Who is Jim Harbaugh?

[rayzor]

Is a good coach like a good CEO?

We know, thanks to Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers, that a mediocre team, can, without changing much of the personnel, become great with a new leader in charge. One change at the top, and a sad sack turns into a championship contender.

But how?

Nancy Ross knows how. She's an executive coach. Usually in the employ of Silicon Valley technology companies, Ross says a good leader can alter the landscape of a football team, just like it can alter the landscape of a struggling company. "He or she has to get what's really going on there," Ross says, "and then, it's all about whether people working for the executive have confidence in that person."

It doesn't always work, of course. Dynamic, passionate leaders come and go in the sports world, just like they do in executive boardrooms. But, Ross says, when people really believe in the message and the process, things can change in a hurry. Ross says when a new leader takes over, you'll know within 30 days if the troops are buying in.

During Harbaugh's press conference after the big win over the Saints, someone asked him how his team got so much better so quickly. His answer, "how can we get better than yesterday? If we can get one percent better each day, we're 30 percent better in 30 days" sounds like an executive, hired to get a one proud company back on track.

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Ross says it's the little things that make a great CEO, or coach. "People skills to convey confidence" are big. Getting those around you to buy in .. just as important.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Why-49ers-Harbaugh-Would-Make-a-Good-CEO-137765698.html

There's a story San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh told his team not too long ago, one that has quickly turned into an inspirational message for a squad that has surprised everybody with its 7-1 start. It's about Harbaugh's childhood as the youngest son of former longtime college coach Jack Harbaugh, back when his family never complained about constant moving or tiny, cramped homes. Jack actually would get so energized while driving his kids around that he'd shout, "Who has it better than us?" Every time, Jim would scream with his older brother John and younger sister Julie, "Nobody!"

When Harbaugh told this story, he didn't rely on predictable histrionics or dramatic embellishments. He delivered the tale the same way he usually speaks, with a clear, measured tone designed to drive home the larger point. If the 49ers wanted to look at their circumstances heading into this season -- the most notable being a mere six weeks to get acclimated to their first-year coach after the NFL lockout -- they could find ample reason to wilt. If they wanted to do what Harbaugh did back in the day, which was focus intensely on the positives, they might just create magic.

It's a message that has so resonated with the 49ers that they chant "Nobody!" every time Harbaugh yells, "Who has it better than us?" after practices and games.

"We ran with it," 49ers inside linebacker Patrick Willis said. "The whole point is that no matter what people say on the outside, we have enough for what we need. I don't know if he meant for that to become a motivational story but that's exactly what it is now."

http://www.likeateam.com/6-leadership-principles-we-can-learn-from-jim-harbaugh/

Linebacker Patrick Willis noticed Harbaugh's unique approach early on in camp when Harbaugh would come to team meals. "Normally, you'll see guys wanting to get up and leave the cafeteria when the coach comes in. But he comes in and talks to everybody. He'll sit down with the starters. He'll sit down with the guys on the practice squad. I saw him once walk up to a table where all the seats were taken and he just found a way to squeeze right into space between a couple guys. And nobody left."http://www.footballscoop.com/news/5047-harbaugh-believes-nobodys-got-it-better

What Harbaugh has done as a head coach, in college at Stanford, and now in the NFL by taking the San Franciscon 49ers to the Super Bowl, has been monumental.

It’s amazing how the 49ers are considered the NFL’s most-talented overall team. In 2010, the season before Harbargh arrived, the 49ers were 6-10. They hadn’t compiled a winning record in eight years. They were a study in NFL dysfunction. Mike Singletary, the previous coach, was a dignified Hall of Fame linebacker, a teammate of Harbaugh with the Chicago Bears, who could not control his squad.

The 49ers have reached the Super Bowl for the first time since the salad days of Bill Walsh and George Seifert at head coach, and Joe Montana and Steve Young at quarterback They started winning immediately under Harbaugh. They lost, narrowly, to the Giants in the NFC championship game last year. Sunday, they trailed the Falcons 17-0 on the road - and still won.

This is not new. It is, rather, Harbaugh’s second so-called miracle. Stanford was 1-11 the season before he took over. He was soon upsetting the likes of USC, when it was at its very best during its scandal-marred days of Pete Carroll, and then eventually dominating the PAC 12 Conference. Stanford was 12-1 Harbaugh’s last season there.

These weren’t just building programs. These were lightning fast bottom-to-top turnarounds.

In the process, Harbaugh has had these moments that have made him the coach many love to hate.

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Harbaugh has, what tactful people refer to, as a “strong personality.”

