NYT Slams Harbaugh for SF roster decisions; says he "skedaddled" to Michigan
Buried in his Monday Morning QB article at the NYT, Gregg Easterbrook opines thusly:
"Two years ago, T.M.Q. took a lot of heat from San Francisco fans — who at the time actually were San Francisco fans — for saying Colin Kaepernick couldn’t run a pro-style offense and is prone to “sailing the ball where no receiver awaits.” Repeatedly in the contested portion of the Seahawks contest, Kaepernick sailed the ball beyond anyone’s reach. Adjusting for sacks and scrambles, Kaepernick dropped back to pass 30 times for a net of 81 yards gained, an awful 2.7 yards per dropback. Trying to convert Kaepernick into a pro-style pocket passer simply hasn’t worked. The Niners either should employ him as a college-style running quarterback, or switch to Blaine Gabbert."
"It hasn’t helped that Santa Clara sank a bundle of high draft choices into wide receivers Michael Crabtree, A.J. Jenkins and Stevie Johnson, none of whom remain with the team. The Niners’ 2012 draft ranks among the all-time woofers. Jenkins and LaMichael James, selected in the first and second rounds, already are O.O.F. — Out of Football. No one else from that draft remains with the franchise."
"Jim Harbaugh arrived at the Niners in 2010, with the team on a talent upswing — NaVorro Bowman, Anthony Davis, Frank Gore, Mike Iupati, Joe Staley, Patrick Willis, others. Harbaugh took the credit for a few good seasons, then skedaddled as the impact of player personnel decisions with which he concurred, including the 2012 draft, became apparent. Getting out of town before people realize what you’ve done to the team — Harbaugh heading to Michigan, Pete Carroll fleeing U.S.C. in 2010 — is essential for many megabucks coaches."
In response, all I can say is, WTF?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/28/upshot/so-whats-the-patriots-secret-t…
Edit: Easterbrook's main point is that Harbaugh endorsed the player personnel decisions made in the 2012 draft; after LaMichael James was released in September 2014, only OG Joe Looney was left from the '12 draft. I don't know enough about the situation in the 49ers front office back then—is it true that Harbaugh was on board with the draft choices, or was he handed the picks against his own better judgement? Out of all the criticisms leveled against JH, this is the first time I've heard anybody argue that he's a lousy judge of talent.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:00 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
Well, of course I was exaggerating! I just figured everyone would have understood that ;P
October 27th, 2015 at 3:35 PM ^
I think it is pretty much everyone.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:59 PM ^
I'm just mystified that people are so offended that a news channel with a perspective that's not their own exists.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:45 PM ^
"I'm just mystified that people are so offended that a news channel with a perspective that's not their own exists."
I can assure you that's not the reason most people dislike/ are offended by Fox News.
That said, getting a little off track here (And I know I'm helping oh so much with this comment! :) )
October 27th, 2015 at 3:05 PM ^
Well clearly it is not as credible as the Freep
/s
October 27th, 2015 at 3:47 PM ^
I mean sure, they aren't know for their sports coverage. They are, however, the gold standard in journalism. Of course it's impossible to exist as a large media player for over a century without a hiccup here or there, but unlike 99% of the media, they hold themselves entirely accountable for every printed word.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^
Doubly wrong, because (1) Harbaugh did not have responsibility for the roster, Trent Baalke did and the two did not always agree--in fact, one of Baalke's gripes was that Harbaugh got credit for his personnel wizardry, including the 2012 draft; (2) most of the key roster changes happened after Harbaugh left SF--guys retired, left, who would have stayed had Harbaugh done so.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^
That's Tuesday Morning QB. I used to read it religiously. But now when he talks about Michigan football, his lack of time to research and his deep-rooted beliefs come to fore. Ignore him for most part. He has made himself irrelevant by talking about too many things and straitjacketing everything in his little algorithms.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:23 PM ^
He really used "skedaddled" in an article about pro football?
October 27th, 2015 at 2:43 PM ^
He does every time a coach leaves his post.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:23 PM ^
When Harbaugh arrived Smith was the QB and after working with him, he decided Smith could not take them to the Super Bowl. He drafted Kaepernick (the best QB available to him) and turned him into a Super Bowl QB and one play from winning the Super Bowl.
Crabtree and Johnson are doing very well with their teams Oakland and San Diego. James was never intended to be a regular running back. He was the kickoff and return man.
