http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...et-a-medal-for-lasting-four-years-with-49ers/
Jim Harbaugh suggests he should get a “medal” for lasting four years with 49ers
Posted by Mike Florio on February 23, 2017
Jim Harbaugh never has lasted longer than four years at any of his various coaching stops. For making it last that long in San Francisco, he believes he deserves special recognition.
In an
appearance on Tim Kawakami’s podcast,
via CSN Bay Area, Harbaugh pointed out that he “set a record for coaching there under the present ownership.”
“I take pride in that,” Harbaugh said. “Maybe there should be an endurance medal, a courage medal, for that.”
The issue came up because new coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned Harbaugh, Bill Walsh, George Seifert, and Steve Mariucci in Shanahan’s introductory press conference. Harbaugh said he doesn’t believe he spent enough time with the team to be compared to those other coaches. Harbaugh perhaps would have made it more than four years if he had been working with new G.M. John Lynch.
“I would’ve loved to have worked for John Lynch,” Harbaugh said. “He reminds me a lot of the athletic director we have here [at Michigan], Warde Manuel, who’s also a former player and a teammate of mine. Common-sense guys who are team guys, just the way they go about their business always speaks volumes.”
Harbaugh and former 49ers G.M. Trent Baalke didn’t see eye to eye, and that fractured relationship contributed in large part to the “mutual parting” with Harbaugh that came after the 2014 season. The 49ers have hired three coaches in only two full seasons since then.