Jim Harbaugh Thinks He Deserves A Medal For Coaching 49ers

Jim Harbaugh has remained mostly quiet about his tenure with the San Francisco 49ers since his “mutual decision” to leave the franchise. He’s taken a few thinly veiled shots at the organization, but for the most part he’s been low key about taking shots at Jed York and Co.

No longer.

Speaking with Tim Kawakami of Mercury News, the Michigan head coach unloaded with a pointed comment. After thanking Kyle Shanahan for lumping him with the other great coaches in 49ers history, Harbaugh got into how he really feels about the 49ers.

“I think we did set a record for coaching there the longest under the present ownership,” Harbaugh said (h/t Kevin Jones of KNBR). “I take pride in that. Maybe there should be an endurance medal, a courage medal, for that.”

Harbaugh also said he hasn’t spoken with York since he departed the organization in 2014. But that’s all he would say about it. When asked if York had a problem with his strong personality, Harbaugh said, “I’m not in the mood to pile on.”

Things have certainly changed for the 49ers lately, however. The Trent Baalke regime is now essentially erased now that assistant general manager Tom Gamble has been fired.

When asked about John Lynch, Harbaugh had nothing but good things to say and noted he’d be happy to work for him.

“I would love to work for John Lynch,” Harbaugh said. “When they were going through the process of the hiring, he didn’t want his name mentioned. I don’t know if a lot of people noticed that but I think that’s a profound thing. That speaks volumes for who he is as a person.”

Time will tell if the new regime under Lynch will have more success than Baalke and Co.

The 49ers have a promising young head coach in Shanahan and have surrounded Lynch with some tremendous people in the personnel department. Now comes the hard task of building a roster back into a championship contender, something Harbaugh nearly accomplished in 2013.