The difference a leader makes : Jim Harbaugh
John Harbaugh must be a really good leader. Even a great leader. If he ever writes a book on the way he leads, or if someone writes a book about it - I'm buying that book. Seeing what he has done with Stanford then the 49ers shows how much can be done by believing in your team.
If you aren't familiar with him, he's a little of what he has done. Stanford's records were:
- 2002: 2 - 9
- 2003: 4 - 7
- 2004: 4 - 7
- 2005: 5 - 6
- 2006: 1 - 11
Then Harbaugh was hired, and the records were:
- 2007: 4 - 8
- 2008: 5 - 7
- 2009: 8 - 5
- 2010: 12 - 1
It took a few years, but going from 1-11 in 2006 to 12-1 in 2010 is a significant change.
After the change he showed at Stanford, he was hired to coach the 49ers. The 49ers records were:
- 2007: 5 - 11
- 2008: 7 - 9
- 2009: 8 - 8
- 2010: 6 - 10
Now, this season with the 49ers he has turned the team around and they currently are 8-1 with the one loss being in overtime.
Sometimes what you need is someone who believes in you. There was a comment I saw in an article on espn.com today that shows how the belief from the coaches has changed the 49ers quarterback.
"Alex has been around here 6-7 years and has been dealing with a lot of B.S. around here, people calling him a bust, people not believing in him," 49ers safety Donte Whitner said. "But all he needed was a good coaching staff with the right tools and the right techniques, the right reads, to get in and teach him what to do. And he is leading this team, leading our offense. All throughout that game, they challenged him to beat them." - Source article
What I see between the lines it the new coaching staff believes in Alex. By believing in him, Alex is now leading the team in a way he couldn't have done without a coach like Jim Harbaugh.
