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He had to, the money was too big to turn down.

Reportedly Harbaugh will get $5M/yr, and Stanford made him a similar offer. He wants to go to the NFL. The 49ers could be the ideal place - he gets a very weak division to play in, the 49ers do have some talent (though not nearly as much as their owner seems to believe), and 49ers fans have gotten used to lowered expectations since the Yorks took over.

He also gets to follow in Bill Walsh's footsteps, and Harbaugh seems to cherish his association with Walsh at Stanford.

The negatives are the clueless ownership and front-office. There's also the fact that college coaches haven't been setting the NFL on fire in recent years. Harbaugh is another Chicago tough guy from the '80s Bears, just like the 49ers' last coach Mike Singletary. But the tough guy rah-rah stuff goes over like a lead balloon in today's NFL. By the end of Singletary's run, players were no longer paying attention to him unless they were arguing loudly with him on the sideline.

unless they were arguing loudly with him on the sideline.

When I saw that I knew he was gone, just thought the York's would have the decency to let him finish the year.