Jim Harbaugh will be probably coaching somewhere next year (Michigan, the Oakland Raiders), but it won’t be San Francisco. Deion Sanders got this party started a week ago when he said that the 49ers players want Harbaugh out. Considering that he said it on the NFL Network, yes a station owned by the league, it’s not just any old rumor from some slappy. Jim Harbaugh responded by calling Deion’s report a “load of crap.”
Then on Thursday, Prime Time doubled down on his original report. We’ve all known for quite some time that there’s tension between the Niners front office and Harbaugh. Now it’s his players that don’t get along with him either.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport On the source of the frustration with San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh:
โA lot of this is coming from some of the veteran and more important players on the team. This has really been going on for some weeks but letโs talk about on the field where the source of the 49ersโ frustration is. It is the offense. This dysfunctional offense that weโve seen really over the last several weeks; 19th in scoring. Consider the fact that Jim Harbaugh is an offensive coach, a quarterback guru who should have a close working relationship with Colin Kaepernick that simply has not manifested itself on the field. Plus, consider the fact that they have 10 offensive coaches. They put the resources there [and there are] just six defensive coaches. So much of the frustration we talked about off the field, really they want to see this offense on the field. Thatโs what Harbaugh is tasked to do.โ
Rapoport made these remarks on NFL Gameday Morning.
Harbaugh could be a candidate to land in Oakland. Or Michigan, even though sources say the Wolverines Athletic Department prefers John Harbaugh over Jim Harbaugh
Jay Glazer on the future of Harbaugh despite reassurances from players during the week that things are OK in San Francisco:
โThe only thing that changed is that the players were openly talking about it and now, because it happened after a victory, they just want to keep it under wraps. But look, Jim Harbaugh has worn thin there in that locker room with the players and throughout the organization. Iโll say it again, I donโt see any way Jim Harbaugh comes back next year as the head coach of the 49ers, even if they hoist the Lombardi Trophy.โ
Glazer made these comments today on FOX NFL Sunday.
Fox’s Randy Moss, who also played for the 49ers in 2012, commenting on the locker-room environment in San Francisco under head coach Jim Harbaugh:
โWhen I came to San Francisco, one of the questions that I had pertaining to that locker room and Coach Harbaugh being the head coach was, โHeโs treating us like college guys, like weโre still at Stanford?โ And that was one of the things I couldnโt let go. I know it has been a couple of years since Iโve been in that locker room, but is that still his approach to treating these men like college kids? I think itโs a big concern for anyone because if youโre a veteran and youโve been in the league for 10-plus years and you have to do this a certain way, my concern for them is that this could still be a problem two or three weeks from now.โ
So it’s clear, tensions between the Niners and Jim Harbaugh are truly escalating.
Paul M. Banksย owns, operates and very often writesย The Sports Bank.net, which isย partners withย Fox Sports.ย Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him onย Twitter (@paulmbanks).ย His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2
