49-22-1. This is what Jim Harbaugh did his 4 years as the Niner head coach. What is his legacy? Well to me, it’s falling short. The standard is was and should be winning the Super Bowl. With Jjmbo here we went from outhouse to penthouse in one strike-shortened preseaon in 2011. In the process he turned Alex Smith from a perennial close-but-not quite guy to a 13-3 QB on a roll. But for 2 fumbles, this team is in the Super Bowl.
Next year, Harbaugh gets the team in position to win the Super Bowl. Until the game starts and they dig themselves an impossible hole to dig out of. But for a delay of game, the Niners win. Last year? Well, close but not quite again. This year started a disaster 2 months before the season started and it never got much better despite better weapons and supposed more continuity.
So, on his last day as the 49er coach, Jimbo wins game 49. Quite a legacy, and Jimbo should be given credit for instilling a winning attitude for a moribund franchise, However, he did inherit a team with a pretty strong roster, One loaded with high draft picks, and talent. For as quickly as things changed, and they were tantalizingly close to reaching their goals those 3 times, they fell short. The part I didn’t like was how Harbaugh leaned on his defense a lot of the time. Give him an early lead and he’ll sit on it. Fall behind, and he’ll grudgingly get aggressive. For all the talent they had, I think they left a lot of points on the field, and many times they were not prepared come game time.
What happens now? I have a pretty good idea that they are going to keep this shit in-house. Which means Mike Tomsula. Which means that other coaches may start defecting. Greg Roman is surely gone. The offensive coaches should be shit-canned. Well, keep Rathman (and Gore for that matter). John Morton? Seeing the ineffectiveness of the WRs for the most part, gone. The line coaches can go as we will more than likely look to change the blocking style.
I wonder if promoting Tomsula over Fangio will mean Fangio leaves. I hope he stays as he did a remarkable job with a defense riddled by injury. Harbaugh never did him many favors, and he is likely in the running as HC. Whatever they do, I hope they find someone to take this offense to a new level. For all the troubles this year, injuries played a big part of the problems, and this team still has a ton of talent. They are not in rebuilding mode,and should be considered a playoff contender when the next traiing camp breaks.
Forty Niners Forever 
Jim was hired to be the HC.
He did an excellent job of uniting the locker room and, established a good hard-nosed attitude within them as well.
What I can’t understand is, the reason he put so many demands on the FO?
He’s obviously a players Coach, a former QB, someone who lived for the game.
There appears to have been some sort of disdain for authority perhaps?
Somewhat of a bi-polar disorder maybe, when you have the abilities to unite players yet, alienate Mgt.
Many have suggested that Jed and Trent orchestrated the leaks surrounding the Cleveland ordeal.
Maybe now, in hindsight, it was all about driving a wedge into Contract changes?
As with players, I hold the Coaches to the same standard.
You accepted the Contract, and the terms dictated, when you signed on.
Honor your Contract as written.
Trent suggested at the PC today that Jim didn’t ask for additional power regarding player selections.
He also made it clear that his Contract is written to give him control over the roster, which I suspect most GMs would have in this League.
For me, it was, and has been, about the inability to develop a more robust Offense.
The next guy inline for the HC duties might very well trump Tomsula, simply because of the need to develop Kaep, and a more pro-ready passing attack.
We’ll have plenty to speculate on until that question is answered.
Keep this in-house. By all I’m sure you’ve all heard the news that we won’t be back in SF next season. My dad was told the Monday following the loss in Seattle that he would not be back in 2015. I wish you could’ve been told then. It obviously wasn’t my place to break the news. I know there have been months of rumors and speculation leading up to this over the course of a year so I just want to make sure you all know the whole story.
You need to first realize that my dad loved this city and team. He chose to coach here for a reason 3 years ago. He believed they could go far. It’s why leaving is so difficult. You also need to know that he would’ve stayed if he could have. Unfortunately, he wasn’t given such an option, and was disappointed by that.
There have been hundreds of reports from journalists each with varying reasons on why he was leaving/what the locker room atmosphere was like. Those people know nothing more than the average person about what goes on behind closed doors. They’re in the business of looking for drama and stirring up controversy. I can’t blame them. It’s in their job description. That being said, I’ve yet to see a single article that truly depicted the real story.
Last summer a story came out about a potential head coach trade with the Cleveland Browns. If that seemed like it came out of left field for you, it did for us too. It was brought up by someone in the Browns front office who we knew, but it was a one sided conversation. The idea wasn’t even entertained. Yet the media fed off of it, and created a story line where there was no story, and thus, we came into the current season with questions regarding my dads future with the team. Like the trade rumors, reports of locker room discontent also came as a shock.
Nothing I saw in 3 years of being at the facility, on the team plane, and in the locker room at games ever even suggested anything of the sort. I don’t care to point fingers because in the end it doesn’t really matter who planted the rumors. The mere fact that they existed is enough.All I’ll say is it wasn’t a player or analyst as most have said. Look up what happened with Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys for reference.
