Alex Boone Speaks on Jim Harbaugh's Exit from 49ers in 'Real Sports' Interview

New Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is the subject of Tuesday’s episode of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, and the show will include a telling interview with San Francisco 49ers guard Alex Boone.  

In the episode, correspondent Andrea Kremer profiles Harbaugh and discusses the former 49ers coach with Boone. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk passed along some of Boone's notable quotes:

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He does a great job of giving you that spark, that initial boom. But after a while, you just want to kick his ass. ... He just keeps pushing you, and you're like, "Dude, we got over the mountain. Stop. Let go." He kind of wore out his welcome. ...

I think he just pushed guys too far. He wanted too much, demanded too much, expected too much. You know, "We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this." And you'd be like, "This guy might be clinically insane. He's crazy." ... I think that if you're stuck in your ways enough, eventually people are just going to say, "Listen, we just can't work with this."

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Boone also said "the players had nothing to do with getting him [Harbaugh] fired."

Former 49ers player Chris Culliver responded to Boone's comments on his Instagram feed:

Harbaugh is known for his intensity and competitiveness, which will be explored in depth during the episode.

That competitiveness led to plenty of winning and a Super Bowl appearance when Harbaugh was leading the 49ers. His presence and style made San Francisco particularly difficult to prepare for on a weekly basis, as Jen Floyd Engel of Fox Sports noted.

"This type of personality is intensely difficult to deal with and wickedly dangerous to coach against, especially in a league where increasingly too many coach not to lose, coach not to be fired, coach what is safe, coach what is easily defensible," Engel wrote.

The question now is whether Harbaugh will thrive at Michigan or eventually wear out his welcome (or both). Considering there is significantly more roster turnover at the college level, with many players leaving for the NFL after three years or after graduation in four, his intensity may not be as much of an issue at Michigan.

Even if Harbaugh does get under the players' skin, those players will be out of the program within a matter of years. If he wins like he did in San Francisco, it won't be much of a problem.

Ultimately, winning will determine whether Harbaugh is a success in the Maize and Blue.