How Does Harbaugh Do It?
A handful of statistics, then a couple of questions.
The statistics:
During the last five seasons before Jim Harbaugh became head coach--that is, during the seasons of 2006 through 2011--the San Francisco Forty-Niners compiled miserable win-loss records of 7-9, 5-11, 7-9, 8-8, and 6-10.
So far this year, the first under Harbaugh, the Forty-Niners have compiled a win-loss record of a stunning 11-3.
The two questions:
How the heck does Harbaugh do it?
Can a great coach teach us anything about politics? Should we be searching for presidential candidates, in other words, that display some of the same characteristics that Harbaugh displays?
Btw, I'm posting these questions because I find them fascinating, not because I have any answers to suggest. I watched Harbaugh during his entire tenure at Stanford--for that matter, I chatted with him a couple of times in the barber shop--and I still can't figure it out. What makes a great coach great?
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Jun '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Alex Smith, the 49ers QB (and a graduate of my school, the University of Utah), has been considered by many to be a bust. Harbaugh, himself a pro QB who was good but not great, has devised an offense that allows Smith to shine. He'll never have the numbers a Brady, Brees, or Rodgers will have, but he's throwing well, scoring some passing TDs, and not throwing many interceptions. Add a great running back, Frank Gore (who, unlike other years, has remained healthy), a terrific defensive line, and Harbaugh's enthusiastic leadership and mediocrity turns into success.
Edited on Dec 20, 2011 at 5:09pmJun '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
I gather, his method is a lot like a baseball manager. Teach the plays for each situation, gradually expanding the repertoire, and just practice, practice, practice, until you don't make any mistakes.
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Make the most of what you have. Would that be one of Harbaugh's Laws?
May '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Coaches don't have to negotiate with their players.
If there's one solid crossover between sports and politics, it's that a great coach anticipates the actions of his opponents.
May '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
I'm persuaded by the theory that great managers--and this would apply to coaches as well--are all about taking responsibility. I interpret that as the quality of following through when orders are given. It's oversight. It's the old line that goes: "it's not what's expected, but what's inspected, that gets done."
I interpret Paul Rahe's evaluation of Paul Ryan's "executive temperament" (and President Obama's lack thereof) in these terms.
In my managerial roles (father, music conductor, etc.) I'm shocked at how easy it is to issue an order, then completely forget about it. Tonight I discovered that a child of mine has not been practicing the piano in the way I told him to do, months ago. Since I had forgotten about it, why shouldn't he forget too?
The art of oversight and follow-up is dismayingly difficult and I admire anyone who is good at it.
Jun '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Peter Robinson
Make the most of what you have. Would that be one of Harbaugh's Laws? ·
Yes. In Smith's case, he's had several offensive coordinators (each with their own offense). So Smith was always learning a new offense, and most asked him to do more than he could do. They've slowly improved the whole team, and Harbaugh has devised an offense that allows Smith to do what he does best (mostly handing the ball to Gore).
It's a good illustration of conservative thought: incremental change rather than irrational utopian enthusiasm. There's a political message in just about everything.
Jun '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Peter Robinson
Can a great coach teach us anything about politics? Should we be searching for presidential candidates, in other words, that display some of the same characteristics that Harbaugh displays?
Great idea Peter: Harbaugh for President!
Jul '11
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
He's got one heck of a firm handshake.
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Fredösphere: .
In my managerial roles (father, music conductor, etc.) I'm shocked at how easy it is to issue an order, then completely forget about it. Tonight I discovered that a child of mine has not been practicing the piano in the way I told him to do, months ago. Since I had forgotten about it, why shouldn't he forget too?· Dec 20 at 5:14pm
Hey, wait a minute, Fredo. That's my child you're talking about. (Scales first.)
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Oh, tabula, but that is just beautifully put.
Jan '11
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Football, like all sports, is an artificial environment. When done properly, sports are a staging ground, teaching lessons about how virtue and vice play out in the real world. So when you come across a good coach, you discover the principles of leadership that will succeed in the real world.
The great coaches:
In other words, they organize, coordinate, and focus a group. They serve the group by focusing it.
I'm in Baltimore, and I see the other Harbaugh -- John, who is a terrific coach himself. I've seen him for a few years now, and I really appreciate him. Football coaches are filled with "inspirational" nonsense, but when John Harbaugh says coachy-type things, it works because for him it's providing focus, not inspiration. (These guys are pros, they don't need Harbaugh for inspiration, but every group needs a focus.)
When Ken Stabler came to the sideline, John Madden always told him the down and distance.
Jun '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Seriously though, have you noticed that Harbaugh wears a magic marker around his neck at all times?