This is a talented team, and I believe they can still win. Injuries plagued us in a year that could’ve been special. The fans have sometimes forgotten that, and placed too much unnecessary criticism on the players we did have that stepped up or played through injury. However, there are still deep rooted problems in SF that need to be fixed to win the sixth Super Bowl. I’ll just list a few of them to make this brief.
1. The front office
We were aware and were told about the reputation of the teams front office when we came…we are well aware now.
2. Stadium
There was no consistent home field advantage at Levi’s stadium this year. I desperately wanted there to be one, but honestly, if I were on any other team, I’d love to play against our team there. You can blame the design, but it really starts with the fans. If you ever want to win at home next year and beyond YOU HAVE TO STAY IN YOUR SEATS IN THE SECOND HALF AND BE LOUD THE WHOLE TIME, NOT JUST ON THIRD DOWN WHEN THE TEAM IS AHEAD. It was dead silent at times when the opposing team was on offense. Trust me, u despised teams like the Seahawks and Saints, but their fans are loud from start to finish. They really do make an impact. It’s possible here too.
3. Keep Frank Gore
No one wants to win/cares as much about football as much as Frank. He was my favorite player on the team. Sign him.
4. The front office
We were aware and were told about the reputation of the teams front office when we came…we are well aware now. I have respect for everyone there don’t get me wrong, but I don’t feel the season needed to end this way.
Lastly I just want everyone to think before you point fingers and blindly just throw criticism around. Everyone in the 49er organization had the same record for the past 3 years. Winning or losing is a team effort, and can never be put on a single person. All of this stuff you’ve been saying around around about the unwillingness to fire assistant coaches leading to us leaving and my dad losing interest to coach just isn’t true. He fought with maximum effort and intensity till the very end.
I always tell my dad about the good things you all have to say. Your support doesn’t go unnoticed. I wish you all the best and I hope the team be successful in the future for the sake of the fans. This city deserves it.
Thank you for a four amazing years.
WHOS GOT IT BETTER THAN US?
One College Coach to keep an eye on down the road will be the OC for Ohio State, Tom Herman.
He just took a HC gig in Houston but, he’s done some good work for Urban Meyer and has the Buckeyes Offense clicking.
They run something similar to what Chip does in Philly, up-tempo base packages that minimize Defensive substitutions.
Keep an eye open for WR Devin Smith and TE Jeff Heuerman too.
Anxious to see them against a good ‘Bama Defense.
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/tom_herman_789601.html
Chico, don’t know of you saw this but James Harbaugh reported his FB account was hacked and to disregard anything coming from it.
He was the supposed author of the long letter you posted.
Good chance that letter was actually posted by James Harbaugh and then told to disown it? It sounded like an article that was legit. Who knows?
I can’t know what happened that got Harbaugh sent packing but my opinion is money and bad offensive design was behind it. At this point it doesn’t matter anymore, time to look forward.
Jimbo was good for us. When we hired him many said he would only be here for about 4 years. Those people were right.
IMO, the culture started to change with Singletary. He brought a toughness and quit feeling sorry for ourselves attitude. He just had no concept of how to run an offense.
Enter Harbaugh. He was tough like Sing and added some crazy to the attitude. His offense was similar but had some better philosophy about it until Fisher showed everybody how to stop it by loading the box. Jimbo tried to adjust this year but did not have the know how to run the offense he tried to implement. It was the right and logical step to take, he just didn’t implement it correctly. He is used to running a smash mouth power game and infusing the element of surprise. The new offense he tried to run is based more on just keeping the defense off balance instead of the element of surprise. His biggest mistake IMO was hen he didn’t stay with the running game when he switched offensive alignments. And calling two plays in the huddle is always a losing system in my opinion. It is a built in delay of game factory. But all in all, Jimbo was good for us.
Let’s take this opportunity to improve what Jimbo brought and seize the day!
I think the front office got tired about hearing how great Harbaugh was. That, and how he wanted a raise after year one.
The FIGJAM principle.
Fuck
I’m
Great
Just
Aks
Me
Unca- I’m not sure money was the biggest issue but it had to factor.
Anybody who says money wasn’t a factor can’t thinking rationally. The reason I think money wasn’t the biggest factor is I think Harbaugh would have came back and coached his last year if asked. I don’t know that is true, it is just how I feel. But make no mistake, he wanted more money.
I just read about Harbaugh’s contract. He got quite a raise which leads to the speculation it was about the money. His base is initially the same as it was in SF but he gets 10% raises in yrs 3 and 5. He also got a 2 mil signing bonus, which means 7 mil in year one. He has a lot of incentives to drive the price up. When you factor in the endorsements he will get in Michigan and not having to pay the high Cal state tax of 13.2%, he got a huge raise.
