Harbaugh reportedly accepts Kansas job
by bruinmike on Dec 11, 2009 10:41 PM PST
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According to this report, Jim Harbaugh has accepted a $2.7 million per year offer to replace Mark Mangino at Kansas. If true, it's great news for our program, as it gets rid of a budding potential rival and recruiting competitor.
KCSP-AM, WHB-AM and KMBC-TV in Kansas City are reporting that Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh will accept the coaching job at Kansas on Saturday.
Stanford assistant athletic director Jim Young declined comment. Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins said in a prepared statement that the job had not been offered to anyone.
According to KCSP, Harbaugh will be paid $2.7 million a year. Harbaugh's wife is from the Kansas City area.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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Say what?
This has got to be about the money, because I can’t see that being a step up as far as prestige.
My thoughts exactly
I logged on just to see if anyone else had heard this. Aside from the salary increase, and easier athlete admissions, does anyone else agree that this seems like a lateral, if not a slight downward move for Harbaugh in terms of prestige? (Ryan, or anyone that know more about the ins and outs?).
Was the new bathroom in his office not enough of an incentive? Does the SF Chronicle sports section’s hatred of him sting that much?
formerly bruinhoo
Kansas is a basketball school in every sense of the word
How is this an upgrade? I’m calling shenanigans for now.
KU is nearly tripling his salary @ Stanford
While Stanford has a contract extension ready for Harbaugh’s approval, it would have still only been half of KU’s alleged offer. So it is an upgrade in that respect. But in none other, that I can see.
formerly bruinhoo
I believe
Mrs. Harbaugh is from Kansas (so part of this has to do with her wanting to go near home). Plus, remember Harbaugh is not a Cali guy.
I am not going to be sad over this because we can target some of Stanford recruits!
absolutely
Stanford has a great recruiting class so far. The best part is that all of them would qualify academically at UCLA. Let’s get two more D-linemen and O-linemen, and maybe a couple of playmakers. That’s all I want for Christmas.
Harbaugh is kind of a Cali guy
He’s a Palo Alto HS alum, but those were the only years that he lived in California as a kid.
by maccabita4life on Dec 12, 2009 10:40 AM PST up reply actions
Definitely worth it for the money
What’s the big deal about Stanford? Fan-interest is low. Conference is tough, yet with much less exposure and opportunity. Big 12 North offers a much easier path to the BCS. Sure, Stanford has much more national prestige, but with its restrictions recruiting is probably not that much easier.
Staff budget will no doubt also be much bigger, so he won’t lose assistants to Western Kentucky.
Big-XII North was one consideration in my mind
Essentially, he will have Nebraska between him and the conference title game. While the South teams should not have a problem beating up on them, once in a while, his team would be bound to pull of an upset once in a while.
Another though coming to mind is what, if anything, this may mean in regards to the situation at Michigan. The rumor has always been that Harbaugh is a Michigan Man, and would jump at an opportunity to take over in Ann Arbor, if that job opens. Of course, RichRod is not the most popular guy in Michigan, and the rumors fly that he is on the hot seat (after only 2 years?!). Thinking that if he is jumping to Kansas now, he does not think that the Michigan job will be open for him anytime soon.
formerly bruinhoo
Not sure it makes a difference
He might think he’s taken Stanford as far as it can go. And the Sun Bowl isn’t very far. If Stanford fell off in the next two years, Harbaugh’s stock would plummet. Moving to Kansas might enable him to keep up the momentum in his coaching career, making it easier to jump to Michigan if it opens up.
Anyway, you can never bank on a job opening up, especially when it features a coach with a great track record entering only his third year. Look what happened with Oregon and Chris Peterson (if everyone was right in assuming that’s what he was waiting for).
BTW, aside from recruiting, I think Harbaugh is rather unproven.
not sure...
