In Pushing out Harbaugh, 49ers Show Vince Lombardi Was Wrong

     The bombshell from Harbaugh confirms the suspicions of many fans myself included-I'm not a Niner fan but a football fan I hasten to add. 

     "I didn't leave the 49ers. The 49ers hierarchy left me," Harbaugh said during the 30-minute interview. He said that he didn't want to put the 49ers in a bad spot, which is why the parting of ways was technically mutual. He also went on to confirm that he was told that he would be let go at the end of the season following a loss to the Seattle Seahawksin Week 15.

    "That loss eliminated the 49ers from the playoffs. Harbaugh went on to coach two more games while being the boss of the guy who would eventually take over, current head coach and then-defensive line coach Jim Tomsula. During the interview, Harbaugh said there were some awkward moments around Jim Tomsula near the end of his tenure with the team."

    "The other big shocker of the interview is that Harbaugh said that he didn't consider coaching for any other NFL teams, despite reports of multiple organizations being after his services following his ousting. "That was it, I was going to Michigan," he said.

     http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/2/13/8036541/jim-harbaugh-49ers-fired-jed-york-michigan

    True, the Niners were a disappointing 8-8 this year, but the question begs whether the clear uncertainty over Harbaugh's future contributed to subpar season. Even after a .500 4th season for Harbaugh, he still is the 6th most winning coach in NFL history. The Niners were in a dry spell before he got there and over night they became a playoff contender losing 1 Super Bowl by a FG in 2012 to the Ravens, and losing the NFC Championship game a few other years. Even with the last year he averaged 12 wins a year. 

    All I know is that if I were a Niner fan I'd be saying they better win next year. This is not the first time that it's been clear that winning isn't everything at least for the owner and management, especially after Jimmy Johnson got fired after two consecutive Super Bowls. 

    For the most part if you want the magic formula for being a successful NFL team you want to start with a franchise QB and a 'franchise coach' so the decision to let a head coach go should never be made lightly-obviously often it is necessary, but great teams don''t normally have a different coach every year. 

   Sometimes changing the coach abruptly can seem to work as Jim Harbaugh's brother John Harbaugh replaced Brian Billick in Baltimore and the move certainly seemed to light a fire under the Ravens-the economists would say that Billick's firing and Harbaugh's hiring correlated with the Ravens doing better. 

  Of course, Jim Harbaugh himself changed things overnight in SF. All I can say is that the Niners better be very good in the next few years or this move is going to really look bad. 

  It's kind of like Chip Kelly releasing Desean Jackson after a career year in 2013. Of course, he won't admit it was personal but there is just no apparent football reason for it and it hasn't seemed to help the Eagles.