San Francisco 49ers: Comparing the Early Years of Bill Walsh and Jim Harbaugh
In his first moments as coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Jim Harbaugh talked about the ideals and standards set by Bill Walsh.
Walsh took over as head coach in 1979, after a two-year stint as head coach at Stanford...which happens to be half the time Harbaugh had there.
In that light, 49ers fans can be excused for expecting Bill Walsh-like results from Harbaugh, and it seems the new coach knows that. But in looking over the careers of the two coaches in their early years with the 49ers, it will be important to not only note the similarities, but also the differences.
In the end, such a perspective might help 49ers fans keep their expectations of Harbaugh and the Niners somewhere under the stratosphere.
Stanford Success
1 of 7
Under Walsh, Stanford finished the 1977 and ’78 seasons with 9-3 and 8-4 records. Both ended with postseason bowl wins, which was a rarity after Stanford’s success earlier in the decade.
At the time, college football was dominated by the traditional powers or, as some called them, the “football factories” of the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conferences. A small, private, academically-oriented institution like Stanford (and not named USC) seemed less and less capable of being able to compete in that environment.
Thanks to Walsh and his innovative football ideas, as well as the development of quarterbacks Guy Benjamin and Steve Dils, not to mention James Lofgren, Stanford succeeded, though never won a Pac-8 championship.
Harbaugh’s turnaround skills came to light at the University of San Diego, where he turned the program into a Division I-AA power, winning 29 of his final 31 games there.
When he took over Stanford in 2006, the Cardinal were coming off a 1-11 season. Four years later, Stanford finished with a 12-1 mark, a win over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl and the respect that even a small, private school not named USC could play on college football’s biggest stage
Organization in Disarray
2 of 7
When Walsh came to the 49ers, owner Ed DeBartolo Jr. was desperate. Though his father, Ed Sr., ostensibly was the owner, Eddie, as he was known, was ordered to run the team, a good exercise in the business world for the scion of a family whose fortune was built in building shopping malls and managing horserace tracks.
DeBartolo Jr. thought that hiring Joe Thomas, the man credited with building the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins teams of the early 1970s, would be what the organization needed. Thomas turned out to be a disaster in player personnel decisions. Chief among these was his decision to trade away draft picks for an obviously declining O.J. Simpson.
Harbaugh comes to a team that has underperformed the last two years. Jed York, Ed DeBartolo’s uncle, is now in charge. He made the fateful decision two-and-half years ago to make Mike Singletary the coach, a decision that seemed right in 2009 and dead wrong early in 2010.
The team started 0-5, had three players quit and eventually fired the offensive coordinator. Singletary was fired before the end of the season and the Niners finished 7-9. If not for the Dallas Cowboys’ implosion, the 49ers would be viewed as the most disappointing team of 2010.
In ’79, Joe Thomas was fired and John McVay was brought in to work with Walsh. In January 2011, Trent Baalke was promoted from pro player director to general manager. How that tandem works together will go a long ways to the 49ers success.
Control of the Pros
3 of 7
Both Walsh and Harbaugh had been assistant coaches in the pros and in college. Both played, though Harbaugh’s career extended into the pros. That said, it’s much a much different game in the pros.
In college, players have scholarships that afford them not much more than pads, books and food. In the pros, players have contracts and agents and that means there are going to be issues and conflicts. Walsh let the players know right away that he was in charge and players on the edge of the roster who didn’t meet his standards were quickly dismissed.
And Walsh’s frustrations could get the best of him, as in his famous line about the predecessor of Montana, Steve DeBerg. “He plays just well enough to get you beat.” Walsh later regretted the comment, but it shows he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.
More than one player went against the wishes of coaches during training camp sessions and found that their locker had been cleaned out before practice was over. They weren’t even allowed to shower.
McVay had Walsh’s back, and thus, they could overcome the questions of Ed DeBartolo Jr. Now it’s Baalke and Harbaugh who have to tell Jed York about why tough, perhaps costly, decisions have to be made.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Innovation
4 of 7
Bill Walsh understood the game like few coaches ever. His creation of the West Coast offense came out of his days as the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals. Twice a year, the Bengals had to face the Steel Curtain, Pittsburgh’s famed defense led by Mean Joe Greene, Jack Ham and Mel Blount (to name a few).