Maybe that’s what make him a great coach. It’s incredible how team-oriented the 49ers have become. Keeping Colin Kaepernick at quarterback after Alex Smith returned from a concussion was one of the gustiest moves ever by NFL coach. Smith was playing very well before he was hurt, but Kaepernick is clearly better.

If the 49ers win the Super Bowl, there will many people across the football landscape muttering under their breath: "That &%#@^ Harbaugh."

Jim Harbaugh isn’t necessarily liked, but it is impossible not to respect what he has accomplished as a coach.

It has been unquestionably brilliant.

http://www.pressandguide.com/articles/2013/01/21/sports/doc50fd3d6d93508861214260.txt?viewmode=fullstory

[fieryprophet]

I think the real issue for people like FP is that if the Panther's FO somehow landed Jim Harbaugh, he wouldn't be this adamant about how overrated he is. He would be saying the exact opposite actually. When you base your understanding purely on "Well the panthers did it this way, so it's right move and I'm gonna defend it no matter what", you're already hopeless.

Teeray and dozens of other posters fall into this trap every single day. Take the blind test. Ask yourself, if all you had to go by was "Coach A" and "Coach B" or "Team A" and "Team B", would your opinion change?

That's a logically fallacy, though, because Team A != Team B, therefore you're not judging them on an equal plane. Everyone acts as if the Panthers are equivalent to the 49ers, when we're not. We have some better pieces in some areas, they have better pieces in more areas.

[SZ James (banned)]

Yeah one team wears blue and the other one doesn't. An important factor when comparing them.

[fieryprophet]

You left out a more telling piece form your fluff articles on Harbaugh:

This isn’t the only way the specter of Jim Harbaugh is haunting this state. As the Rich Rodriguez experiment failed miserably at Michigan, while Harbaugh was leading Stanford to such stunning success, he became the most logical choice for the Michigan job. Oh, except, he had much publicized tiff with several people associated with the Michigan program early in his tenure at Stanford. He questioned the academic integrity of Michigan’s football program. Former Michigan running back Mike Hart went as far as to say Harbaugh isn’t a Michigan man. His former teammate, Jamie Morris, one of Michigan’s all-time best running back, also ripped him, as did then head coach Lloyd Carr, who referred to Harbaugh’s thoughts as “elitist.”

I criticized Carr harshly for allowing this. Harbaugh’s comments seemed innocent enough. I couldn’t have been more wrong. A few years later, an academic think tank revealed Stanford had an academic program specifically designed for athletes. Harbaugh’s comments were worse than being “elitist.” They were phony.

Think about the history with Harbaugh, as a successful man who's also a notable liar. Not a twister of the truth: a liar.

He lied about his interest in Peyton Manning.

He lied about Alex Smith being an elite QB.

He lied about his reasons for sticking with Kaepernick.

Harbaugh may be reaping a lot of credit for his actions now, but how long can his arrogance and lies allow the team to continue to buy in to what he sells? Again, we haven't seen any real struggles for the 49ers, and no test of his mettle in dire situations. It's all come up roses. But I see seeds that have been sown that will reap very dark fruits for Harbaugh in the future, hence my earlier proclamation about him being fired within a few years time.

[fieryprophet]

Yeah one team wears blue and the other one doesn't. An important factor when comparing them.

You're a goddamn idiot if you believe these teams are equivalent.

[rayzor]

what was stanford before he got there? nothing.

what were the 49ers before he got there? a non-winning, average at best team looking for their first winning season in 8 years.

he took what was there and provided the leadership, guidance, instruction, management, and motivation necessary for the 49ers to get to the NFCCG twice in his first two years as coach, winning the second.

results are all that matter. would he do as well with lesser talent? probably not, but would he turn that team around completely and make them much better than they have been in years? absolutely.

would he have done better than rivera with the panthers? i have no doubt he would have because he had several things going for him that rivera didn't. he had experience. he had a proven track record. and he had a better staff.

he knew what he was doing when he landed in san fran. rivera here....not so much.

he was also much better prepared for being a HC than rivera, and i don't just mean in 2011.

since rivera left the playing field, his concentration has been on how to make defenses better. something that he has excelled in.

harbaugh, since leaving the playing field, has been concentrating on how to make a whole team better. he's spent more of his post playing career on learning how to to do the job than rivera.

can rivera be a great head coach? i dunno. he's got a lot to prove. harbaugh, though, has done nothing but prove he can be one.

[pstall]

You're a goddamn idiot if you believe these teams are equivalent.

[SZ James (banned)]

I'm not saying they're equal. If everything was the exact same but with their names switched, your opinion would be the exact opposite to go along with whatever The Carolina Panthers do.

