[DC 86]

I’m impressed with how Dr this thread has drifted from Harbaugh.

Shockingly, I don’t think the thread has drifted to our current director of football, but it’s still early.

BC

I'll pull this thread back to Harbaugh with the following statement:

When Harbaugh departed Stanford for the 49ers there didn't seem to be that much angst across the community at large or on this board, despite the fact that he had fundamentally changed the entire trajectory of the program following its lowest point, and installed a culture that rejected the long established excuse that Stanford could never again compete at a high level due to admissions limitations.

There was a lot of sentiment expressed along the lines of "Harbaugh is a weird personality at best and more often a difficult jerk" and "he's good at shaking things up but after a few years he burns everyone out" and "it's a blessing in disguise that he left now". Then he was essentially fired from the 49ers amid some of the same "good riddance" sentiments and it took the team five years to get back to the playoffs. Then there were calls to fire him at Michigan but he just completed his seventh season there and it was his best one yet, and the school's best in decades.

Harbaugh indeed can wear on people, but perhaps it's time to recognize that the conventional wisdom was wrong and that a team would be lucky to have him as their head coach for the long term?

I absolutely don't want to rekindle a Shaw referendum, I'm merely throwing out some Harbaugh appreciation, and recognizing that I have also been guilty of accepting the conventional wisdom about his half life instead of fully appreciating his abilities. He's been a head coach at four places now and been transformative at each one. If I was Mark Davis I would be doing everything to hire him, and if I was Warde Manuel I would be doing everything to keep him.

[DC 86]

I’m impressed with how Dr this thread has drifted from Harbaugh.

Shockingly, I don’t think the thread has drifted to our current director of football, but it’s still early.

BC

I'll pull this thread back to Harbaugh with the following statement:

When Harbaugh departed Stanford for the 49ers there didn't seem to be that much angst across the community at large or on this board, despite the fact that he had fundamentally changed the entire trajectory of the program following its lowest point, and installed a culture that rejected the long established excuse that Stanford could never again compete at a high level due to admissions limitations.

There was a lot of sentiment expressed along the lines of "Harbaugh is a weird personality at best and more often a difficult jerk" and "he's good at shaking things up but after a few years he burns everyone out" and "it's a blessing in disguise that he left now". Then he was essentially fired from the 49ers amid some of the same "good riddance" sentiments and it took the team five years to get back to the playoffs. Then there were calls to fire him at Michigan but he just completed his seventh season there and it was his best one yet, and the school's best in decades.

Harbaugh indeed can wear on people, but perhaps it's time to recognize that the conventional wisdom was wrong and that a team would be lucky to have him as their head coach for the long term?

I absolutely don't want to rekindle a Shaw referendum, I'm merely throwing out some Harbaugh appreciation, and recognizing that I have also been guilty of accepting the conventional wisdom about his half life instead of fully appreciating his abilities. He's been a head coach at four places now and been transformative at each one. If I was Mark Davis I would be doing everything to hire him, and if I was Warde Manuel I would be doing everything to keep him.