49ers Get Their Guy, Jim Harbaugh

Jed York and the San Francisco 49ers finally got their guy.

Jed York was attacked by the media through this entire process. A process that started earlier last week when York started the faux General Manager search which seemed to be a farce with a planned outcome of hiring Trent Baalke.

Although York said that the new general manager would be the one to hire the head coach, it was clear that Jim Harbaugh was the target from the beginning. During York’s general manager search York was looking for a general manager that had connections to Harbaugh so he could make sure to get him and that is why both Michael Lombardi and Trent Baalke were the finalists for the general manager job.

Now it doesn’t matter if the Trent Baalke hiring was a staged act with the leading actor being Jed York because he delivered the golden prize, Jim Harbaugh. After a five-day chase of Harbaugh where the 49ers were competing with two other NFL teams and two college teams it turned out that the 49ers were Harbaugh’s choice.

At one point, it seemed like the 49ers were out of it as the Miami Dolphins flew cross-country and reportedly were ready to offer upwards of $8 million a year for him to be their head coach. Whether that is true is another story as it would open them up for a fine from the league but they dropped out of the Harbaugh sweepstakes late Thursday night. After they dropped out of the chase it was between Stanford and the 49ers and most reports saying that he would go back to Stanford.

Then at 12:36 on Friday, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that Jim Harbaugh had agreed to a five-year, $25 million deal with the San Francisco 49ers.

Jim Harbaugh gives the 49ers a coach from is well versed in the West Coast Offense for the first time since Steve Mariucci was the coach. Harbaugh has already said that he will be running the WCO to much jubilation of former 49ers and fans.

His first act as head coach will be to find a quarterback. As it stands now David Carr is the only quarterback that is under contract for 2011.

Harbaugh has a good record when it comes to developing quarterbacks. When he was at the University of San Diego he developed Josh Johnson, who is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and when he was at Stanford he developed quite the player in Andrew Luck. Maybe you’ve heard of him.

The 49ers have the #7 pick in the upcoming NFL draft and will possibly have the option to draft Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert, Washington’s Jack Locker, Auburn’s Cam Newton, or Arkansas’ Ryan Mallet.

49ers Executives Meeting with Jim Harbaugh

By now you have heard that Trent Baalke has been hired as the new General Manager of the San Francisco 49ers. President Jed York has made his first act as the new GM to find a new head coach.

Hmmm…I wonder who that could possibly be.

I guess Hue Jackson, the Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator, and Perry Fewell, the New York Giants defensive coordinator, are possibilities since the 49ers requested permission to interview both gentlemen. In fact, the San Francisco 49ers interviewed Jackson today for a few hours and reportedly went very well.

But there’s got to be someone else.

I did hear a report that the 49ers were supposed to meet with a college coach from Stanford but that never works out. College coaches usually are not successful in the NFL and especially guys from Stanford.

All kidding aside, unless you live under a rock then you know that Jed York and newly named General Manager Trent Baalke have been meeting with Jim Harbaugh for a few hours today at an unnamed location. Based on the length that this “meeting” has been going on it appears it is more than just an interview.

Although both the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins are interested in Harbaugh’s services it has been said that he would prefer to stay local. Harbaugh and his wife just recently had a baby and she is said to want to stay in the bay area.

If Harbaugh does accept the job with the 49ers he will likely get a lot of power and have control of the 52-man roster much like his predecessors. His first act will to find a quarterback for next season, whenever that happens. As of today the 49ers only have one quarterback signed for next year, David Carr.

As the Harbaugh Turns

Since Jed York started the interviewing process for the new General Manager the speculation has been that it was Trent Baalke’s job to lose. Many of the NFL biggest reporters like ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora has suggested that Baalke would be named the GM within days of the York’s announcement that he was looking for a new GM. Even NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi said, after interviewing for the job with Jed York, that Baalke would be named the new GM within 48 hours and that report was a week ago.

Trent Baalke was interviewed on Saturday by Jed York for the General Manager position and reportedly was expected to sign the contract then. That did not happen but all indications are that it is still his job to lose.

Well, he may have lost it.

Earlier today the speculation was that Jed York was not only looking for a GM that was the right fit for the job but a GM that could deliver Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh. ProFootballTalk reported today that Harbaugh is not interested in the 49ers job with Trent Baalke as the GM and according to a source Harbaugh would rather work with Michael Lombardi.

Then Matt Maiocco of Comcast SportsNet Bay Area reported that Jed York interviewed a candidate in person, which was possibly Lombardi.

David White of the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the decision is likely to come Wednesday after York interviews one more candidate. He also reported that York interviewed a few candidates today on the phone.

It seems that whichever executive/GM can get Harbaugh then they will have the job. Although York said it would be the GM who chose the head coach, it seems that he very much wants Harbaugh and will hire whatever GM that Harbaugh wants.

49ers Owners Unhappy with Coaching

No real surprise here but it seems that both John and Jed York are less than thrilled with the coaching job being done according to Matt Maiocco.  The interesting thing is that bad coaching never seemed to bother them before.  After all they did hire Dennis Erickson and Mike Nolan. 

It is unlikely the 49ers would fire Mike Singletary before the end of the year.  The main reason that is the 49ers do not have a good replacement on the coaching staff.  Usually, when a team fires a head coach they promote a coordinator but in the 49ers case neither coordinator has enough experience to make that change.  The offensive coordinator, Mike Johnson, has only been a coordinator for three weeks and Greg Manusky has been a coordinator for a few years but he needs to focus on the defense. 

If the Yorks decided to fire Singletary it would be after the London game again I would expect offensive line coach Mike Solari or wide receivers coach Jerry Sullivan would be promoted.  Both guys have a lot of experience in the league and have been around enough to understand the job.