NFL Coach of the Year 2012: San Francisco 49ers' Jim Harbaugh Easy Choice to Win

The San Francisco 49ers were not supposed to win the AFC West in 2011. They destroyed every last expectation, and it was all thanks to the 2012 NFL Coach of the Year, Jim Harbaugh. 

Harbaugh has officially taken home the illustrious title of Coach of the Year at Saturday Night's NFL Honors awards show (via Twitter).

You can't coach with emotion in the pros. These finely-tuned machines just don't respond to the type of stimulus that Harbaugh provides. At least, that was what we were all thinking when Harbaugh was hired to replace Mike Singletary. 

The hope was that Harbaugh could come in and lend the San Francisco 49ers some measure of the family ethos of running a football team. 

Defense and pounding the ball one yard at a time would be valued, and it would take the players to buy into this college coach with an exuberant way of teaching. 

Each and every last player did buy into the Harbaugh way, and they began playing the game with a vigor that had been vacant for far too long at Candlestick. 

A 6-10 team in 2010 turned things around in dramatic fashion, finishing with 13 wins and nearly landing in the Super Bowl, falling just short in an NFC Championship to the New York Giants. 

A team that had not been featured in the playoffs since 2002 were suddenly contenders. Through the start of the season, pundits had to question the pace the team was on. 

This was a Niners squad that was still a couple seasons away from mattering, or so was assumed. By the time December came, San Francisco was 9-2 and waltzing into the postseason. 

Harbaugh molded a team that was eighth in rushing yards, grabbing over 127 yards per game on the ground. They also inflicted a great deal of damage on the defensive end as well. The 2011 49ers limited teams to just 77.3 yards per game on the ground, tops in the NFL. 

Perhaps his greatest feat was getting the most out of Alex Smith, a quarterback that many in the San Francisco questioned after years of mediocrity. 

Smith would enjoy the best year of his career and throw for 3,144 yards. More importantly, he exuded confidence that would not have been there had Harbaugh not taken over the team. 

A head coach should invigorate, teach and mentor. Harbaugh proved in just one season that he is the best at all three. 

This was an easy call—Jim Harbaugh was no doubt the best coach in the NFL this past season. 

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