I buy this yet. I haven’t seen anything confirming this, and I really can’t make sense of it. I would also be sad to see Harbaugh go. I think the conference is full of good coaches, and I think having a strong conference is never something to complain about, even if it does make life harder. Having competent coaches means every game matters, and also increases the strength of the PAC-10, which is good if we ever figure out how to win the damn thing.
by Captain Leebeard on Dec 12, 2009 2:51 AM PST reply actions
No, we need the Pac 10 to be weaker
We gain nothing from its strength. Besides, a conference will never be respected unless it has at least 2 dominant teams. Big 12 has Texas/OK. Big 10 (in its heyday): OSU/UM/PSU. SEC: Florida/Bama/LSU.
I love the everyday competitiveness of our conference, but it doesn’t help anyone worth a lick.
Disagree
How can the Pac-10 benefit from having weaker teams? The Pac-10 gained much more respect this year because teams were beating up on each other. The only problem was that our top teams didn’t handle business out of conference. Oregon lost to Boise State, Zona lost to Iowa, OSU lost to Cinci, and Stanford lost to Wake. One reason why conferences like the Big 12 and SEC sometimes send two teams to the BCS is because they play strong in-conference teams and handle their OOC schedules (although they are cupcake). A stronger conference breeds healthy competition within the Pac-10. The top teams will thus gain more respect in the national spotlight.
by Kerckhoff405 on Dec 12, 2009 8:23 AM PST up reply actions
I agree to a certain extent
If we can continue our recruiting success and become dominant in the next 2-3 years and beyond, it would be great for the conference to have an undefeated USC and an undefeated UCLA facing each other at the end of the season.
where did that respect get us in national rankings and bowls?
Absolutely nowhere.
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Dec 12, 2009 11:03 AM PST up reply actions
If there are two powerhouses and 8 patsies, then we should be 11-0 by the time we play just$c
I like that better than 8 powerhouses and two patsies, and struggling to have 8 wins by our final game.
I want Harbaugh to take that offer in Kansas and get out of our conference (and take his recruits with him.)
The SEC myth
The whole notion that the SEC is the strongest conference is a myth perpetuated by the WWL who has an exclusive contract with that conference. It enables them to get the best bowl games in spite of their weak out of conderence schedules. The truth is, Alabama and Florida are legit, but they are in a lopsided conference where they are clearly better than the oher teams there. To have lost would have meant a serious meltdown on their part; they have no one who can truly challenge them except each other, but they both are still guaranteed a bcs game because the run little risk of losing to most everyone on their schedule. When sec fans point to their Ooc record, it has to be taken with a grain of salt. They schedule very few games that might actually be in question.
The Pac is an absolute dogfight almost every year. The strength of schedule is there in the schedule and yet Pac 10 teams still schedule some tough games out of conference.
by Westwood is the best wood on Dec 12, 2009 1:00 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
There's a difference between the West Coast and the Midwest
I lived in Kansas City for ten years (not a particularly long drive from Lawrence), and can tell you that the living is quite a bit easier in that area than in Los Angeles and probably Palo Alto. If Harbaugh and his family are Midwesterners, they might just want to get out of California and back to that part of the country. Bear in mind that moving from Palo Alto to Lawrence generates about a one-third pay raise based solely on cost of living. He might be thinking that a 7 year gazillion dollar deal may set him and his family for life. And Lawrence is a very nice place (except when it snows.)
That’s my take on the non-football part of it.
Maybe he is trying to squeeze some more $$$ out of Stanford.
I thought this was a joke when I read that Kansas was INTERESTED in Harbaugh last night. Literally, I thought “no way her takes THAT job.”
This is neither a step up in prestige nor a step up in location IMO. Harbaugh has a much better chance to make his mark in the Pac 10 than trying to fight Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska for recruits at a football school that has done NOTHING in my lifetime except for the past 3 or 4 years.
As far as location goes, Palo Alto vs. Lawrence? C’mon, although I know his wife is from there and understand the economics of it.
If Harbaugh wanted to move back to the Midwest, I would think he would continue his success at Stanford for a few more years (Gerhart is gone but Luck possibly has 3 more seasons) and wait for a better job more suitable to his talents (i.e., Michigan, after next season, assuming he didn’t burn that bridge with his comments a few seasons ago). Even Illinois is a better job than Kansas.
