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Harbaugh evades questions about his 49ers future
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Almost four days removed from a discouraging loss to the rival Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh fielded very few questions about the game upon his return to the team’s practice facility Monday.
That’s because Harbaugh — not the team — became the center of attention Sunday when the highly successful coach was linked to a possible trade to this week’s opponent — the Oakland Raiders — during the NFL’s national telecasts.
In the wake of a disastrous game during which the team owner tweeted that the performance “wasn’t acceptable” and the general manager’s daughter went to social media to express her desire to see the club’s offensive coordinator fired, Harbaugh knew where Monday’s press conference was headed.
And he almost immediately stopped the blood-thirsty media in its tracks.
“Nobody was happy about losing the game, losing a big game,” Harbaugh responded when asked to respond to owner Jed York’s tweet. “We’re still not happy about it.
“Our job is … my job. Let’s talk about my job. My job is to get it right. That’s what we’re attacking today without excuse. Onward to the Raiders.”
It’s ironic the 49ers would be facing their cross-bay rivals this week, because the Raiders have two essentials a team would need to pursue Harbaugh this offseason: interest in acquiring a new coach (interim Tony Sparano currently is running the team) and attractive draft picks that might entice the 49ers to deal their coach before what would be the final year of his contract.
The Raiders (1-11) currently have the worst record in the league, which would give them the first pick in each round of next year’s draft.
Harbaugh to the Raiders? That’s not exactly what Harbaugh had hoped to talk about when he said, “Onward to the Raiders.”
“I don’t worry about my future,” he insisted. “Haven’t participated in any of that speculation. I think I have a recessive gene for worrying about my future. What I want is … I want to attack this week. I want to get this right.”
With that, Harbaugh slammed the door Monday on any talk about coaching the Raiders or on the tweets of York and Cassie Baalke on Thursday night.
While the 49ers were looking for answers for their 19-3 home loss immediately following their Thanksgiving night debacle, York felt it necessary to provide holiday cheer to his paying customers on their way home from the disappointing defeat.
York tweeted out an apology for the performance, writing: “Thank you #49ersfaithful for coming out tonight. This performance wasn’t acceptable. I apologize for that.”
While York was apologizing to the paying customers, general manager Trent Baalke’s college-aged daughter was delivering a message about offensive coordinator Greg Roman no doubt many were happy to receive.
Cassie Baalke tweeted, “Greg Roman can take a hike…the 49ers don’t want you no more.”
Roman’s offense did more bad than good in the one-sided loss, totaling just 185 yards to go with two costly turnovers.
The poor offensive showing wasn’t the first this month for the 49ers, who were held to 16 and 17 points, respectively, in lackluster wins over NFC East lightweights New York and Washington the previous two weeks.
Apparently Cassie Baalke, a sophomore basketball player at Bemidji State in Minnesota, has seen enough, something for which her dad apologized in a statement issued by the 49ers on Friday.
“My daughter and I both regret that her feelings got the best of her after (Thursday’s) game and that she chose social media as an avenue to express her feeling,” the statement read. “We have apologized to Greg for this unfortunate matter. While disappointed, as a father I will use this as a teachable moment to help my daughter grow.”
Cassie Baalke deleted her Twitter account Friday, but not before firing one last salvo: “Everybody’s entitled to an opinion…sorry mine doesn’t favor you or agree with yours.”
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