Harbaugh asked about job status, if he wants to be back

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Just got done watching the 49ers press conference.

Maybe Jim's mind has been on something else.......or somewhere else....

 

Jim Harbaugh on his job status: "My priorities are No. 1 winning football games."

— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) December 8, 2014

Harbaugh asked if he wants to be back with 49ers: "My priorities are winning games."

— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) December 8, 2014
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UMich87

December 7th, 2014 at 8:47 PM ^

but maybe he is different because he not only quarterbacked his college team for a coaching legend but also grew up around the program because his dad coached for that same legend. His motives might not be typical because his background and influences are so different from the typical NFL coach. Maybe he wants to win the Super bowl or maybe he wants to be held in the same esteem as Schembechler, Crisler and Yost.

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Prince Lover

December 8th, 2014 at 2:52 AM ^

While I can't speak for an entire nation, I will say I lived in New England(Dover NH from '05-'10) for 5 years, and I will agree with your statement about Tomlin and Meyer. The sports fans I mingled amongst hadn't a clue towards college football. They all liked Notre Dame but that was because of Weiss.

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mastodon

December 8th, 2014 at 7:58 AM ^

NE, as you accurately assess, does not contain any CFB fans (aside from transplants) and therefore there's little knowledge of CFB.  I assume this is not the case where you are now (or you'd have mentioned that?).  So why would you agree that that's the case nationally?

Patriot games are always a party though.  

 

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MGoblu8

December 7th, 2014 at 9:16 PM ^

He's already shown that he can rebuild a college program. He leveraged that into a head coaching job in the NFL, where he has been wildly success. I just think it would be different if he had an NFL coaching stint like Saban did. He hasn't. He's been in the same stadium with the Lombardi Trophy once and one step away twice... In his first three years! Any NFL team with a vacancy would be crazy not to call him first. On the other hand, if he's as hard to get along with in an NFL locker room as people say, then I think it will be that part of the experience that will contribute to his return more than anything. I just can't see a coach who's so presently successful going to college, even for his alma mater. I'm sorry.

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WolvinLA2

December 7th, 2014 at 9:17 PM ^

Yes, that's true.  The better way to put it is "you never know when your last shot is at Michigan."  It's possible he gets another shot at it, but it's also possible he doesn't.  

It's like dating a girl.  If you break up with her, you might get another shot to date her, but if the next guy she finds is just as good to her as you were, you'll be out of luck.  

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Blue Noise

December 7th, 2014 at 9:58 PM ^

Agreed. I hope I am wrong, but I have believed since the beginning that Harbaugh's ego will prevent him from returning to Michigan right now. He'd view it as admitting failure to leave the NFL without a ring. If he'd defeated his brother two years ago, things might be different.

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GoBlueInIowa

December 7th, 2014 at 8:13 PM ^

The focused on winning and no surrender type answers are as good as we could have hoped for today.

Did anyone honestly not ask directly about Michigan? That is surprising to me - thought it would be one of the first questions.



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Eye of the Tiger

December 7th, 2014 at 8:59 PM ^

I don't think most NFL reporters care if Harbaugh goes to Michigan instead of the Raiders, they just can't contemplate a world in which a high-paying college gig is more attractive than a high-paying NFL one.

For the most part, that's a good assumption: the only NFL head coaches who have gone to college were either long-term college guys who didn't do so well in the NFL (Saban, Spurrier, Petrino) or guys who weren't getting any calls from NFL teams (Carroll, Mora, Wannstedt, Sherman, Erickson, etc.). Historically, then, Jim Harbaugh-to-Michigan would be anomolous.

But it's also a unique situation, where the coach in question is probably losing his job at the exact moment that his alma mater has an opening, where he has ties to the university that go much deeper than just his having played there, and where the university can afford to at least approach NFL salary levels. So the NFL guys are probably guilty of that "recency bias" everyone keeps talking about aorund here.

Doesn't mean it's happening, but it does mean that you have to take the NFL guys' prognostications with large grains of salt...

 

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Eye of the Tiger

December 7th, 2014 at 9:20 PM ^

And many do--Shaw at Stanford, Fitzgerald at NW, etc.

But as you can probably see from my post above, it's not *just* about Michigan being his alma mater. As I stated, JH has ties to UM that go deeper than *just* UM being his alma mater (his father was an assistant coach, he grew up in the same town where the university is located, etc.). And not many alma maters can match an NFL HC salary. Michigan can. All of that--taken together--make the Michigan job a different kind of option for JH than the average college offer would be to the average NFL coach.

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Wmonette

December 7th, 2014 at 9:25 PM ^

Pro-coaches (and coaches in general) don't have the Alma Mater dream because most of them went to low level schools; Chip Kelly went to New Hampshire, Saban went to Kent State, etc. 

 

For Harbaugh it is different because his Alma Mater is the winningess program in history, and more importantly, can pay him as much as any pro-squad. I think it comes down to dollars, he might love Michigan, but it's going to be money. If we pay him, then he will come. I firmly believe that.

 

I just hope we do that.

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August West

December 7th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^

Bear Bryant famously left Texas A&M for his alma mater Bama way back when. Steve Spurrier turned his alma mater, Florida, into a national power. RR @ WVU, Charlie Weis @ ND, Dave Wannstedt @ Pitt and Fitzgerald @ Northwestern are a few others who have coached their alma maters recently.



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Mmmm Hmmm

December 7th, 2014 at 8:56 PM ^

NFL people are creatures of habit. I remember reading an article where some anonymous scout said he wouldn't draft Andy Dalton because he couldn't think of a franchise quarterback who had red hair. In this situation, I bet few if any successful pro coaches have chosen to go back to college when several pro teams would have hired them in a heartbeat.

Also, don't discount that a number of guys in the pros had to work for college teams when their goal was the pros all along. Why wouldn't they believe that every other striving, type-A coach who had success in the pros would stay as long as they could? That probably includes journalists who didn't start off covering the NFL.

If course, none of this means the NFL sources are right, but their bias isn't completely out of left field.



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BALDA55ARRE

December 7th, 2014 at 8:13 PM ^

Jimbo, come on brah, come home brah we need you. OK everyone all together now....sometimes you wanna go were everybody knows your name and we're always glad you came... kumbaya my lord, kumbaya..etc.. etc...

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m1jjb00

December 7th, 2014 at 8:25 PM ^

showed the clip that WD references.  He said his first priority was winning games; second is the health and safety of his players and staff; and not his future.

He did not look happy, which makes total sense given that everyone thinks they're playoff chances are dead and he lost to the Raiders.

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Perkis-Size Me

December 7th, 2014 at 8:47 PM ^

Damn it why does he have to give me hope? If its not going to happen I'd rather he just come out and say it.

I feel like this should make me optimistic, but I refuse to get my hopes up. In my mind, he's not coming until I see him standing at the podium at Schembechler Hall with a copy of his signed contract.

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ama11

December 7th, 2014 at 9:00 PM ^

Presser Quotes:

-Q: Do you think Jed York and Trent Baalke want you to continue to be the coach of this team?

-HARBAUGH: My priorities are No. 1 winning football games. No. 2, the welfare of our players, coaches and our staff. And lastly is what my personal professional future is.

 

"what my personal professional future is..."

Am I reading too far into the "professional" part of that answer??? Please say I am... PLEASE!

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SalvatoreQuattro

December 7th, 2014 at 9:10 PM ^

These completely innocuous statements that say absolutely nothing about his future with the Niners or his interest or lack thereof in the UM job.

This board is like the pimple faced fat kid who is dearly holding on to the faint chance that sweet and sassy Susan is going to agree to go with him to the sock hop.

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