A lot more makes sense now...

Cowherd went into the interview, if anything more fired up than I can remember... and I'm not sure if its just Harbaugh is just that awkward or simply dumb as a bag of rocks (the latter a prospect I'm actually considering after hearing the interview), but good lord. Cowherd tried desperately but couldn't get anything out of him... I don't really hate Harbaugh but don't like him, so I was loving it.

"So what was the first thing you changed at Michigan?"
"I can't remember a change... maybe something I altered. But I don't remember a first change.."
"Whats different about coaching in the NFL and college?"
"More similarities than differences, really. More similarities than differences."

I cannot imagine how this guy has ever won a recruiting battle in history.

SadbutTrue999;842511158 said:

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A lot more makes sense now...

Cowherd went into the interview, if anything more fired up than I can remember... and I'm not sure if its just Harbaugh is just that awkward or simply dumb as a bag of rocks (the latter a prospect I'm actually considering after hearing the interview), but good lord. Cowherd tried desperately but couldn't get anything out of him... I don't really hate Harbaugh but don't like him, so I was loving it.

"So what was the first thing you changed at Michigan?"
"I can't remember a change... maybe something I altered. But I don't remember a first change.."
"Whats different about coaching in the NFL and college?"
"More similarities than differences, really. More similarities than differences."

I cannot imagine how this guy has ever won a recruiting battle in history.

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I heard it as well and agree. It sounded like a contentious deposition. Harbaugh only gave 1 word answers and didn't really answer the questions. Is there a history between these two?

Not at all... like I said, Cowherd sounded pumped to have him on the show. Harbaugh was so awkward that late in the interview he got kind of agitated for whatever reason, but I think it was entirely due to his discomfort with the concept of interviews.

I had no idea you could be that awkward and be a public figure.

There are many coaches who have the "us vs them" view of the world. If you are not a member of my team then you are "them" and I have no time for you. And they come across in interviews just like Harbaugh. But get them in front of their team and they are inspiring and genuine and real. I'm guessing Harbaugh is like this given his record. But I agree, in his interviews he seems like an idiot.

Cowherd: I'm a 6-3 wide receiver who runs a 4.3, I'm looking at michigan. Recruit me!
Harbaugh: You are?

Wow, it got so bad that Cowherd bad to hang up on Harbaugh. Cowherd stated, "We were bleeding on air...that was awful."

Been pretty successful for an idiot. We should be so lucky. He's just a winner everywhere he goes. He recruits well. His teams are well coached. Who cares about the interviews. He's unusual but who cares. He ran circles around Cal.

82gradDLSdad;842511167 said:

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There are many coaches who have the "us vs them" view of the world. If you are not a member of my team then you are "them" and I have no time for you. And they come across in interviews just like Harbaugh. But get them in front of their team and they are inspiring and genuine and real. I'm guessing Harbaugh is like this given his record. But I agree, in his interviews he seems like an idiot.

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I think you are quite correct. I bigger the stage, the more combative he is. That is why while many hate Jeb York here, and with good reason, I thought long ago Harbaugh was also setting himself up because he is near impossible to work with over the long haul. He did well at USD due to his skill but also it was low profile so he had no one in the media or elsewhere that challenged him much. Bigger programs like NFL or Michigan increase his recalcitrance. He would not have lasted much longer at Furd from what I heard had he stayed. He knows football for sure, and is good at improving a bad program, but in the end, he is his own worst enemy.

AEM80;842511173 said:

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Been pretty successful for an idiot. We should be so lucky. He's just a winner everywhere he goes. He recruits well. His teams are well coached. Who cares about the interviews. He's unusual but who cares. He ran circles around Cal.

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Tough to argue with the Stanford results... though I'd be curious if his personality 'hardened' as the years went by, possibly becoming 'worse' as he transitioned to the 9ers. Kind of like what happened with Tedford.

But his 9er results... that was the most talented team in the NFL for a few years, its an old argument but you can easily make the case he underperformed.

He has been a hard arse all along. U of San Diego kids HATED him.

AEM80;842511173 said:

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Been pretty successful for an idiot. We should be so lucky. He's just a winner everywhere he goes. He recruits well. His teams are well coached. Who cares about the interviews. He's unusual but who cares. He ran circles around Cal.

