The Sports Xchange

San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Alex Boone seemed to be a staunch supporter of Jim Harbaugh when Harbaugh was the 49ers head coach. But now that Harbaugh is gone, Boone has radically changed his opinion, saying, among other things, that Harbaugh “wore out his welcome” with the 49ers.

“I think he just pushed guys too far,” Boone said on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” which is scheduled to air Tuesday. “He wanted too much, demanded too much, expected too much. You know, ‘We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this.’ And you’d be like, ‘This guy might be clinically insane. He’s crazy.’

“He does a great job of giving you that spark, that initial boom. But after a while, you just want to kick his —. … He just keeps pushing you, and you’re like, ‘Dude, we got over the mountain. Stop. Let go.’ He kind of wore out his welcome.”

After Harbaugh and 49ers parted ways last season, Harbaugh was named the head coach at Michigan. When asked by HBO whether he has a problem working with others, Harbaugh said, “It must be true. Because I’d wear out my welcome. People just don’t want to be around you for a while.”

Boone had a very different description of Harbaugh in a radio interview in September, when reports about Harbaugh’s job status began to circulate.

“I know for a fact that everybody loves Harbaugh,” Boone said on 95.7 The Game back then. “He’s a great guy. How can you not want to win for a guy that wears cleats during the game? Come on now. Have you not seen that guy’s energy? He’s excited 24-7. You’ve got to love to play for a guy like that. That’s what football is all about.”

Boone does thinks Harbaugh will be successful at Michigan.

“I think he’s a better college coach than he would be as an NFL coach,” Boone said on the HBO program. “It’s different for college kids than pro players. I don’t think college kids can say, ‘Hey, Jim, you’re pissing me off today.'”