Carroll voices support for Harbaugh in conf call

Longtime coaching rival Pete Carroll sang praises for the embattled Harbaugh in a conference call with Bay Area reporters on Wednesday.

"I've never seen him not be a really good coach," said Carroll, as his Seattle Seahawks prepare to play host to the Niners on Sunday. "He's a fantastic football coach. I've watched him do all the stuff he did at Stanford and turned that program around. What he's done at the Niners, I know that he's a great football coach.

"Not everybody likes everybody or gets along with everybody but sometimes you don't see the magic that guys have. I think he's a fantastic football coach; he's proven that. There's no question about that."

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http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12012 ... ciso-49ers

Harbaugh IS a hell of a coach. If anyone thinks he isn't, please state your case. His resume speaks for itself.

Having said that, I really really don't like jerks, and if anyone thinks he's not a jerk then once again please state your case.

When you have a brash personality like his it only works when things are going well, and sometimes even that isn't enough.

I absolutely would not trade Carroll for Harbaugh, but don't think for a second he wouldn't improve 75% of NFL teams.

I'm sure Pete is feeling much like many of us. When it was all fierce and competitive, there were few boundaries. But now that one of the soldiers has fallen, it's not quite as much fun anymore.

Coincidently, I felt this with USC. I've hated the team (but admired them) for decades. They were tough to beat, arrogant and you just wanted to beat them senseless on the field. Then they started sliding. It's no fun kicking a dog when it's down and I found myself rooting for their return to prominence. So I could again feel satisfaction in whupping that Trojan ass (someday). I imagine that's what we see with Pete right now. Pete's a competitor and Harbaugh's team isn't playing to script (as of late). Not much fun and I'm not getting much joy in SF's misery (anymore). I want them to be an excellent team but always just a bit less excellent than our Hawks..

Harbaugh is a great coach. There's no coincidence in the success he has had. Doesn't mean I don't love to hate him, though. Probably the biggest mistake he's made as a 49ers coach was getting rid of Smith for Kaepernick, but at the time I guess Kaepernick appeared to have more upside and potential.

He won't be unemployed long.

The Outfield":1wuv4zgt said:

Harbaugh is a great coach. There's no coincidence in the success he has had. Doesn't mean I don't love to hate him, though. Probably the biggest mistake he's made as a 49ers coach was getting rid of Smith for Kaepernick, but at the time I guess Kaepernick appeared to have more upside and potential.

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Agreed. And that mistake was likely a direct link to his competition with Pete. Harbaugh saw the new toy Pete had with Wilson and said...I'm going to get me one of those too. Ouch.

I have respect for Harbaugh largely because I think he's psychotic by nature. What he has accomplished becomes extra special when you look at it that way. Harbaugh "wouldn't talk to his brother for a week after the SB"? Jeez, Jim.

If the roles were reversed, I cant see Harbaugh saying the same things about Pete.

Hawk_Nation":2dvh591m said:

If the roles were reversed, I cant see Harbaugh saying the same things about Pete.

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He'd be wallowing in Pete's demise. No doubt. But that's what makes Harbaugh special.

Respect his coaching ability, liked him as a player, do not like is dickness .

bjornanderson21":3d2lugnp said:

Harbaugh IS a hell of a coach. If anyone thinks he isn't, please state your case. His resume speaks for itself.

Having said that, I really really don't like jerks, and if anyone thinks he's not a jerk then once again please state your case.

When you have a brash personality like his it only works when things are going well, and sometimes even that isn't enough.

I absolutely would not trade Carroll for Harbaugh, but don't think for a second he wouldn't improve 75% of NFL teams.

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His coaching is OK... basically inherited a great defense, great o-line and good running game. His offense has regressed significantly this year despite the new weapons, and so has his chosen QB. That's on the coaching.

Shrew Carbaugh.

HawkWow":qa246tp0 said:

Harbaugh "wouldn't talk to his brother for a week after the SB"? Jeez, Jim.

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Have you got brothers? Man my brother stopped talking to me for a week after I beat him at FIFA once. As a fan I didn't want to talk to anyone for a week after the Atlanta loss 2 years ago. Now imagine losing the Superbowl to your brother of all people. You'd be devastated, you'd congratulate them at the time and then not want to see a reminder of that failure for a while. Then you'd get over it and that's exactly what happened. I'm surprised it only lasted a week!

When I think of great coaches, Harbaugh does NOT come to mind....ever.

hoxrox":f33w5o89 said:

bjornanderson21":f33w5o89 said:

Harbaugh IS a hell of a coach. If anyone thinks he isn't, please state your case. His resume speaks for itself.

Having said that, I really really don't like jerks, and if anyone thinks he's not a jerk then once again please state your case.

When you have a brash personality like his it only works when things are going well, and sometimes even that isn't enough.

I absolutely would not trade Carroll for Harbaugh, but don't think for a second he wouldn't improve 75% of NFL teams.

Click to expand...

His coaching is OK... basically inherited a great defense, great o-line and good running game. His offense has regressed significantly this year despite the new weapons, and so has his chosen QB. That's on the coaching.

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We'll see how good he is when he goes to a team that isn't stacked with really good players prior to him getting there soon enough. I think he'll be the coach remembered more for his childish tantrums on the sidelines and being Andrew Luck's college coach more than anything else.