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i believe his record against us was 2-2 or something like that, what he left did kill us tho

AEM80;842511173 said:

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Been pretty successful for an idiot. We should be so lucky. He's just a winner everywhere he goes. He recruits well. His teams are well coached. Who cares about the interviews. He's unusual but who cares. He ran circles around Cal.

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There are lots of successful people who are hypomanic or functional bipolars. Many push the envelope. Some start wars, some create iphones, and others coach.

So, i actually went and listened to it. i have to say, i can see why harbaugh went the way he did.

i dont know colin cowherd or listen to his show but my initial reaction is that the guy is a little grating.

he called harbaugh really intense and then moved into asking him when is he a "cupcake" when are you "soft" and when are you a "pushover" as his first question and harbaugh went into really defensive mode and it just escalated from there.

yes, harbaugh could have laughed it off but he didn't and well, it is what it is

this is good publicity for the herd at the expense of harbaugh

I haven't listened to this particular interview and haven't listened to many of Harbaugh's interviews. Based on the excerpts in the original post, I'd say that Harbaugh is just doing coach-speak. Say nothing of use, repeat platitudes and so on. Probably didn't want to be on but his AD or the PR people set it up and Harbaugh was just trying to get through it and on with his life. I don't view anything like that as an indicator of his intelligence or coaching ability. Obviously the latter (coaching ability) has been proven at several levels now.

SadbutTrue999;842511168 said:

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Cowherd: I'm a 6-3 wide receiver who runs a 4.3, I'm looking at michigan. Recruit me!
Harbaugh: You are?

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That's quite hilarious, actually. It's hard to get to down on a guy who messes with Cowherd, IMO.

I listen to Cowherd every day. Several callers afterward (well, two, both affiliated with Michigan) said Cowherd deserved some blame for opening the interview with (roughly) "when are you not intense?", with some saying he should have opened up with "good morning" lol

Cowherd isn't perfect, I wont' argue that, but he wasn't asking the questions in a mean or provocative way, and was absolutely in a positive/non-confrontational mood. He gave Harbaugh numerous opportunities to glow about the strengths of Michigan and Ann Arbor and he totally failed to do do so.

And I actually do think Cowherd ending it was good for Harbaugh more than anyone

Here's a link to the interview

http://www.maizenbrew.com/2015/7/1/8877361/jim-harbaugh-went-on-colin-cowherds-radio-show-earlier-and-things

and plus that question about michigan and the big 10 being a "buy" right now was indeed weird. i mean, i honestly did not know what he meant by it and harbaugh was generally confused but it may have seemed like he was pretending to be confused, but i was genuinely confused too....it must have just been the way he said it.

i thought he meant "bye" or give them a "bye" like a pass or something, but he meant "BUY BUY BUY!" which is good. weird. maybe the way his voice was

I think it's kind of like Marshawn and interviews...

Harbaugh was on Tim Kawakami's podcast earlier this year, and he gave a great interview.

Link to transcript:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2015/02/13/jim-harbaugh-interview-transcript-didnt-leave-49ers-felt-like-49er-hierarchy-left/

Link to audio:
https://soundcloud.com/mercurynews/the-tk-show-ep-01


But Harbaugh knows and trusts Kawakami, so he's going to give him a great interview.


Same with Marshawn. He's not going to give you a good interview unless he knows and trusts you.

See my thread about Conan. Marshawn gave him a great interview because he knows and trusts him. (He also gives good interviews to Mike Silver and ESPN's Jim Trotter.)

But otherwise Harbaugh is going to Harbaugh.

Whose idea was it to put Harbaugh on that show? I don't mean from the show's side but from Michigan. Harbaugh is like Old Dirty Bastard or Lil Jon, you might like hearing a few sound bites once in a while, but he can't carry a whole song on his own. I would think by now everyone realizes this and would avoid putting him in any sort of long-format interview. Talk to him at half-time or mandatory pressers, but don't allow him to be subjected to a free-form interview with a ratings clown.

Davidson;842511198 said:

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and plus that question about michigan and the big 10 being a "buy" right now was indeed weird. i mean, i honestly did not know what he meant by it and harbaugh was generally confused but it may have seemed like he was pretending to be confused, but i was genuinely confused too....it must have just been the way he said it.

i thought he meant "bye" or give them a "bye" like a pass or something, but he meant "BUY BUY BUY!" which is good. weird. maybe the way his voice was

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That was ambiguous for sure. Since he was talking football and competition in the b10, I personally interpreted it as "bye," which made no sense given he had just said UM and OSU are so tough/big. I sort of assumed he was meaning: "b/c you, urban and franklin are there, basically it's just the three of you and the rest, so outside of those games, the b10 is kind of like a bye week." which again, makes no sense. Once he clarified that it was "buy" it made way more sense. That was on colin for sure (imo).

