Is Harbaugh too tough on injured players?
Richard Sherman is out with new quotes describing his unrelenting hatred for Harbaugh (for whom he played at Stanford). Key passage from 247 article:
Harbaugh felt Sherman, then a wide receiver, quit on his team after undergoing season-ending knee surgery in 2008, which made Stanford's star player distance himself from his coach. Sherman eventually moved to defense to be further away from Harbaugh and would reportedly prod him during practice.
We've seen a number of players transfer from the program (Aubrey Solomon comes to mind) with similar complaints. Rashan Gary's mom also complained about this. Could this be an issue with Harbaugh's old-school coaching style?
January 28th, 2020 at 5:05 PM ^
You may be right. Just recalling from memory. But I remember we had at least one thread where the topic of how Harbaugh and the staff treated injured players came up.
January 28th, 2020 at 5:19 PM ^
We've had all kinds of ludicrous threads. I remember one that was excited that RR was coming.
January 28th, 2020 at 9:22 PM ^
Peanut Jelly Time!
After getting absolutely pants'd by the spread by App State and Oregon . . . we were now getting the coach that invented it.
Damn right we were excited at the time.
January 28th, 2020 at 4:01 PM ^
Hard to say. You have 1-2 players claim this over the course of his career is not something I would out a lot of weight in. players have beefs sometimes with coaches it happens all the time. But I have found there are usually three sides to every story yours mine and the cold hard truth. I would bet Harbaugh has a completely different story and the truth is probably somewhere in between both
January 28th, 2020 at 4:08 PM ^
Richard Sherman. The same guy who chose the 49ers, when they were terrrible, over the lions because he didn’t want to have to take meetings too seriously and not do conditioning after practice.... ok ?
January 28th, 2020 at 4:12 PM ^
Not going to the Lions isn't really a reason to not like the guy. Seems like a common sense decision that most would/should make.
January 28th, 2020 at 4:20 PM ^
where did I say I don’t like him because he didn’t come to the lions? Where did I say I didn’t like him period?
simply pointing out the fact that his comments should be viewed in the proper context with this particular person/player
January 28th, 2020 at 6:04 PM ^
Fair enough. Didn't mean to take that from what you said but it seemed implied. He's definitely a polarizing player.
January 28th, 2020 at 4:51 PM ^
All things being equal (Lions & 49ers Sucked about the same)... I'd pick San Fran any day of the week and twice on Sunday even if the Lions were "average". Much rather have a base of operations in the Bay area.
January 28th, 2020 at 5:07 PM ^
All things weren’t equal. The lions offered $20mm guaranteed the 49ers offered $3mm.
January 28th, 2020 at 6:36 PM ^
And then when you factor in the cost of living in the two places...
January 30th, 2020 at 11:44 PM ^
Cost of living matters when you make $60k. At what he makes the “cost” of living in the greater detroit area may have been to high.
January 28th, 2020 at 9:59 PM ^
I’m sure he has enough stashed away from his Seattle days that he’ll be fine.
January 28th, 2020 at 7:14 PM ^
He already has a super bowl ring. I’d rather live in beautiful Michigan over shit hole California
January 28th, 2020 at 7:21 PM ^
You serious !?
January 28th, 2020 at 11:01 PM ^
I spend 6 months out of the year in the Bay Area for work.
Fuck the Bay Area...
...and twice on Sunday.
The cost of living, traffic, taxes, shallow, vapid, shitty people, and the poop on the sidewalks is not overblown.
January 29th, 2020 at 6:23 AM ^
I lived in LA area and Bay Area. Was very glad to get the hell out of both. Moved myself along with the company out. Another state got the $90M the company ended up spending into its local economy, which makes me happy.
January 28th, 2020 at 10:00 PM ^
Yeah no shit. That whole “sunshine” thing, that we see almost none of in Michigan from September to April, is overrated as fuck anyway.
January 29th, 2020 at 6:36 AM ^
Do you live in LA or the Bay Area? I lived in LA for about a dozen years and Bay Area for a few. That sunshine comes with other features.
For some folks, it is worth it. For others, it is not. Depends on the person.
January 28th, 2020 at 9:57 PM ^
It’s also quite possible he didn’t want to go to the Lions because they’re a total POS organization with an owner who is just thrilled to wake up in the morning and realize she’s not dead. So he didn’t feel like playing the last few years of his career losing game after game while having to listen to a couple of insufferable asshats like Quinn and Patricia.
Just a thought.
January 28th, 2020 at 4:08 PM ^
Could be. He seems to have the hurt vs. injured mentality that would have rushed back a concussed player too soon back in the day. Rules and awareness make me think he wouldn't do that anymore though.
Also, a story from 12 years ago has little to no bearing on who he is today. Are any of us the same person we were 12 years ago? I'm sure as hell glad I'm not.
January 28th, 2020 at 10:04 PM ^
Actually 12 years ago I was thinner, had more hair, could play pick up basketball for hours on end, and was having sex an average of 5-6 nights a week...........All in all there’s quite a bit about the person I was 12 years ago I really miss.
January 28th, 2020 at 4:10 PM ^
Too hard on injured players in what sense? Wanting to be confident that they're healthy before letting them play? Insisting that they practice before playing in games? Not taking risks on guys the medical staff won't clear?
