Searchbits III: Eye Of The Storm
A NEW ROUND OF HE GONE. After San Francisco lost to the Rams in ridiculous fashion to drop to 4-4, the knives—already out—added numbers to their ranks. Jerry Rice:
"I think he’s gone," Rice said. … "We don’t really know if he wants to come back and be the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers...Maybe that’s starting to wear and tear on the team and it’s taking its toll."
San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice believes coach Jim Harbaugh's act is starting to wear thin, in part because Harbaugh's "collegiate mentality" is not suited to the pro game.
"I have heard some complaints from some players that he likes to try to coach with the collegiate mentality, and that's just not going to work in the NFL," said Rice.
“So I stood right by the team,” Young said. “It was right before halftime and afterwards. And I remember calling to my security guy that I’ve known for years and years, Jeff Rodriguez. I said ‘Jeff, something’s wrong with these guys. There’s a bad vibe. Guys on and off the field.’ … A lot of complaining, a lot of moaning coming off the field.”
49ers GM Trent Baalke agreed with that take without getting too specific.
Mercury News reporter Tim Kawakami:
Less than 50%, then let's see how the season plays out. RT @chang358 your odds for harbaugh coaching Niners next year?
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) November 4, 2014
At 4-4, San Fransico is three games back of 7-1 Arizona and one back of the Seahawks, and the way the NFC is breaking down this year the wild card teams are likely to have fancy records. The 49ers are currently behind the Packers, Cowboys, and Seahawks.
ON THE AD SEARCH. I got nothin'.
I don't know how other people are getting more than that. Schlissel just told the Daily the search is restricted to his head at the moment, so I regard all insider information on this skeptically. I don't suspect bad faith on anyone's part. I just doubt any of these sources have a great handle on the situation no matter how many times reporters use "Fact" as a sentence. Fact. (Actually, opinion.)
That goes double given the wildly divergent timelines that have been thrown out there. Sam Webb was mentioning Hackett could be around 18-24 months on WTKA, which freaked a lot of people out; Rivals was first positing nine months and now has their prediction in the heart of common sense, mid-December; Coaching Scoop just asserted that the goal was to have an AD in place by the time the whistle blows on the Ohio State game. That's 25 days from now.
In the absence of any information you don't already have or anything resembling consensus amongst the people who say they have some, I resort to common sense—
[whispering]
—nevermind. I resorted to common sense right before I projected Brady Hoke had a 0.0 percent chance of being Michigan's coach, so common sense and I aren't on speaking terms.
It is worth noting that the long Hackett timeframes may be maximums instead of likely lengths and may not preclude a long-term AD being brought in, with Hackett as a bridging aide.
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR CANDIATES OUTSIDE THE MICHIGAN BOX. A few candidates have drawn mention:
- Joe Schad reported that Michigan "has targeted" Northwestern AD Jim Phillips. Phillips is the president of NACDA, which is the national trade group for ADs and was AD of the year a couple years back. Before Northwestern, Phillips was the AD at NIU; he's an Illinois grad. FWIW: I've heard from Northwestern people that Phillips is going nowhere, and he's got the list of spurned suitors to back that up.
- Football Scoop's Pete Roussell brought up Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione. The site just doubled down on that, saying "sources within the industry" thought he was the name and that he would take the job if it was offered. (Bob Stoops would not be coming along.)
- Sam Webb suggested that Michigan would look at Greg Byrne, the Arizona AD. This would of course be the most hilarious option.
Meanwhile, Warde Manuel told his local paper that he hasn't heard from Michigan.
November 4th, 2014 at 6:15 PM ^
Ah the NFL- how viscious they are
November 4th, 2014 at 6:18 PM ^
...regarding Hackett's apparent statements about being around as long as 18-24 months. It's easy to imagine Schlissel saying to him, "You can take two years to get this done if you need to" and Hackett thinking, "I appreciate that, but we should get it done ASAP."
If I'm Hackett in that situation, I tell people I might be around as long as 24 months, because I don't want to encourage outside pressure to make a quick decision. But I also move to get in a new person quickly.
November 4th, 2014 at 6:20 PM ^
This was on the homepage of flighttracker.com 2 hours ago - not sure what it means...
November 4th, 2014 at 8:53 PM ^
More Leo than JH...
November 4th, 2014 at 6:28 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 4th, 2014 at 6:36 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 6:37 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 10:36 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 6:38 PM ^
Yes, please.
