It’s been 18 years since the team went looking for a new HC, I imagine there is no small amount of angst among the Ravens fanbase today.
Almost always a factor with which to be reckoned, those of us who followed have a lot of experience watching a pretty good team routinely come up one play short in a huge game. Patriots fan Bill Simmons of The Ringer once said that a playoff matchup against Baltimore worried him more than any other because the Ravens were “the one team that wasn’t afraid of the (Brady-led) Pats,” for what that’s worth.
Still, I imagine that Harbaugh will have little trouble landing a position elsewhere. He won a Super Bowl with Joe fucking Flacco.
I tend to agree that Harbaugh will get another HC gig fairly easily, but it’s not out of the question that he doesn’t immediately. The conventional wisdom when Belichick was fired was that he would get another HC job from some team looking to establish a winning culture, but in fact almost no one was interested.
And that SB win with Flacco was a loooooooong time ago in NFL terms.
All we really need for a good game of AFC North musical chairs is for the Steelers to fire Tomlin and wind up with something like Harbaugh in Cleveland, Tomlin in Baltimore, and Stefanski in Pittsburgh. It’d be amusing at least.
I just read in article in The Athletic about Harbaugh’s firing.
He started with the Ravens in 2008, which was also Flacco’s rookie season. Flacco started all 16 games, and the Ravens went to the playoffs. Indeed, they won at least one playoff game each year for the next five seasons, culminating in the Super Bowl win. But then they made the playoffs only once in the next 5 years, and it wasn’t until they drafted Lamar Jackson that they became regular playoff participants again, making the playoffs 7 out of the last 8 seasons. But they only made the AFC Championship game once, and that ultimately was probably his undoing. Plus, he wouldn’t fire his OC, who the owner wanted gone, so that was also a major factor.
The article also speculated that if the Ravens make the game-winning FG on Sunday night, Harbaugh keeps his job, but Tomlin gets fired.
I don’t disagree, but I could easily Google and find plenty of articles and commentary from immediately after he was fired saying he was a shoo-in for another HC gig immediately. Some commentators had already penciled him in to the Falcons. Almost everyone, including Belichick, was surprised when Raheem Morris was announced.
Here’s a post-mortem from ESPN that says the Cowboys and Commanders also had initial interest in Belichick before passing.
Which is hilarious in hindsight as they just fired both Raheem Morris and GM Terry Fontenot.
Not that I think Belichick would have done well in Atlanta, either. The HC as (actual) GM era has been done in the NFL for quite some time, and he was bad at the GM part of it to boot
So this seems as good a place as any to mention a recent episode of “Elsbeth” on CBS/Paramount, that’s based on the current Belichick/Jordon situation. They changed him from a football to basketball coach, but otherwise it’s pretty much on the nose. Best line, from the fictional Belichick to Jordon “Honey, I told you I don’t know what a DM is.”
Probably would be. It seemed like McDaniel had saved his job with how they closed out the season. You’d think if they were going to fire him, they would have done it Monday or maybe Tuesday. But then Harbaugh came on the market and Stephen Ross likes his big names and shady dealings.
But the question is if Harbaugh would be interested in any of these teams. Seems like there’s a lot of bad teams who have delusional expectations that they are just one coach and one season away from a winner. Most of them have bad and/or dysfunctional rosters, front offices, and owners, and no single coach is going to save them overnight.
A roster can be improved - the problem is with the last two - a messed-up front office and/or owner is long-term. A good coach who just needs a change in scenery, like Harbaugh, will go to a team with a healthy management structure (ya know, letting people who know about football - today and not 15 years ago - run things on the field).
I won’t say that Seattle went from being a bad team to being great. Not like the Bears/Patriots/Jaguars. They’ve won at least 7 games every year for the past 15 years after all, and only missed the playoffs 6 times over that same timespan. But they were stuck in a rut for at least a handful of years, as Pete Caroll’s last double-digit winning season was in 2020.
Bringing in Mike Macdonald as the head coach has turned things around immensely. They are dominant like we haven’t seen since they last made it to the Super Bowl. Sometimes you just need the right coach. But that sort of thing is definitely not the norm in this league.
Sure, but I don’t think that describes any of the teams looking for a coach this season except the Ravens .
Miami, in particular, may find it has fired its coach only to find they didn’t land their preferred candidates and have to settle for a placeholder.
I saw they claim the decision had nothing to do with Harbaugh’s availability. I’m sure that’s the truth. I mean, they also said they weren’t going after Brady a few years ago, and clearly they wouldn’t lie about things like that.
I’m certainly biased, but I feel like the Giants are one of the more attractive landing spots for a veteran coach. They have promising young players at the three main skill positions (QB, RB, WR), the 5th overall pick in the draft, and a weak GM meaning a veteran coach will have a lot of say in what players they want.
EDIT: Also, limited interference from the owner. For example, the owner was very against trading Saquon but let the GM make the decision.
I’ll also point out that being a HC in a major market like New York or LA is also a factor. There is a lot more scrutiny and attention paid to anyone operating in an area like that, which can be either good or bad depending on your perspective. I remember when there were rumors that Russell Wilson was hoping to end up on the Giants at a contract expiration in Seattle, the main reason was because he wanted to be in a bigger market. (Ultimately he stayed in Seattle for years afterward.)
I believe it was also a factor in Aaron Rodgers playing for the Jets. That’s definitely something that people think about. I can only assume this is a factor for head coaches as well.
MacDonald, of course, was defensive coordinator for Harbaugh before moving on.
From strictly a football centric POV, small market Baltimore is pretty attractive to up and coming coaches. Low key owner who lets football people make the football decisions, two decades of stability in a front office which is above average in working the draft, great facilities and a two time MVP signed long term at QB. They may not make the right decision this time around but they won’t make it in a rash and desperate manner.
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