In an interview one of the players earlier this season commented how this season, when the Niners are behind at half time, the coaches don't get angry and question their intensity or desire but calmly start breaking down what went wrong in the first half and how to fix it in the second. Though he didn't say it explictly, I took it as an indictment of the Singletary regime. Singletary was basically a motivitional speaker who someone talked his way into a head coaching gig, and whenever the team was losing his root cause analysis was that clearly the players just weren't trying hard enough.
Harbaugh in contrast treats his players like the highly motivated professionals they are, takes it for granted that they want to win, and sees it as his job to give them the tools, analysis, and game plans they need to accomplish their goals. Like Bill Walsh he is first and foremost a teacher, a professor of football, always ready to grab that marker and diagram a play.
Dec '11
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Yikes, my favorite subject! (After Tom Brady, of course).
Peter, it may be interesting to note that two of the most accomplished folks in the NFL have ties to No Cal and played as college quarterbacks in Ann Arbor.
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
KC and Joseph, you just trebled my knowledge of coaching.
May '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Ah, he's just lucky. Harbaugh was QB-ing at Michigan my frosh year at OSU. He "guaranteed" a victory for his underdogs and then delivered when our kicker (Matt Frantz??) hooked a late FG. He's been lucky ever since, game after game, season after season, with team after team.
And, yes, that would be a good quality to have in a president.
Jan '11
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
What does it say about politics?
Basketball, as opposed to life, has a finite set of situations, and you can teach almost every attitude that you need for every situation. On the other hand, life and politics have an infinite set of situations. But ...
From Plato to Petraeus, however, political leadership has always been the same. Sure, you have to formulate plans (we call them policies). But what sets a leader apart is that he also focuses the attitude on how to approach situations. "This is how we do things."
Notice that attitude isn't just "optimism." Wooden had different attitudes for different situations. It's a coordinated way of looking at things.
Jun '11
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
I have a few thoughts.
Football is the ultimate team sport. Football is all about "want to". Do you want to work your butt off and be willing to let the glory be given to others? Not work a 9 to 5 job type of "want to" but really work like you never have before. As a grunt offensive lineman do you want to dominate the guy in front of you? And are you willing to put in the work in the weight room all year and the study time to be the best? Will everyone appreciate it if you do your part like a champion? To be a champion all 11 players on both sides have to "want to" very much. It takes effort.
All of the above must be done by elite athletes.
Harbaugh is a great coach. He has motivated college players in the last few years and now done it in the pros.
Edited on Dec 20, 2011 at 6:58pmJul '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Let it go, Scott. The Wolverines (taste a bit like chicken, btw) are no more than a second-class football program... in Michigan, BCS travesties aside.
Hmm, maybe I should let it go.
Harbaugh really is an excellent coach. I suspect that part of the reason is tutelage: he learned from both Schembechler and Ditka. This doesn't explain all of it, obviously. Otherwise, Bart Starr (Bear Bryant and Vince Lombardi as tutors) would never have lost a game as head coach.
There is an intangible element to winning... call it luck or fortune, but there is a trait, a demeanor that some have and others don't.
Jim has it. Mike McCarthy has it. Bill Walsh had it (No. The other one. Not sure about our resident Ricochet scholar ). Sulla had it, Cicero didn't.
Dec '10
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
Being a fan of the Oregon Ducks, I'm just very happy to see Harbaugh with the Niners. We managed to top him in 2010, but he turned The Trees into a powerhouse. Given their academic obstacles, that's an incredible achievement.
I'm game - Jim Harbaugh for President! Aaron Rodgers for VP. Romney & Gingrich can bring them Gatorade during timeouts.
Jan '11
Re: How Does Harbaugh Do It?
To the question "How does he do it?" I lean toward Scott Reusser's objective analysis. The NFL, more than any other pro league in the U.S.A., provides the best environment for worst to first type transformations. Mike Singletary may have been an incomplete NFL head coach but I think he left a good foundation as bad cop, disciplinarian, motivational speaker and scape goat that the next guy would seem much nicer. It seems most good teams (seal teams ?) first learn discipline then learn specific tasks. I think Samurai Mike established the discipline.
Add to that - pretty much everything KC wrote.
I think the scoring in politics, since we don't duel as often as we need, is too arbitrary and on top of the arbitrary scoring the press decides how to interpret the results. If the Bengals win by 7 and the betting line is 7½ a media outlet may frame the story as "Team fails their backers again.." the media calling the betters the backers or other such nonsense. The press decides who is responsible for shutting down the government and how perilous the situation might be. Which party is holding up our tax cut?.