49ers part ways with winning head coach

After 4 seasons, with 3 NFC Championship games, one Super Bowl and one .500 year, the 49ers said goodbye to head coach Jim Harbaugh. Why, you ask? Read on.

Managing owner Jed York and team General Manager Trent Baalke faced the media on Monday. In a 50 minute session, York was politically correct in his commentary, as was Baalke. You could tell that the media wanted more, like the truth? What the media got for a reason ‘why’ was what most outside parties get when a couple divorces, it was because of the stated ‘irreconcilable differences.’

Media reports all year pointed to friction with Harbaugh and Baalke. Then there was the infamous tweet from York after the loss to Seattle in that Sunday night game that said in part, ‘This performance wasn’t acceptable.” So was the tweet aimed at Harbaugh, at the players, the coaches or all of the above? Probably all of the above, but we’ll never know for sure.

But in the end, York said the decision was ‘mutual’. If you watched the game on Sunday you saw York and Harbaugh shake hands and hug before the game. In a small family of 32 NFL teams, you never want to burn bridges. It looked like that was what ‘the hug’ was about. So we have ‘the catch’ and now ‘the hug.’ Talk about 49er lore.

So on Monday, York said he wishes Harbaugh well, that he will remain in 49er lore and that this decision to part ways was difficult to get to, but that’s where they landed.

Moving forward York says they will begin their search for a new head coach immediately and it could take 7 to 10 days. Baalke said this is not a ‘rebuild’ but a ‘reload.’ How do you like that for an analogy? Do they have an in-house candidate? Yes, Jim Tomsula the current defensive line coach for the 49ers. You may recall he was the interim coach after Mike Singletary was fired. There may be others as well, such as Vic Fangio the defensive coordinator.

In-house or out-of-house candidates, any way you slice it, it’ll be hard to replace the ‘firebrand’ style of Jim Harbaugh. “Who’s got it better than us? NOBODY!!!” That competitive style of Harbaugh is what moved the 49ers back to familiar heights.

Players, meanwhile, cleaned out lockers and packed their belongings into large cardboard boxes, and began fielding questions about what they want in a new coach. Many said they’d love someone a lot like Harbaugh.

Reports are coming in that Harbaugh will be announced on Tuesday as the new head coach at his college team, the University of Michigan. He’s going home. Hard to compete with that when you’re getting divorced.

In Monday’s media session York said, “”It’s up to us to make sure we compete for and win Super Bowls. That’s our only goal. Whenever we don’t deliver that, I hope that you will hold me directly responsible and accountable for it. We look forward to getting this back on track and getting you (the fans) what you deserve.”