Harbaugh's Post-Game NON-interviews
Some coaches, like Dabo or Jimbo or PJ, love post-game field interviews because they can just prattle on and on and they view it as a free national recruiting pitch. Other coaches, like Kirk Ferentz, Pat Fitzgerald, etc., tolerate them because they know it's expected of them.
Then there's Harbaugh. This year he has taken to answering maybe one question before telling the reporter to "talk to this guy " and steering her to one or more players. This week he didn't answer any questions, just kept walking, and the reporter fortunately wound up with Donovan and then Blake.
So what do we make of this? Is he really trying to promote his players or is he just sick of answering what he probably considers are mostly stupid questions? Or is it something else?
October 18th, 2022 at 5:07 PM ^
He's over it. He's tired of the press giving him shit for sleep overs, or for saying quirky stuff. And he's deflecting praise like a true leader. The press deserves nothing. Look at belichek and saban. I'll take his approach a thousand times over
October 18th, 2022 at 5:08 PM ^
rigatoni baloney
October 18th, 2022 at 5:11 PM ^
As someone else mentioned he did this at Stanford.
Think he gets it from his dad who got it to an extent from Bo, as evidenced by this talk his dad gave (see 11:15 mark of video):
Don't ask me why I listened to this in the first place, nor why I remember that particular snippet, but I do recall it every time he (awkwardly) pulls a player for an interview...
October 18th, 2022 at 5:26 PM ^
Listening now. Good stuff. Lencioni's 5 dysfunctions of a team is a classic business book and very good.
October 18th, 2022 at 8:38 PM ^
Watching this video was 30 minutes well spent. Thanks for posting it. JH's father demonstrating how to prevent Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team is worth watching.
October 18th, 2022 at 5:31 PM ^
I often wonder why more coaches don't try to get out of there as soon as they can. What response does a reporter expect to get from a coach other than, "I'm proud of our players, they had a good week of practice, team _________ is a great opponent you can't take lightly, yadda, yadda, yadda."
I'm sure Dabo wants everyone to think his players are going to cut their celebrations in half so they can get to bible study but nobody is buying that crap.
October 18th, 2022 at 5:44 PM ^
Every coach in every interview is just Mike Leach's little half-cousin.
October 18th, 2022 at 6:16 PM ^
I remember him doing the exact same thing in Stanford’s 2011 Orange Bowl win - the interviewer asked him a gushing questions about the victory and he said something like “you should really talk to the guys who made this win possible” and then motioned to Luck and someone else (Fleener?) before jogging off, albeit with a giant shit-eating grin on his face. But when things are bad he’ll take the heat - there was a good interview with Buckeye lineman known for his alcohol consumption with some Vikings podcast when Harbaugh was interviewing there where he made that point, i.e. that when players screw up Harbaugh will say something weird / wild to take the heat off them. Just who Harbaugh is and how he operates.
October 18th, 2022 at 7:53 PM ^
I think he legitimately loves to highlight his players. He did this several times last year as well.
October 18th, 2022 at 8:05 PM ^
I think he's ahead of the curve on this one. In these days of NIL, it makes total sense to shine as much positive attention on his players as possible.
It's also great for building accountability and leadership among his players, giving them chances to be the faces of the program.
BTW I don't think he turns down the half-time interviews so he's not being anti-media, just shining attention on the players.
[In the NFL they would probably fine him for turning down interview requests that are - or will be - in the television contract]