Analysis: 49ers Take Bold Step With Harbaugh Hire
By Clark Judge, Special To CBS Sports
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS Sports) -- Let's hear it for the San Francisco 49ers. They needed to make a bold move to win back disgruntled fans tired of losing, and they made it with the hiring of Jim Harbaugh as their next head coach.
>> Harbaugh Inks 5-Year, $25M Deal To Coach 49ers
Naturally, the expectation will be that Harbaugh can do for San Francisco what he did for Stanford, but not so fast there, people. He had one of the best quarterbacks in the country at Stanford. He has no one in that position with the 49ers, and in a quarterback-driven league that's an issue. No, it's a problem.
I'll be honest: I'm surprised Harbaugh chose the 49ers. The club has front-office issues I thought could keep him from making the jump. But, in the end, San Francisco made him an offer he couldn't refuse, and team president and CEO Jed York should be congratulated. He knew he had to make a splash here, and he did it.
Now the question: Did Harbaugh make the right move? I'll wait two or three years before making a decision. Bill Walsh didn't win overnight in San Francisco, but he did at Stanford where he was the 1977 Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Hmmm, sound familiar? When Walsh returned to Stanford in 2004 to advise the athletic director, guess whom he recommended for the head-coaching job? You got it, Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh has spoken about what he learned from Walsh and how the two spent breakfasts together talking about football or watching videotape, with Harbaugh taking notes. But Harbaugh had something there and at his previous stop, the University of San Diego, that he doesn't have now, and that's a stellar quarterback. Alex Smith was supposed to be exceptional, but in six NFL seasons he has proven to be nothing more than exceptionally mediocre.
Smith is a prospective free agent, and he hasn't ruled out the possbility of returning to San Francisco. But is he really the guy who to lead this club to its first winning season since 2002 or do for Jim Harbaugh what Andrew Luck did for him at Stanford? I don't think so, and neither do pro scouts.
I have no doubts, however, about what the 49ers just accomplished. They absolutely, positively had to make a big-time hire to appease their critics and get people excited about their ballclub again, and landing Harbaugh is a big-time hire. I don't know if he wins here, and, frankly, I don't care. The 49ers did what they had to do, which was demonstrate that they're not a second-rate franchise; that they're still a club capable of landing the Big Fish and making a difference.
Good for them. And good for Jim Harbaugh ... I think.
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