Finally, in the NFL if you win you get lower draft picks. Harbaaugh won a lot and his picks were generally in the later rounds. His win loss record while the SF coach was better than almost all the other coaches in the NFL.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:25 PM ^
Sorry but I get my football news from Good Housekeeping.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^
You should try Popular Mechanics.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:26 PM ^
Now this is a grate hot taek.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:27 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 2:27 PM ^
Harbaugh inherited an 8-8 team with an underachiveing QB in 2010. He reinvigorated Alex Smith's career and took what NYT calls an "incapable" pro-style QB to the superbowl. And if by "skedaddle" they mean (literally) ran out of town, then yes.
I was seriously waiting for the "/s" at the end of that article.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:28 PM ^
Jed York bought some ad space in the NYT. Move along folks.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:28 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 2:28 PM ^
No, no, those grapes aren't sour ... Harbaugh is a cancer, NFL! So keep recycling the same old faceless coaches and let Harbaugh be an amateur coach ... I hear Joe Bugel and Sam Wyche are available, and Bill Parcells hasn't retired in a while.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:30 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 2:35 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^
I'm not going to respond to all of these uninformed comments, but tens of millions of people read the NYT. Every day around the world. They are one of the very, very few media organizations that has made a plausible transition from the solely print world to the multimedia world of today.
Your life will be just fine if you don't read the NYT; it's far from perfect (e.g., employing a few dopey columinsts, like Easterbrook) and there are some other good news organizations out there. But if you're going to comment about it, you should know something about it.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/05/business/the-new-york-tim…
October 27th, 2015 at 3:55 PM ^
People don't like information anymore. Just opinions.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:46 PM ^
Don't care. We have it better than them. 49ers fans everywhere all still wish they had Harbaugh as their coach.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^
This writer sounds like the butthurt NFL media who botched the whole Harbaugh saga this offseason. Didn't Jed York fire Harbaugh because he wanted to control personnel decisions and because he didn't see eye to eye with upper management and ownership? To say that Harbaugh left the 49ers in bad hands does not make sense because they didn't want him anymore. It was their decision to go in another direction. It's like anyone who moves on from a position that they are not wanted anymore, you look for greener pasture and Harbaugh found it at Michigan.
Also, it's not Harbaugh's fault that the 49er's hired a glorified defensive line coach who was lobbying for Harbaugh's job midseason to turn their team around. A glorified defensive line coach turned head coach reminds me of someone else... rhymes with Grady Joke and we all know how that one turned out.
All I have to say to a writer like this guy is go kick sand.
October 27th, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 2:57 PM ^
Wasn't this asshole one of the idiots who wrote there was no way Harbaugh would leave the league for college? This article just reaps of butthurt.......
October 27th, 2015 at 2:58 PM ^
If they want to moan and bitch that's their business. We got our guy now and that's what matters.
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October 27th, 2015 at 3:00 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 3:01 PM ^
Easterbrook has been infuriating before, so I'm not surprised he'd write crap here as well.
The GM made most of the drafting decision; that was a major point with Harbaugh in SF was how much meddling was going on. I'm sure Harbaugh said "hey, this guy might be good" and that turned out wrong; that's true everywhere. But the tire fire in SF isn't because Jim Harbaugh suggested a couple of players.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:03 PM ^
People don't read the NYT for the Sports section. To me, articles in the NYT Sports section always read more like articles in the Sunday magazine section rather than true daily sports reporting. The sports section in the NYT seems like an obligatory section the NYT knows it has to include to help sell newspapers, but it's a cursory section that focuses on NYC sports teams along with a few random stories nationally. Not the place one goes to get scores and stats.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:09 PM ^
has a masters from NW so he probably hates Michigan. Hes 62 and wrote some books about the meaning of life and about whether religion matters now. Typical writer looking for provocative material to draw attention to himself. He indicts his own article with the sentence regarding Harbaugh skedaddling implying Harbaugh left SF of his own accord which is nonsense. Harbaugh had one more year on his contract I believe and it was no secret the 32 year old owner and also the general manager were not a fans of Harbaugh and it appears he was more or less told he could leave or else he would be removed. Much to Michigan fans delight he left SF. Now there are those that want to say the demise of 49er football is due to Harbaugh. The NYTs needs to find better, more imaginitive and maybe younger writers.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^
...it was one of their (many, many) columnists, the ever-pompous Gregg Easterbrook. It was just one opinion, amongst many.