Still, I don’t think money was the number one issue. It probably would have been next year. I think something else was the number one reason he left. We will probably never know but my guess is it was Roman and how confused our offense looked this year. Harbaugh probably drew the line on being told to fire an assistant. He is fiercely loyal. Just a guess.
I don’t know Bergs. I still think money was the biggest part of it.
That being said, I truly do not get the dynamic between he and Roman. 2 years ago there was talk of Harbaugh taking over play calling at times. Last year and this tear as well. His brother had no problem canning Cam Cam mid-stream. Why is he putting that above winning?
I get being loyal, but at the cost of your own job and the success of the team?
Holy shit. I think Bullit has lost his mind. Pete Carmichael, the guy who has coached Brees is whole career, and has been NOs OC for 6 years is a bad coaching candidate because NOs defense is 31st in the league. Go figure.
Unca- Bullit never cares about what is right, he only cares about being right. Talking to him is a waste of time. An rational intelligent conversation is just too difficult.
Carmichael is probably a good candidate. I would question his being a head coach based on that he is not the one who calls the plays there, Payton does. But that shouldn’t bother Bullit since he doesn’t think play calling matters. How can somebody think play calling matters if they are a Roman fan?
I’ve thrown some names out but I don’t know who to hire. I’ll just support whoever we do hire until it is obvious he was the wrong guy. I still think Harbaugh was the right guy sans Roman. Problem was, it was never going to be sans Roman.
Frankly I’d like to see fangio get the job and get Pete as the OC here.
Promote tomsula to dc. Get Ault here to work with Kappy
My idea for Ault was just temporary for if they fired Roman after the Seattle game. Since we kept trying the read/option run and doing wrong, I thought maybe he could show Harby how it’s done. I think I’d rather have somebody more established with the pro game for a permanent OC.
I think Fangio would be a good candidate for HC. I’m not going to say who to hire because I missed badly on Nolan and Sing.
I’m saying Carmichael as (play calling) OC, not Ault. Ault is here to work with Kappy and Pete.
Happy for Harbs and I wish him luck at Michigan. It’s a perfect spot for him and he’s probably a better long term college coach anyway.
Plus, after hearing York squirm and worm his way out of Murph’s interview on KNBR this morning I’m looking forward to seeing how the Niners brass fixes this mess…..
Whoever we get will surely understand that our division is not for the week-willed and play-it safe attitude(game plan), it will take a person with a plan and quite a bit of ingenuity. I don’t know who that is but they will have to factor in our division. I think that will thin some potential people out. It would be easy to say it’s because of the FO but I don’t see any motivated person saying that.
Shane Skov: kicked off the practice squad.
This shit just got real….
If the article on FB, alleged to have been written by young Harbaugh is legit, beating Seattle had to be the main ingredient by which Jed weighed his value.
Be it personnel, or scheme, we haven’t improved Offensive production in several years, for a number of valid reasons.
For me, it’s the lack of a passing attack married to a power running game.
Had Roman/Harbaugh found a way to balance those elements, with a legit rhythm and execution, Jim might not have been standing in front of a podium in Ann Arbor today
NJ- I think you nailed it.
All I want is harmony and balance from the FO to the team Berger.
Everyone on the same page, working together.
Why we can’t find a passing attack that works is killing me.
If our QB can’t stand in a pocket, find something that works for him.
For that simple reason, our next HC or OC, has to have a better plan for Kaep.
Get something going with the passing attack.
The more I read about this HC circus, the more I think Jed and Jim were more at odds than Trent and Jim?
There seems to be some innuendo suggesting ’49er class’ might have been directed at Jim?
Sideline tirades, off-field player troubles perhaps?
Again, I get the fact that Jed feels he’s responsible to the Fans, and his legacy to the Franchise but, PLEASE, let football people run the football team.
Trent and the HC have to get this sh!t straightened out.
That partnership is the most important pairing in the game as far as I’m concerned.
At his intro presser today at Michigan, Harbs uttered more complete sentences in 10 minutes than he did in 4 years of pressers at Santa Clara.
Niners must have a new, open position of “staff foot fetishist”. Why else would they plan to interview that known developer of QBs – Rex Ryan …
Well, like he said, he’s been dreaming of coaching Michigan since he was a child,
Rex would be a hoot for us.
He’s a character and the guys would love him.
He simply needs what we need now, an Offense to support him.
I think the minimalist approach is best right now.
Try to keep the Defense intact and find a way to marry an OC with them.
Otherwise, if they give the HC slot to an outsider, more pieces likely fall by the wayside, like Fangio and/or Tomsula.
Which ain’t gonna be easy IMO.
McDaniels makes sense to a degree, simply because of the Baalke/Parcells/Belichick connections.
But, that may not be enough for McDaniels to take a chance he passed up on last time we went through this process.
The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess?
New thread is up . . . . .
Depending on who stays and who goes, Rex as DC would be OK. HC? No.