Who is Jim Harbaugh?

[fieryprophet]

I didn't accuse you homerism. Other people did that. I accused you of potential fanaticism.

Once we have to prove why Harbaugh is a mediocre to poor Head Coach in your mind (based off of the supposition that he's not a good Executive/Manager/Decision Maker/Leader, despite the fact that we can find numerous examples of Rivera's mistakes in those areas, but few of Harbaugh's), we've gone from the realm of a healthy football debate, spiraling into the slippery slope of vapid, self indulgent semantics.

I'm not talking about Rivera. I'm talking about Harbaugh. Prove your case that he is a good Executive/Manager/Decision Maker/Leader.

[fieryprophet]

fiery has an entire ax factory to grind over harbaugh. geez louise

I have an ax to grind with you, rayzor, and whatever other goddamn moron wants to continue your lovefest for Harbaugh and slam JR for not forcing the man to come here when he clearly had no interest in doing so. He may be a better coach than Rivera, but he's not elite, he's wouldn't have done much better here, and the rest of it is typical Huddle whining that I'm sick and tired of hearing.

[SZ James (banned)]

[pstall]

wow. i would rather debate cantrell on civil rights and living wage then Johnny Cantankerous in the friggin panther forum. wow.

[rayzor]

I have an ax to grind with you, rayzor, and whatever other goddamn moron wants to continue your lovefest for Harbaugh and slam JR for not forcing the man to come here when he clearly had no interest in doing so. He may be a better coach than Rivera, but he's not elite, he's wouldn't have done much better here, and the rest of it is typical Huddle whining that I'm sick and tired of hearing.

wow you're daft.

i'm not complaining about JR not hiring him. i know that the panthers had interest and he didn't. i didn't think it was likely that we'd get him because i saw no benefit to him personally by leaving the bay area.

i knew all along that he would find success as a coach in the NFL and that he'd find it quickly. nothing has changed that.

you've got the problem here because you're on this pissy homer outrage that is blinding you about him being successful.

but you know what...i would have more success talking to a doorknob about why it would be better off becoming an apple pie than trying to get you to admit you're wrong about him and it's not because you're right. it's because you're just stubborn and i'm done with it.

please continue on your mission to discredit the guy and fight us "goddamn morons" who think that harbaugh is as good of a coach as he is.

[Proudiddy]

Fiery, I used to think much better of your posts and post quality. Not that you care, but... Man, WTF happened?

The longer I've been on this board the more I've seen people attach themselves to one person, player, or line of thinking associated with our organization to the point that they completely meltdown when the tide turns against that person/player/ideal. It seems you're headed down that path.

You are an intelligent dude, but that doesn't mean you have all the answers.

[Cyberjag]

Just curious FP, who are the current "elite" coaches in the NFL, in your opinion?

[fieryprophet]

Just curious FP, who are the current "elite" coaches in the NFL, in your opinion?

Belichick is the most creative and ingenious coach in the NFL, and despite his Super Bowl drought he's done tremendous things with Tom Brady and a lot of spare parts. His drafting acumen is pretty average, however, which is why he has to make do with so many spare parts. But of all the coaches I've ever seen he's the one who has repeatedly changed his schemes to utilize the talent avsailable, turning Brady from a game manager in the Super Bowl era, into a vertical attack QB during the Moss era, and then into a spread QB in the Gronk era.

Sean Payton is an elite offensive mastermind, and much like Belichick utilizes an elite QB and a bunch of otherwise decent players into a formidable offense. His defensive acumen is rather poor, however, as he relies almost completely on his defensive coordinator.

Rex Ryan, while by all accounts a rather basic offensive coach, is one of the league's most brilliant defensive coaches. His two playoff games against New England were masterful, especially in the way he spent the regular season showing the Patriots a lot of zone coverages before switching to man defense in the playoffs and unleashing completely unforeseen blitz packages on Brady.

Tom Coughlin is a good strategist, but his best coaching attribute is his ability to teach individual players how to beat their direct assignments rather than utilizing any schematic advantages. Coughlin doesn't try to fool you, he simply gives his players the tools to line up and beat you outright.

That's pretty much it. Tomlin, McCarthy, Reid, Fisher and Fox are in my second tier, although Fox has his well-documented issues with his conservative bent. Which is strange, because Fox has shown plenty of capability to be creative in his schemes and coaching, he just doesn't seem to trust it.

Beyond that you're picking from a lot of unknown quantities or inconsistent track records.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

harbaugh turned down a blank check from miami to coach the 49ers

we couldn't have bought his services guys

[fieryprophet]

Fiery, I used to think much better of your posts and post quality. Not that you care, but... Man, WTF happened?

The longer I've been on this board the more I've seen people attach themselves to one person, player, or line of thinking associated with our organization to the point that they completely meltdown when the tide turns against that person/player/ideal. It seems you're headed down that path.

You are an intelligent dude, but that doesn't mean you have all the answers.

Look, most of my diatribe tendencies have less to do with Harbaugh than it does the people that talk him up. When I introduce evidence that may indicate he might not be as good as some people claim I get called a homer or intransigent or whatever, which is infuriating. I have said repeatedly I think he's a good coach, not an elite one. But I despise the snide remarks of "well, if JR had just hired him we'd be in the Super Bowl" and other asinine bullshit like that, and I will rightly call those goddamn morons out for being goddamn morons.

[beastson]

Lol Fiery smh

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

While JR's "we're running a business here" mentality is infuriating, I still don't think he said that poo about Harbaugh and even if we did want Harbaugh I don't think he ever wanted us so it would have been pointless. People act like he would have signed here just because we wanted him when the 49ers were pretty much his dream job.

richardson directly acknowledged harbaugh in that infamous press conference by outright saying that he wasn't in the running. hurney and richardson may have known that he didn't want anything to do with the panthers, it might have been obvious that he would want a fortune, might have been a philosophical issue with hiring a "college coach" (even though he had NFL experience), etc.

harbaugh was one of the hottest prospects to come from the college ranks in years and the most sought after coach that offseason. the notion that richardson had never heard of him is absurd.

[SZ James (banned)]

when asked if JR was interested: “I’m sure he's a nice man, I’d be happy to talk to him. I have not thought about talking to him as a head coach…. But I would be nice and cordial to him if I saw him.”

[SZ James (banned)]

Interpret that statement however you'd like, it still equals ineptitude on Richardson's part