Great coach + gets along with people = Super Bowl champ

Great coach + assclown crybaby = railroaded out of town after many successful seasons

HawkWow":33c85t75 said:

The Outfield":33c85t75 said:

Harbaugh is a great coach. There's no coincidence in the success he has had. Doesn't mean I don't love to hate him, though. Probably the biggest mistake he's made as a 49ers coach was getting rid of Smith for Kaepernick, but at the time I guess Kaepernick appeared to have more upside and potential.

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Agreed. And that mistake was likely a direct link to his competition with Pete. Harbaugh saw the new toy Pete had with Wilson and said...I'm going to get me one of those too. Ouch.

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Except he drafted Kaep the year before the Hawks drafted Wilson, and he did it high in the 2nd round, so I think he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted in a QB long before the Russ-Pete relationship.

HawkWow":1m36v05d said:

The Outfield":1m36v05d said:

Harbaugh is a great coach. There's no coincidence in the success he has had. Doesn't mean I don't love to hate him, though. Probably the biggest mistake he's made as a 49ers coach was getting rid of Smith for Kaepernick, but at the time I guess Kaepernick appeared to have more upside and potential.

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Agreed. And that mistake was likely a direct link to his competition with Pete. Harbaugh saw the new toy Pete had with Wilson and said...I'm going to get me one of those too. Ouch.

I have respect for Harbaugh largely because I think he's psychotic by nature. What he has accomplished becomes extra special when you look at it that way. Harbaugh "wouldn't talk to his brother for a week after the SB"? Jeez, Jim.

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No my friend, Kaepernick was all about overcoming the Giants and perhaps the postseason in general.

The Giants have Alex Smith's # more than the Seahawks ever did. Makes no logical sense but they have.

About 30% of Smith's INTs since Harbaugh/Reid era have gone to the Giants.

And finally when was the last time a Smith led team lost to the Seahawks? Week 1, 2010.

The idea about "keeping up with Wilson" is silly, even more so considering Kap was in the league a year ahead of Wilson, and in the same draft as Cam Newton.

I'd say RG3 was a bigger catalyst if you had to go that route.

NINEster":2w2ejf0j said:

HawkWow":2w2ejf0j said:

The Outfield":2w2ejf0j said:

Harbaugh is a great coach. There's no coincidence in the success he has had. Doesn't mean I don't love to hate him, though. Probably the biggest mistake he's made as a 49ers coach was getting rid of Smith for Kaepernick, but at the time I guess Kaepernick appeared to have more upside and potential.

Click to expand...

Agreed. And that mistake was likely a direct link to his competition with Pete. Harbaugh saw the new toy Pete had with Wilson and said...I'm going to get me one of those too. Ouch.

I have respect for Harbaugh largely because I think he's psychotic by nature. What he has accomplished becomes extra special when you look at it that way. Harbaugh "wouldn't talk to his brother for a week after the SB"? Jeez, Jim.

Click to expand...

No my friend, Kaepernick was all about overcoming the Giants and perhaps the postseason in general.

The Giants have Alex Smith's # more than the Seahawks ever did. Makes no logical sense but they have.

About 30% of Smith's INTs since Harbaugh/Reid era have gone to the Giants.

And finally when was the last time a Smith led team lost to the Seahawks? Week 1, 2010.

The idea about "keeping up with Wilson" is silly, even more so considering Kap was in the league a year ahead of Wilson, and in the same draft as Cam Newton.

I'd say RG3 was a bigger catalyst if you had to go that route.

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Wilson started before Kaepernick. I don't think he meant go out and aquire one, I think he meant, use the one he had on the bench. He saw the success that Wilson and RG3 were having and saw a QB on his bench that had similar traits and decided Kaepernick gave him a better chance to win games.

Pete was simply speaking the truth. He is a helluva coach. The job he did at Stanford rivals some of the best turnarounds in college football that I have witnessed. Stanford was 1-11 the year before Harbaugh arrived, and the CW at the time was that the academic standards at that school eliminated about 80% of the possible recruits and that they would never become a consistent college power when other schools had the ability to hide their dumb jocks in PE and general studies majors. The only CFB turnaround I can think of that was better was when Howard Schnellenberger turned Miami into a powerhouse.

Harbaugh did have a full cupboard when he arrived in SF. But you have to consider how dysfunctional that organization had become before he arrived. I don't necessarily think that the Kaepernick experiment is a failure. I disagreed with them hitching their wagon to him to the degree that they did, but considering how difficult it is to find franchise quarterbacks, it's a gamble they had to take. Although he's clearly regressed this season, Kaepernick is less than 25% into his career if we assume it lasts 12-15 years, so the jury is still out.

Seattle needs Harbaugh and the Niners. We need a true rival and a villain to coach them. Before Harbaugh and Carroll arrived, we hadn't had a true rival since we got kicked out of the AFC West. The other two teams do not have passionate fan bass, as the Phoenix fans are all from somewhere else and St. Louis is a baseball town with both in different time zones.

I am going to speculate right now that when Harbaugh gets a new gig, he will have much more say over personnel than he has had in Santa Clara.

In fact, I am positive that the root of the problems between him and Baalke is that Harbaugh wants more say in personnel (and more money for 3 straight NFCCG) and Baalke wants Jim to use the players acquired for him the way the GM wants them used. Hearing that they have big fights over fringe players like Owen Marecic doesn't inspire confidence that Jim knows exactly how to build a team, but Baalke's drafts since McCloughan left don't inspire that much either. (Don't bother to try and say different Niner fans, your 2011 draft was not a 100% Baalke draft, and his following 3 have been bad!)