[socalstanfan1]

Was Hogan not a Harbaugh recruit? I know Shaw was the coach of record when he signed, but was he not offered until Harbaugh left? If he was offered by Harbaugh, it's unfair not to credit Harbaugh for spotting the talent. By the same token, were Crow and Killsgaard not offered until Harbaugh joined the staff?

I think the coaching up part is a big part of Harbaugh's value. I bet Hogan (and perhaps Nunes) would have had better individual careers with Harbaugh as coach.

There was a time I would have agreed with you, particularly after Kaepernick's first big year with the Niners: Harbaugh had success with Josh Johnson at San Diego, then with Luck at Stanford, then plucked Kaepernick out of the draft and he looked like the future of Quarterbacking in the NFL for a while. But suddenly Kaepernick has stalled and did not seem to improve under Harbaugh the last few seasons; Luck is still phenomenal, but would he have been any less phenomenal under another decent coach? Josh Johnson is a career roster-filler. Suddenly, to me, the resume doesn't appear so sparkling.  It's not bad, just not so incredible.

One thing we can say about Harbaugh: he is an outstanding recruiter. At a place like Michigan, free of the high expectations of admissions, Harbaugh will, no doubt, recruit like a madman and bring in top notch talent, and a few of those top kids will be QBs...with a big OL and big time RBs I'll be surprised if Harbaugh doesn't have that team back to national relevance by 2016.

[socalstanfan1]

Was Hogan not a Harbaugh recruit? I know Shaw was the coach of record when he signed, but was he not offered until Harbaugh left? If he was offered by Harbaugh, it's unfair not to credit Harbaugh for spotting the talent. By the same token, were Crow and Killsgaard not offered until Harbaugh joined the staff?

I think the coaching up part is a big part of Harbaugh's value. I bet Hogan (and perhaps Nunes) would have had better individual careers with Harbaugh as coach.

There was a time I would have agreed with you, particularly after Kaepernick's first big year with the Niners: Harbaugh had success with Josh Johnson at San Diego, then with Luck at Stanford, then plucked Kaepernick out of the draft and he looked like the future of Quarterbacking in the NFL for a while. But suddenly Kaepernick has stalled and did not seem to improve under Harbaugh the last few seasons; Luck is still phenomenal, but would he have been any less phenomenal under another decent coach? Josh Johnson is a career roster-filler. Suddenly, to me, the resume doesn't appear so sparkling.  It's not bad, just not so incredible.

One thing we can say about Harbaugh: he is an outstanding recruiter. At a place like Michigan, free of the high expectations of admissions, Harbaugh will, no doubt, recruit like a madman and bring in top notch talent, and a few of those top kids will be QBs...with a big OL and big time RBs I'll be surprised if Harbaugh doesn't have that team back to national relevance by 2016.