San Francisco 49ers News: Tension Between Jim Harbaugh And Team Management Eases After Sit-Down Meeting
The San Francisco 49ers may have smoothed things over with coach Jim Harbaugh – at least for the short-term.
Amid growing reports that Harbaugh will be gone from the team next year, CEO Jed York went out of his way on Monday to publicly back the coach. In an interview on the league-owned NFL Network, York said it just isn’t true that Harbaugh is on his way out the door.
“Jim competes at anything and everything he does,” York said. “That sometimes rubs people the wrong way, but he has an amazing way to be able to pull people together, and find a way to go win tough football games, put himself in a position to have his team have the most success.”
This comes after a report from Sporting News. That Jim Harbaugh will be gone from the team next year, even if he wins a Super Bowl title.
“I don’t see anyway Jim Harbaugh comes back next year as the head coach of the 49ers even if they hoist the Lombardi,” NFL insider Jay Glazer said of the increasingly volatile situation.
The tension reportedly comes from Harbaugh’s grating coaching style, and reports indicate that he may have lost the locker room.
In his weekly address to the media on Monday, Harbaugh said he had a sit-down meeting with York and tried to downplay rumors of tension within the San Francisco 49ers.
“Everybody is working hard at the craft of helping us be the best we can possibly be as a football team, and that’s all you can ask of anybody. They’re doing their best and nobody appreciates that like I do, and I know that’s what Jed appreciates,” Harbaugh said. “We work at the pleasure of the York Family and the San Francisco 49ers organization, and that’s our job, do the best we possibly can. And I see everybody doing that.”
Some San Francisco 49ers players have also backed Jim Harbaugh publicly. After Sunday’s 22-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, quarterback Colin Kaepernick said he would “go to war with him any day of the week.”
[Image via Ninersfans.com]