To have his quarterbacks survive, Walsh devised a scheme built on short, quick throws towards the sidelines and receivers running crossing routes to force defenders to choose who to cover. That’s how Ken Anderson became one of the best quarterbacks of the last 40 years, and it was because that was the only way Walsh could keep his quarterback upright.
With the 49ers, that offense excelled under the leadership of Joe Montana. Today, Harbaugh enters the year with a quarterback, Alex Smith, who has many of the same skills as Montana, quick feet and mobility. What he may not have is accuracy and consistency and that will be Harbaugh’s chief job.
Harbaugh played quarterback for the Bears and Colts before entering coaching. He was the Oakland Raiders quarterback coach in 2003, where Rick Mirer, Rich Gannon and Marques Tuiasosopo took turns. As such, his offensive schemes haven’t achieved success to the point that they become synonymous with him, like Walsh and the West Coast.
But credit has to go to Harbaugh for recognizing the talent he had in Toby Gerhart in 2009 and then, the skills not only of quarterback Andrew Luck, but tight ends Toby Fleener, Zack Ernst and others.
Develop a Quarterback
5 of 7
In 1979, Walsh knew that he needed a quarterback. He scoured the country, stopping at Clemson one day to work out Tiger quarterback Steve Fuller, and that’s the widely told tale of how he discovered Dwight Clark. That said, Walsh knew he needed a special talent to make his new offense go.
Harbaugh finds himself with a quarterback who has struggled through seven different offensive coordinators, had his throwing shoulder rebuilt, had his courage questioned and then had to try to work with his last head coach whose idea of a new offense was to split out two receivers at the same time.
In other words, whether Harbaugh resurrects the talents of Alex Smith or goes for the next Montana in the upcoming draft, something has to be done at the most vital position in sports. Harbaugh seems committed to Smith, as it was reported in the Sacramento Bee that prior to the lockout the Niners had offered Smith a one-year contract. Smith opted for free agency.
Expectations
6 of 7
Walsh inherited a team that went 2-14 in ’78, and his first year, he ended with the same record. Then came a 6-10 season, with Montana taking over late in the seasion. The breakthrough came in the final game of 1980, when the Niners overcame a 28-7 halftime deficit for a 38-35 win over New Orleans. The next year ended with the Super Bowl.
In contrast, Harbaugh takes over a team that has a great deal more talent than Walsh’s first squads. Players like Vernon Davis, Patrick Willis, Parys Haralson, Frank Gore and others give a solid foundation Question marks include receivers Michael Crabtree and Josh Morgan and a secondary that ends up in the bottom third of the league’s defensive stats.
Stepping back, we can see that there is a great deal of difference. Walsh rebuilt a team into a league champion in three years and, even then, many people said the ’81 Niners were far from the elite in terms of talent. Innovation and key play from Montana did it for that group.
While Walsh was losing three games to every one he won in the first two years, Niners fans knew the team was bad. And Niners fans know that the Niners have talent that suggests an NFC West title is something that should be rather simple to achieve. The expectations are higher for Harbaugh.
Re-Igniting 49ers Tradition
7 of 7
Few teams have the long-term connection to a football team like San Francisco has to the 49ers. It dates back to the early 1950s, when Frankie Albert and Y.A. Tittle were throwing the ball all over the field and the Million Dollar backfield of Joe Perry and Hugh McElhenney were spinning defenders like tops.
The tradition continued in the 1960s and early ‘70s, thanks to coach Dick Nolan and stars like Charlie Krueger, Kermit Alexander, John Brodie and Gene Washington. Walsh reignited that tradition with Montana, Lott et al, and it continued long after he had left the organization.
Since then, DeBartolo Jr. got banned from the league, four coaches have come and gone, a 20-something of DeBartolo blood got handed the team and struggles to build the talent to an elite level. It’s now up to Harbaugh to see if he can get the fan enthusiasm back to fever level.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
.jpg?w=600 "Post-June 1 Trade Candidates ☎️")
.JPG?w=600 "TO Talks Cowboys Relationship")
.jpg?w=600 "Taylor Heinicke Retiring")
.jpg?w=600 "49ers OC Hypes Mike Evans 🤩")