[terry]

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". 

I don't think there was a lot of angst when Harbaugh left because it had become obvious by that time that his departure was inevitable. Harbaugh almost took the Kansas job after the 2009 season. Then after the 2010 season, he negotiated with the Dolphins and was wooed by Michigan before he went to the 49ers. It was obvious that he wasn't committed to Stanford. I think most of us had come to realize he was going to leave sooner rather than later, and we skipped past the angst to resignation.

[terry]

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". 

I don't think there was a lot of angst when Harbaugh left because it had become obvious by that time that his departure was inevitable. Harbaugh almost took the Kansas job after the 2009 season. Then after the 2010 season, he negotiated with the Dolphins and was wooed by Michigan before he went to the 49ers. It was obvious that he wasn't committed to Stanford. I think most of us had come to realize he was going to leave sooner rather than later, and we skipped past the angst to resignation.