Reply With Quote
Fri Jan 07 04:41pm EST
Jim Harbaugh finally lands ... in San Francisco
In the end, former Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh took the same road once travelled by Bill Walsh -- from the Cardinal to the 49ers -- though he did it with quite a bit more fanfare and drama. The 49ers have announced that Harbaugh will be their new head coach, agreeing to a reported five-year, $25 million deal.
After leading the Cardinal to a 40-14 Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech, Harbaugh talked with the Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos and 49ers about the possibilities with each team, including a cross-country flight taken by Dolphins owner Stephen Ross to try and convince Harbaugh to take his talents to South Beach. But in the end -- and after Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck most certainly took himself out of first-overall pick status by returning to school for his junior season -- Harbaugh decided to stay closer to home. San Francisco and Stanford engaged in some heavy bidding for the coach's services, and we'll find out more about why Harbaugh chose the NFL when he speaks to the media at 3:30 p.m. PST Friday.
[Related: NFL team's questionable decision to fire head coach]
The Dolphins' offer was especially confusing for current head coach Tony Sparano, and several recent ESPN reports indicated that while the jilted Fins have been trying to band out a small extension with Sparano, they also scheduled and cancelled a meeting with recently fired Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini.
Hmmm. Any idea why Harbaugh might have found that situation a little less than desirable?
In any case, the former NFL quarterback and architect of Stanford's recent miracle turnaround has another rehabilitation project on his hands. The 49ers are a team with some talent that underperformed under former head coach Mike Singletary. The team's first and most glaring need is for a quarterback, unless Harbaugh sees enough in either Alex or Troy Smith to go forward.
As for Stanford, it still has Luck (at least for the time being, one never knows what Harbaugh's decision not to come back will do to that), and a good shot at the Pac-10. It'll undoubtedly be looking for a coach who knows how to run a pro-style offense and can deal well with quarterbacks, because whoever that coach may be, he's walking into a dream scenario with Luck as his leader.
For Harbaugh, the time was probably right to make the jump, but he'll see some uncertainty with his new team as the rebuild begins. We'll have more about this through the day, including Pete Carroll's rather humorous take on the whole Harbaugh drama.
