with;
"My Story Is A Lot Like Yours, Only More Interesting ‘Cause It Involves Robots So Bite My Shiny Metal Ass".