The reported issues between Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers might have been legitimate.
Harbaugh left the Niners in December to take the head coaching job with the University of Michigan, and if recent comments from San Francisco lineman Adam Boone are any indication, Harbaugh’s former players might have celebrated his departure.
Boone went on HBO’s “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” to criticize his former coach, saying Harbaugh was “crazy” during his time as coach.
“I think he just pushed guys too far,” Boone said, per ESPN.com. “He wanted too much, demanded too much, expected too much.
“You know, ‘We’d gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this. And you’d be like, ‘This guy might be clinically insane. He’s crazy.'”
Harbaugh’s style clearly wore thin on his players, and it’s clearly a demanding way of doing business. Some, including Boone, think Harbaugh will find success at the college level where the demands are more likely to be met.
“He does a great job of giving you that spark, that initial boom,” he told HBO, according to ESPN.com. “But after a while, you just want to kick his ass … He just keeps pushing you, and you’re like, ‘Dude, we get over the mountain. Stop. Let go.’ He kind of wore out his welcome.”
Conversely, Harbaugh was welcomed back with open arms at his alma mater.
“I think he’s a better college coach than he would be as an NFL coach,” Boone said in the HBO interview. “It’s different for college kids than pro players. I don’t think college kids can say, ‘Hey, Jim, you’re pissing me off today.'”
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
