The 49ers following yesterday's regular-season finale against the Cardinals announced that they have "'mutually' parted ways" with coach Jim Harbaugh, opening the door for Harbaugh to "return to his alma mater" and become coach of the Univ. of Michigan, according to Nick Baumgardner of MLIVE.com. A news conference "is expected to occur at some point" tomorrow in Ann Arbor "prior to Michigan's home basketball game against Illinois." Published reports have Harbaugh signing a contract with UM worth more than $8M annually. Harbaugh during his postgame press conference yesterday "did his best to dodge questions about his future" (MLIVE.com, 12/28). In Detroit, Snyder & Jesse note a deal between Harbaugh and UM "had not been signed" before the 49ers' game yesterday. However, UM officials have already "begun getting together events to introduce Harbaugh" tomorrow, including an appearance at the basketball game (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 12/29). In San Jose, Tim Kawakami reports the Raiders "wanted a chance to speak" with Harbaugh regarding their head coaching vacancy (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 12/29).
DIVORCE WAS MONTHS IN THE MAKING: In S.F., Ann Killion writes the 49ers' failure to make the playoffs this season "was convenient" for 49ers CEO Jed York and GM Trent Baalke to use as the reason for Harbaugh's ouster, but his departure "has been in the works for many months, long before the losses and the injuries began to mount." Harbaugh "did not change," as he is "the same person York and Baalke pursued and hired four years ago." The 49ers "have changed: from an inept franchise to one that thinks it has all the answers." Harbaugh "was instrumental in much of that change" and in "making Baalke and York look smart." He was also instrumental in "coaching up the players -- the very best of whom were drafted before Baalke took control" and in "changing a culture so that it was attractive to sponsors who couldn’t wait to link their name to the team." Additionally, Harbaugh was responsible for "restoring the faith of fans who believed the team would win another Super Bowl and paid top dollar for tickets and seat licenses" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 12/29). In San Jose, Mark Purdy writes it "stinks that the Harbaugh era couldn't continue," but "make no mistake." By the middle of this season, both Harbaugh and 49ers management "wanted this ultimate result, once it became clear that Harbaugh's fingernails-on-chalkboard style was too fractious for Baalke and York to tolerate any longer" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 12/29). Also in San Jose, Cam Inman wrote while Harbaugh's "irreconcilable differences with Baalke and York apparently played out behind the scenes, the 49ers' on-field product turned ugly in plain sight" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 12/28).
THE TOP OF THE POPS: The MMQB's Peter King writes he hopes York and Baalke "know what they’re doing, letting Harbaugh walk instead of doing major surgery on their relationship and somehow, some way finding a way to make it work." The 49ers in hindsight "would have been smarter to cut the cord last winter if Harbaugh could have been convinced to take the Cleveland job; that way, San Francisco could have gotten compensation for him, and the rebuilding could have started earlier." This season instead became a "wasted year." A source said, "This year was doomed from the start. It’s the classic example of, ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ This organization was totally tight the first year or so Jim was here, but lately, especially this year, it was always, ‘Sources say this, sources say that.’ You cannot run a successful organization with one side of the building leaking stuff to hurt the other side of the building. And it never stopped” (MMQB.SI.com, 12/29). The MERCURY NEWS' Kawakami writes, "I believe York and Baalke were the primary sources for the off-the-record disclosures that undercut Harbaugh's tenure." Whether it was York and Baalke directly or indirectly, the 49ers front office "set Harbaugh up on a tee this season, and Sunday was the anticlimax" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 12/29).
LACK OF EXPERIENCE A REASON? The MERCURY NEWS' Purdy noted York, Baalke and Harbaugh "are basically still serving their first term of NFL office," and all "are holding their current position for the first time in pro football." Purdy: "This isn't insignificant. ... Three men. All undeniably smart. All ambitious. All successful in earlier endeavors. And all without as much experience or perspective as many others in America’s most popular and visible sports league" (MERCURYNEWS.com, 12/27).