That's where the fallacy comes in.

[rayzor]

You left out a more telling piece form your fluff articles on Harbaugh:

Think about the history with Harbaugh, as a successful man who's also a notable liar. Not a twister of the truth: a liar.

He lied about his interest in Peyton Manning.

He lied about Alex Smith being an elite QB.

He lied about his reasons for sticking with Kaepernick.

Harbaugh may be reaping a lot of credit for his actions now, but how long can his arrogance and lies allow the team to continue to buy in to what he sells? Again, we haven't seen any real struggles for the 49ers, and no test of his mettle in dire situations. It's all come up roses. But I see seeds that have been sown that will reap very dark fruits for Harbaugh in the future, hence my earlier proclamation about him being fired within a few years time.

i left it out because it wasn't important about him running a successful program. i did say that he wasn't liked and he was arrogant, did i not? did i do anything to hide from that.

it has no bearing on his coaching, though. i'm not surprised in your grasping at straw approach to arguing that harbaugh isn't as good as people think that you'd grasp at that one.

he does what it takes to get his team better. he does what it takes to make his team dominant. that's what you look for. i don't care how "smart" or how much of an expert someone is when i'm looking for a leader. i'm looking for someone who makes the people around them the best, and that's exactly what he does.

that "pro-bowl" talent he "inherited"...how many of those guys had been selected to the probowl when he got there? how much more are the achieving as individuals and as a group compared to before he got there?

[fieryprophet]

what was stanford before he got there? nothing.

what were the 49ers before he got there? a non-winning, average at best team looking for their first winning season in 8 years.

he took what was there and provided the leadership, guidance, instruction, management, and motivation necessary for the 49ers to get to the NFCCG twice in his first two years as coach, winning the second.

results are all that matter. would he do as well with lesser talent? probably not, but would he turn that team around completely and make them much better than they have been in years? absolutely.

would he have done better than rivera with the panthers? i have no doubt he would have because he had several things going for him that rivera didn't. he had experience. he had a proven track record. and he had a better staff.

he knew what he was doing when he landed in san fran. rivera here....not so much.

he was also much better prepared for being a HC than rivera, and i don't just mean in 2011.

since rivera left the playing field, his concentration has been on how to make defenses better. something that he has excelled in.

harbaugh, since leaving the playing field, has been concentrating on how to make a whole team better. he's spent more of his post playing career on learning how to to do the job than rivera.

can rivera be a great head coach? i dunno. he's got a lot to prove. harbaugh, though, has done nothing but prove he can be one.

I find it fascinating how no one can provide any tangible evidence for these attributes of Harbaugh, they just say it is because. . it is. Apparently John Fox never left Carolina.

[FootballMaestro]

Again, a non-answer. And I assure you, Harbaugh does not get universally glowing reviews from everywhere. His own media generally considers him an arrogant jerk who glories in the accomplishments of his team and refuses to accept blame. I find it fascinating that my generally lucid and forthright comments on Harbaugh are written off as rapid homerism when anyone who's read through my comments generally find I make logical and defensible arguments on why I feel the way i do. You don't have to agree with me either, but to slight me by accusing me of fanaticism or homerism just shows the futility of your own arguments.

I didn't accuse you of 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.

[rayzor]

oh...and harbaugh getting fired in a few years? lol

if the results are there, he won't be fired.

[pstall]

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

[fieryprophet]

i left it out because it wasn't important about him running a successful program. i did say that he wasn't liked and he was arrogant, did i not? did i do anything to hide from that.

it has no bearing on his coaching, though. i'm not surprised in your grasping at straw approach to arguing that harbaugh isn't as good as people think that you'd grasp at that one.

he does what it takes to get his team better. he does what it takes to make his team dominant. that's what you look for. i don't care how "smart" or how much of an expert someone is when i'm looking for a leader. i'm looking for someone who makes the people around them the best, and that's exactly what he does.

that "pro-bowl" talent he "inherited"...how many of those guys had been selected to the probowl when he got there? how much more are the achieving as individuals and as a group compared to before he got there?

Grasping at straws? I'm pointing out that his "leadership" has apparent flaws from the get-go. I've already writeen enough on my other reasons for finding him overrated (to which no one bothers a response because they have none.)

You have no tangible proof that Harbaugh is any of the things you claim he is. None. Zero. Zilch.

We already know he presents no schematic advantages, we already know he is blessed with more talent around him than most other coaches, we already know he took over an underpeforming squad that could have improved with merely competent coaching, and we already know he has a record of being intensely disliked and of lying to suit his situations. But other than all that he's an elite coach!