I have no insider access but my perception is that Harbaugh trusts the medical staff as to when it's OK to have a player practice. If the player is clear to practice, Harbaugh presumably expects the player to practice in order to be considered for playing time in games. If the player doesn't, or doesn't practice well, he sits which may well not please the player.
January 28th, 2020 at 4:10 PM ^
How bout a thanks maybe?
Would anyone know who the eff Sherman was if she decided to play receiver?
January 28th, 2020 at 4:20 PM ^
Maybe. But Sherman seems kind of like a jackass so prob not.
January 28th, 2020 at 4:33 PM ^
A bunch of goddamn communist around here...
January 28th, 2020 at 4:49 PM ^
Richard Sherman, give it a rest jesus it's been years. The guys obsessed.
He's gonna boil a bunny or something...
January 28th, 2020 at 4:53 PM ^
Rabbit meat by any other name is still rabbit meat...(?!)
January 28th, 2020 at 5:06 PM ^
Helps prevent Tularemia
January 28th, 2020 at 4:50 PM ^
No, and Aubrey was a spoiled bitch.
January 28th, 2020 at 4:53 PM ^
Harbaugh is an odd duck
January 28th, 2020 at 4:54 PM ^
If so... those AFLAC commercials are oh so ironic... but at least ducks aren't "nervous birds".
January 28th, 2020 at 9:24 PM ^
They must have worked a long time to find the only color for him that is not used by an SEC school.
January 28th, 2020 at 5:14 PM ^
3 players mentioned over the thousands he has coached at the Collegiate level, seems to be well within the marginal of error, that is of course, if give credence to the narrative.
January 28th, 2020 at 5:40 PM ^
It’s only Harbaugh, out of all the coaches, in all the country...IN ALL YHE LAND!! Did he ever give Harbaugh a thank you? Even if he was pushing him it pushed him to Defense. Don’t think Sherman would still be relevant in the NFL if he was a WR...probably be out of the league by now...
January 28th, 2020 at 6:04 PM ^
On the one hand, you have some decent smoke from the Harbaugh-era Michigan team. Rare is the pre-season camp where there aren't some quotes or rumors coming out about this guy or that guy not being as quick to take the field after an injury as the coaching staff suggests is reasonable. I think Lavert Hill might have been one of the guys that was getting "sub-tweeted" a couple of years ago when Zordich was acting like the secondary was going to leak like the Titanic.
You've got guys like Solomon who really did seem to frustrate the staff with how often he was hurt. And I think it's unquestionable that while the staff doesn't want guys to injure themselves or aggravate injuries, football is a tough game and they expect guys who are sore to play anyway and get frustrated when they don't.
So, on the one hand, this is not the first time I've heard something like this.
On the other hand, this is Richard Sherman, who likes to talk and has a certain spin he puts on things that is very accurate in the eyes of Richard Sherman.
I think this is a fair question to ask, given stuff that has leaked out; I don't think we can conclude anything from an anecdote shared by Richard Sherman from a time period that was over a decade ago at a different school.
January 28th, 2020 at 8:02 PM ^
Come on, seriously?
This comment sounds like it would take two extra weeks to recover from an injury.
January 28th, 2020 at 6:17 PM ^
Just boo boos
January 28th, 2020 at 6:24 PM ^
Too hard on them as far as practice goes, for sure. I personally know a current player on the team (who may or may not be back for a 5th year) who says they are always out of gas and beat up by the time the OSU game comes around due to the physicality of practice throughout the year.
January 28th, 2020 at 8:14 PM ^
Didn’t Chase mention this to Harbaugh after to the 2018 season when he asks for feedback from his seniors, and Harbaugh was supposed to change this 2019? I could be remembering wrong
January 28th, 2020 at 6:25 PM ^
WELL you'll all be pleased to hear that according to many posters on this very blog, Harbaugh has been put on some sort of meds and he has clearly become soft and lost his fire and edge.
Glad we had this chat though
January 28th, 2020 at 9:14 PM ^
And also allegedly has CTE...
... JFC... this fan base sometimes, right?
January 28th, 2020 at 6:35 PM ^
I’m sick of these athletes always complaining. There soft as charmin these days, total turn off as nonwonder more people are turning away from sports more and more. All they do is complain when it’s not in there favor.
January 28th, 2020 at 6:36 PM ^
Hey man everyone liked Hoke, well except Shane Morris’ head.
January 28th, 2020 at 6:40 PM ^
The guy thinks chicken is unhealthy. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he was punishing players for not playing through injuries.
January 29th, 2020 at 6:01 AM ^
Corn is pretty bad, too.
January 28th, 2020 at 7:10 PM ^
Too hard on his players?? There's nothing wrong with being hard or tough on players.
Abusive is unacceptable but I have no problem with any coach being tough.
Life is tough....suck it up buttercup.
January 28th, 2020 at 7:41 PM ^
Sounds possible.
January 28th, 2020 at 7:45 PM ^
No. He's just preparing them for the NFL.
January 28th, 2020 at 8:04 PM ^
i have no inside info, but if you'll recall umgoblue11 in their in-depth recruiting diary referenced harbaugh having to dial back his aggressive culture because it was negatively affecting recruiting. i believe the quote was that it was commonplace to challenge a player's "manhood" in practice. perhaps it was an issue that is since being addressed?