Coaching Circus

Like many of you, I have heard all season about the rift between Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers. We could all see that there was legitimately something wrong in the 49ers front office. And after Harbaugh and the team officially divorced, I couldn't shake the feeling of how stupid it was that the division between Harbaugh and GM Trent Baalke and/or owner Jed York was able to break up one of the most successful front offices in recent history. Today it really hit me the underlying crisis of this though is how remarkably short-sighted the feud is and how it continues a trend of egotistical owners getting in the way of their teams being competitive.

Obviously no one beats the egotistical owner ineptitude of Dan Snyder, but the Harbaugh situation brings to light a seemingly systemic issue with consistently struggling franchises: an inability to hire and keep good coaches and front office managers. I can't believe that certain owners (who by the way are almost unanimously enormously successful in other business ventures) are incapable of interviewing candidates and hiring those who share a consistent vision. As an example, it's hard to pass over the late Al Davis Raiders. Even when they seemed to make the turn toward being competitive by building depth and eliminating crazy high-risk-mediocre-reward trades, there would come word that Davis wasn't content with the slow transformation.

Ironically, said Raiders may finally be on their way to becoming genuinely competitive. Mark Davis seems to have genuinely understood the mistakes of his father, and has allowed Reggie McKenzie to keep his job despite a struggling season. Why was this important? Because he was clearly brought in to clean house and eliminate unreasonably overpaid salaries. The Raiders certainly tried to get Harbaugh to be their next coach. If Harbaugh's personality is really that abrasive, then it might be a good thing that the Raiders didn't end up hiring him. Maybe his personality will be a great fit in his return to college as players graduate continuously. But struggling team owners should end this cycle of short-sightedness and make sure that they are hiring candidates to fit their overall philosophy as well as coach the team successfully. Only through that consistency will a team be able to enjoy success for more than a few year stretches.