I still don't believe the stanfurd results came from honest competition and legitimate strength and conditioning.

Translation: Harbaugh had his meds tweaked and it's taking time to settle in...or his brother threatened to kick his butt in a super bowl game

Unit2Sucks;842511204 said:

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Whose idea was it to put Harbaugh on that show? I don't mean from the show's side but from Michigan. Harbaugh is like Old Dirty Bastard or Lil Jon, you might like hearing a few sound bites once in a while, but he can't carry a whole song on his own. I would think by now everyone realizes this and would avoid putting him in any sort of long-format interview. Talk to him at half-time or mandatory pressers, but don't allow him to be subjected to a free-form interview with a ratings clown.

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This has the be the first time someone has compared Harbaugh to ODB or Lil' Jon in the history of ever.

I have always thought that Harbaugh is "on the spectrum." And that is not his fault; nor does it significantly affect his coaching ability. But is does make him awkward in social situations, and it probably impacted his relationship with management and even some of the players as time went on. Pretty much every interview he had on KNBR while he was the 49ers coach were similar clunkers. He didn't need to be buddies with the interviewers to be kind and somewhat interesting.

Perhaps Steve Kerr should promote seminars on how to be a great interview without really trying. That guy is a master....

StillNoStanfurdium;842511243 said:

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This has the be the first time someone has compared Harbaugh to ODB or Lil' Jon in the history of ever.

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Amirite though? I was never able to listen to The Dirty Version all the way through, but love ODB when he's a verse here or there in a Wu-Tang song or whatever.

That must have made for unbelievable radio.

I listen to Cowherd almost every day. He takes some getting used to but he's very honest and straight forward with guests. He's also very polite. He have Hairball numerous chances to answer questions but jimbo just blew it. It would not surprise me if it came out that he was high

Kawakami has a great take on dealing with Harbaugh:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2015/07/01/jim-harbaugh-makes-a-splash-on-the-radio-but-not-in-the-normal-pr-way-but-actually-fairly-normal-for-him-and-its-not-a-bad-thing/

It sounded like Harbaugh didn't want to suck Cowherd's media mike. Good for him.

Davidson;842511198 said:

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and plus that question about michigan and the big 10 being a "buy" right now was indeed weird. i mean, i honestly did not know what he meant by it and harbaugh was generally confused but it may have seemed like he was pretending to be confused, but i was genuinely confused too....it must have just been the way he said it.

i thought he meant "bye" or give them a "bye" like a pass or something, but he meant "BUY BUY BUY!" which is good. weird. maybe the way his voice was

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Cowherd often uses the terms "buy" and "sell" as if he's a stock broker. So if he's "buying Michigan" it means he likes it (analogy is that its stock price will rise) But it isn't typical language on sports talk radio.

what was as interesting as hearing the interview, was ESPN radio's comments that he was not loved at Stanford, and that he was basically run off by the Niners

Vandalus;842511205 said:

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That was ambiguous for sure. Since he was talking football and competition in the b10, I personally interpreted it as "bye," which made no sense given he had just said UM and OSU are so tough/big. I sort of assumed he was meaning: "b/c you, urban and franklin are there, basically it's just the three of you and the rest, so outside of those games, the b10 is kind of like a bye week." which again, makes no sense. Once he clarified that it was "buy" it made way more sense. That was on colin for sure (imo).

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The proper way to say it on ESPN is "Buy or Sell." Most frequently used on the televised (not radio/internet) version of ESPN's PTI. They use it artfully as a question between two moderators, not thrown out randomly to a guest coach on the telephone.

I recently watched a documentary about Mike Tyson and how most of his opponents were so psyched out approaching the ring that a one or two round knockout was nearly guaranteed.

I think Cowherd shat his pants around minute one and did not realize it until he had hung up the phone and smelled something funky.

okaydo;842511232 said:

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They were equally responsible for the clunker. Cowherd asked poor questions, and Harbaugh failed to sell his program.