November 4th, 2014 at 6:46 PM ^
For what it's worth I'd take any denials as seriously as any speculation of UM in talks with anyone, which is to say, not at all. The reasons are various and the extent to which people lie will vary, but pretty much Rule #1 when someone approaches you about a job (especially a high-profile gig) is that the conversation didn't happen until you're hired.
Basically, we have no meaningful information whatsoever until a formal announcement. Which sucks, but such is life.
November 4th, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^
Joe Gibbs was the ultimate "players coach" for the NFL- treated them like millionaires and was well liked. Still got the wins too. Gotta have that "big boy" personality
November 4th, 2014 at 6:50 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 7:18 PM ^
November 5th, 2014 at 8:13 AM ^
Sam is giving instruction to throw trial balloons out into the public from someone on the inside to gauge reaction.
Like that silly nonsense that the best chance to get Harbaugh was to KEEP Brandon. It's free market research. Throw something out there and watch how the fan base reacts on things like Mgoblog. . .you don't have to spend money on finding this information out hiring a PR firm where you can just come on here and gauge upvotes and downvotes for free. . ..
November 5th, 2014 at 8:34 AM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 6:53 PM ^
For how many days will the blog be down after the Harbaugh press release drops?
November 4th, 2014 at 6:58 PM ^
perhaps 503 x 10 21 or 6.023x 10 26 bad gateway
November 4th, 2014 at 7:59 PM ^
I will be too drunk with happiness to care if the blog is down.
November 4th, 2014 at 8:29 PM ^
You'll be drinking champaign (of beers) with one hand and F5ing with the other like the rest of us.
November 4th, 2014 at 8:30 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 7:10 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 7:11 PM ^
Is it a coincidence that we just started running some classic Harbaugh wham plays this past week?
November 4th, 2014 at 7:13 PM ^
is this really surprising:
Meanwhile, Warde Manuel told his local paper that he hasn't heard from Michigan.
Do you really think Manuael is going to say 'Yes, I've talked to Michigan. The talks have been very interesting and quite productive.'
November 4th, 2014 at 7:16 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 8:28 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 11:25 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 7:19 PM ^
to just say that it will take as long as it takes. Do the damned job right. Our anxiety to get Harbaugh should remain somewhere down the totem poll, especially in the short run.
I think the job will be Harbaugh's for the having if he wants it. And if he gets on NFL players' nerves with his intensity that doesn't make him look real strong for the Oakland job.
November 4th, 2014 at 7:31 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 7:43 PM ^
That would be tampering.
November 4th, 2014 at 7:56 PM ^
so they can do whatever the hell they want on talking to Harbaugh.
November 4th, 2014 at 8:01 PM ^
Thus, he cannot comment about Harbaugh.
November 4th, 2014 at 9:59 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 9:07 PM ^
November 5th, 2014 at 7:46 AM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 7:41 PM ^
between November 16th and 23rd, maybe Schlissel and Hackett should make an appointment to take Jim out to dinner one night during this week.
November 5th, 2014 at 6:03 AM ^
If Harbaugh is on the fucking moon between November 16th and 23rd, Schlissel and Hackett should make an appointment to take him out to dinner one night during that week.
November 5th, 2014 at 6:54 AM ^
November 5th, 2014 at 7:45 AM ^
always wanted to have dinner on the moon...
November 5th, 2014 at 8:48 AM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 7:44 PM ^
November 4th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^
FYI, there are two typos in this article - "San Fransico" (under the tweet) and "CANDIATES"(in the last headline).
November 4th, 2014 at 8:04 PM ^
The N'W guy is giving Michigan the stiff arm? Oh noooooooes!!!
Maybe he's just playing hard to get?
Either way, it's bulletin board material for this weekend.
November 4th, 2014 at 8:14 PM ^
Sources close to the situation are telling me that Harbaugh to Michigan is REALLY not a sure thing.
The situation I speak of, of course, is the mess that wasn't entirely contained just now by my daughter's diaper.
And the sources are me talking to myself and my interpretation of the hand gestures just made by the peek-a-boo bear.
But a rumor is a rumor so there must be some truth to it.
November 4th, 2014 at 8:30 PM ^
If I take the following sentences:
And the sources are me talking to myself and my interpretation of the hand gestures just made by the peek-a-boo bear.
But a rumor is a rumor so there must be some truth to it.
And then I rearrange the letters using an algorithm I came up with after drinking assorted beers brewed near San Francisco, I find the hidden statement:
Harbaugh rumor is true and the sources are not me talking to myself. Peek-a-boo bye.
It really is happening.
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