Anytime there is an NFL coach as successful and outspoken as San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, there will always be those who covet his services. After rumors surfaced about the Cleveland Browns attempting to make a trade for Harbaugh, the rumor mill started churning overtime.
Harbaugh has been supposedly quoted as saying he wants to be the highest paid coach in the NFL, that he wants more power, that he’s not happy in San Fran and that there are some 49ers who are growing tired of his schtick.
The never short for words Harbaugh came out publicly to set the record straight.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg, Harbaugh the rumors as well as the supposed rocky relationship between he and 49ers GM, Trent Baalke, saying there is “zero opportunity” of him leaving San Francisco before his contract expires in 2016.
“I see all these reports about how I want to be the highest-paid coach in football,” Harbaugh told Rosenberg. “They presume I covet some kind of extension. I have never said to anybody that I want to be the highest-paid coach in football. I have never said that to anybody — my wife, my brother, my dad. I make plenty of money.
“The other one is that I want more power. I have never said that, nor do I want any more power than I have. I coach the team. I’ve told my owner I don’t want any more power. I want to coach the team. And I’ve never told anybody else otherwise.”
I think that leaves little room for interpretation, which is pretty much the norm for Harbaugh. The book needs to be closed on this one, and closed in a hurry. Anyone who thinks the guy who lifted the 49ers out of NFL lethargy and back into Super Bowl contention is on his way out doesn’t know the 49ers franchise very well.