Jim Harbaugh: Why the San Francisco 49ers Would Be a Career-Killing Move
San Francisco?
Denver?
Stanford?
The offers are out there for Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, now all we can do is wait and see what team he chooses.
It was reported that Harbaugh met with the San Francisco 49ers for five hours on Wednesday as team president Jed York and new general manager Trent Baalke took their shot at convincing him why he should come to San Francisco.
The 49ers have made it clear that they are willing to pay Harbaugh upwards of $6 million, but is this the right move for Harbaugh?
Here are 10 reasons why coaching the 49ers would not be a good move for Harbaugh.
10. San Francisco Will Never Be What They Once Were
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San Francisco 49ers fans remember the 80s and early-mid 90s as the "good old days". Players such as Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Steve Young helped lead San Francisco to four Super Bowl titles in the 1980s and one more in 1994. The 49ers have appeared in five Super Bowls (1981, '84, '88, '89, '94) in team history and won them all.
They are the only team that has played in more then one Super Bowl with a perfect winning percentage in the big game.
The bottom line here is that things just aren't the same now days in San Francisco and chances are they won't be anytime soon, regardless of if Harbaugh agrees to coach the 49ers. San Francisco has been one of the worst teams in the NFL over the past decade and are desperately looking to get back to NFL relevancy.
Going to San Francisco, Harbaugh will have to deal with the fact that his team will likely never be as good as they were back in the 80s and 90s, and those years will also be used as the highest measuring stick which, quite frankly, is pretty much unreachable.
9. College Player-Coach Relationships
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If you watched any of Stanford's games this season, it is obvious that Jim Harbaugh has a special relationship with his players. He clearly likes coaching them and they clearly love playing for him. They are college kids who respect their coach and what he says.
That isn't always the case in the NFL. You saw what happened with Vernon Davis and how he was benched because he didn't get along with former 49ers coach Mike Singletary. That is just one of many cases of players and coaches not seeing eye-to-eye in the NFL.
If Harbaugh goes to the 49ers, or any NFL team for that matter, he will have to deal with players with big egos that know, win or lose, they are going to get their big salary check when it is all said and done.
College kids don't have those types of egos.
8. Better Offers Could Come in the Future
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San Francisco has to be a tempting offer because it's the NFL and Harbaugh wouldn't have to make a drastic geographic move, with Palo Alto already being in Northern California, near the bay area.
But, if he chooses to stay at Stanford, chances are that his name will come up again in the future as far as NFL coaching positions go. And chances are that some of those teams will be in a better position to win then the San Francisco 49ers are at this point in time.
Harbaugh is a relatively young guy, who certainly has a lot of coaching ahead of him. Better offers could come his way, if he chooses to pass on this job.
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7. Luck Is Staying
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Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck announced yesterday that he will be coming back to Stanford for his redshirt junior season.
Luck was sensational this year, leading the Cardinal to an Orange Bowl victory over Virgina Tech, and finishing runner-up for this year's Heisman Trophy award. His decision to stay has to play some sort of role in making this a more difficult decision for Harbaugh to stay or go.
If he takes the 49ers job, he will likely not have a quarterback anywhere near as skilled as Luck. He has built a relationship with Luck and if he stays at Stanford, he will have the opportunity to continue and blossom that quarterback relationship.
6. Potential of NFL Lockout
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We will not know for a few months whether this is a realistic option or not. The NFL collective bargaining agreement is set to expire in March and word around the NFL is that a potential lockout could be in store.
If Harbaugh made the jump to the NFL and took the job in San Francisco, he wouldn't be guaranteed that he would even have the opportunity to coach in 2011.
Why this isn't something that he should solely base his decision on, it has to be an issue that has come to mind when making this difficult decision.
5. If He Loses, He's Out
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Not right away of course. If he does take this job, Harbaugh will be given some leeway time to help build the 49ers back to relevance.
But everyone knows, that the life of an NFL coach is not what it used to be. Now a days, if your team doesn't start winning and show signs of improvement after just 2-3 years, your job is in jeopardy.
Look what happened to Mike Singletary when he took this exact same position.
Staying at Stanford, Harbaugh has a feeling of comfort and job security. He is well-known and thought of highly there. Fans in San Francisco could love Harbaugh when he accepts this job, but if the results on the field don't come soon, that love could dwindle very quickly.
4. History Is Not on His Side
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Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino, Butch Davis.
Those are just three of the many well-known college coaches that have failed to come close to their college success after making the jump to the NFL.
Coaches who are hired from college to the NFL are given jobs because they had proven success at the college football level. Coaches who have made one, two or three loss seasons become the norm at their respected university. More often then not, that success does not carry over to the NFL.
If Harbaugh takes the 49ers job, he has to realize that history is in no way on his side. It's a different atmosphere, different players and a different scene in general. A scene that Harbaugh might want to consider staying away from. At least for now.
3. No QB for the Former QB
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It is no secret that the San Francisco 49ers have struggled to find a franchise quarterback since the departure of Steve Young. Guys like Tim Rattay, Shaun Hill and Alex Smith have just not cut it for 49ers nation.
Jim Harbaugh is a former NFL quarterback who is well known for his ability to coach and develop quarterbacks, like he did with Andrew Luck.
If he takes the job with San Francisco, Harbaugh will not have a proven NFL quarterback to work with. It's as good as certain to say that the Alex Smith experiment is coming to an end. With that said, the only way that Harbaugh could have a chance to work with a halfway decent quarterback is if the 49ers sign a quarterback via free agency, or if they choose to select one in this year's NFL draft.
Either way, Harbaugh is a former quarterback that wants to work with a good quarterback. At the moment, that does not exist in San Francisco.
2. Look What Else Is on the Table
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Now that the Miami Dolphins have made the choice to stick with head coach Tony Sparano, the remaining potential destinations for Harbaugh comes down to Stanford, San Francisco or Denver.
We all know what Stanford was able to accomplish this season. Both Denver and San Francisco were near the bottom dwellers of the NFL this season. But at least in Denver, Harbaugh will have the opportunity to work with and tutor an up-and-coming quarterback in Tim Tebow.
Of these three potential landing spots, San Francisco has the biggest question at quarterback and has been consistently one of the worst teams in the NFL over the past decade.
1. They Just Aren't That Good
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Really, the bottom line of this situation is that the San Francisco 49ers just aren't a good football franchise right now.
They have been on the verge of being good. They were a popular pick in the NFC West coming into this season, but ended up in third place with a miserable 6-10 record, including going 1-7 on the road.
As good of a coach as Jim Harbaugh may be, he is not going to be able to come in and turn this franchise around over night. It will likely be a lengthy process, that will bring more stress then it will success, at least at first.
If Jim Harbaugh wants to continue to have instant success in coaching, his best bet is to stay at Stanford.
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