It’s got to be about the $$$.
I liked living in KC, Orlando
It’s a wholly different lifestyle. Much more sedate. No (and I mean NO) traffic. Reasonable prices for housing. Even if Mrs. Harbaugh joins the cast of “The Real Housewives of Lawrence,” she’ll be hard pressed to spend even half of $2.7 million in a year. Kansas is first a basketball school, of course, but they had a little run a few years ago. A personality like Harbaugh can bring them back, in my opinion, just like he did at the Furd, and it should be substantially easier because he doesn’t have to worry about those pesky rules like the Furd people called “academic standards.”
A midwesterner would find lots and lots of reasons to prefer Lawrence to Palo Alto. Actually, there similar, sort of, but Lawrence is not quite a snooty or pricey.
Downside to Kansas, which I heard from a Mizzou grad. You know why Kansas switched to Astroturf? So their dance team wouldn’t graze.
I hope he stays.
He’s done a great job at Stanford. He’s a perfect foil for Cheat Carroll, talking trash then backing it up with big wins. You do that, and the recruits will come, even to Stanford. I don’t think we need to hope for a weaker Pac 10 to reel in the recruits. California is such fertile ground that it essentially stocks the entire Pac 10 and still manages to send kids to national programs.
Like Kerchoff said, a strong Pac 10 is good for us all. The problem is not the losses to OOC opponents, (although it doesn’t help) there is a very real bias against the Pac 10 in college football. How the Big 10 managed to squeeze two teams into the BCS is beyond me. This year the conference was pretty brutal, but in past years we have been snubbed for that 2nd BCS spot for no good reason other than bias.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
I actually hope he leaves. Here's why
Im fine with any school but Stanford having a good coach. The reason is with our admission requirements, we can’t recruit a lot of the players ASU, Zona, SC, etc can. A legit Stanford program makes our recruiting much, much more difficult because they can make a legit argument that they are a better academic program and attract a lot of players that are a natural UCLA fit if they are a respectable program.
Alright CRN, go get some of those Furd recruits!
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Dec 12, 2009 9:35 AM PST up reply actions
Don't care much for a strong Pac-10
I only care about UCLA and getting as much talent as we possibly can. Toby Gerhart was a UCLA recruit as well (I realize battle over his recruiting took place between other Stanford/UCLA coaches). However, I rather have weak Stanford coaching staff when it comes to going after Gerhart type of recruits from So. Cal, who might consider Stanford other than UCLA.
I don’t care much if Harbaugh goes or stay but will certainly not be sad to see him leave.
He might be a hard ass coach
but clearly his wife wears the pants in the family. lol
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Dec 12, 2009 9:30 AM PST reply actions
You married?
Cuz, far as I know, the wife ALWAYS wears the pants in the house…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Pants in the house.
If she does wear the pants in the house (speculation on all our parts but without the fundamental constitutional right to speculate, what would we do), I want to get pair of those pants because it just dramatically increased the amount of dinero coming in the front door.
I am a Californian and love it but there are lot of people who are unhappy with the state, its mores, the congestion and expense, grinding poverty for all too many, often mediocre government and political parties, its newspapers (and there sure are a lot of readers on this site who are in that group), USC (need I say more), and general disfunctionality. And if those people can find happiness and even more money elsewhere, even Kansas—more power to them.
Of course all of this is unfettered speculation—it could be Coach Harbaugh likes to toughen up a football team by having the players practice in a tornado.
Harbaugh and Stanford deny rumors
and say that he recently signed an extension through 2014 with the Cardinal
Has there ever been a player better than Detlef Schrempf?
with this kind of stuff
you don’t know anything until its done because everyone lies.
example one: Kelly
example two: Saban
There are a ton more… I think staying at Stanford makes more sense, but who knows???
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Dec 12, 2009 11:02 AM PST up reply actions
Turner Gill has been hired at Kansas
Harbaugh’s sticking around at least a little longer.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash Kunnath on Dec 12, 2009 3:30 PM PST reply actions
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