The New York Times isn't like mgoblog or edsbs, where if Brian or Spencer said something about Harbaugh you could plausibly say "mgoblog slams..." or "EDSBS slams..."
Perhaps if the NYT reported something, and it was wrong, then you could slam the organization, as reporting is supposed to be factual and thus goes through a layer of editing and proofing from the organization. But opinions by one columinst aren't the same thing, as long as its not libel or 100% wrong (and my opinion is that Easterbrook is mostly wrong -- but again, that's just my opinion).
October 27th, 2015 at 4:28 PM ^
I understand the point you're making, but at the end of the day the Times has to take ownership of the words they're spending money to print and disseminate. They couldn't run an op-ed by somebody who claims that the moon landings were faked on a Nevada movie lot and then logically escape criticism by saying, "hey, we didn't write it, it's his opinion."
As I said in a previous comment, to me the central part of Easterbrook's assertion is that Harbaugh deserves blame for player personnel decisions, but he offers no proof that those decisions were in fact Harbaugh's, and others here suggest that in fact they weren't.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^
Look at this photo from the Monday press conference:
Do you know what I see? I see a man happy in his surroundings, and enjoying what he's doing.
The NYT and anyone else can wish Harbaugh away, but Harbaugh is doing exactly what he wants to do right now, which is coach Michigan.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:34 PM ^
Well said.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:11 PM ^
For the most part, I liked the column, and followed it when it left espn to I think cbs/nfl, then back to espn.
As time went on though, Easterbrook has just really jumped off the deep end. His little rants in between football were entertaining, especially on sci fi shows and politicians and their bodyguards. But some time ago, he went into ultra idealogue mode and just kept repeating so many dumb thinks it became unbearable.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:20 PM ^
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October 27th, 2015 at 3:21 PM ^
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October 27th, 2015 at 3:29 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 6:23 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 3:32 PM ^
A wise man once said "wins are just a statistic" or something like that.
October 27th, 2015 at 3:32 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 3:36 PM ^
or maybe we should look at them based on historical results. The 49ers chose their future and decided Harbaugh wasn't going to be a part of it.
In the time he was there, good things happened. In the time that he was not, things haven't gone as well. Coaches benefit from personnel on hand and their ability to make them more productive. They are not accountable for the work of athletes and draft choices who don't produce after they leave or even seeing the writing on the wall, which if they had this foresight, makes them smarter for having departed that situation.
My response to this, other than wow, you want to condemn the coach for not having his contract extended by SF owhership because they didn't like him as the coach regardless of performance, is who the hell cares what your POV is? I mean the coach was removed from the team and the coach made a different choice about employmet, so give me a fucking break about your post analysis.
October 27th, 2015 at 4:11 PM ^
I feel like a lot of the disagreement stems from everyone using a few different standards here.
As far as "NEWSPAPERS" go, the NYT is one of the best, and most acountable in the world, by far. But, that's also not very hard to do, considering the competition and what passes for "news" these days.
But.
As far as "READING" goes, I'd much rather read something else, I'd rather read an ancient Greek text I've been meaning to get around to, a book by Anthony Bourdain, or some nice fiction.
But.
As far as "MY LIFE" goes, I'm not going to waste one second reading "the news", or take it very seriously. I'd rather play piano, or go for a walk/hike, catch up with a friend over a beer, or cook a nice meal. No matter how "catchy", or urgent "the news" claims to be, I'm not interested.
So, under these perspectives, the NYT is both "great" and "completely worthless", at the same time, to someone like me.
EDIT: Oh yea, also, we GOT HARBAUGH!!!!!!!!!!! Who's got it better?
October 27th, 2015 at 4:20 PM ^
I thought one of the main issues he faced at SF was a contant battle over draft picks with Baalke? JH would ask for certain players and almost always get overruled...and that was the beginning of the end for his relationship with the 49'ers?
So now he is the one who "signed off" on all the picks? It's funny, that is as strong a statement he could make in his indictment. He is clearly getting this from the front office who shit the bed to begin with and are now trying to pin the blamd on Harbaugh.
If he really had is hand in the draft....they would have said he PICKED the players, not just signed off on what his boss told him was going to happen anyway.
October 27th, 2015 at 4:25 PM ^
October 27th, 2015 at 4:27 PM ^
He thought Blaine Gabbert should have been their starter two years ago. I have nothing more to say.