With so much energy being spent looking at the personality conflicts that led to the end of Jim Harbaugh's coaching tenure with the 49ers, former quarterback Trent Dilfer cited several football issues.
Dilfer, who won a Super Bowl in 2000 with the Baltimore Ravens and spent the final two years of his career with the 49ers, said on 95.7 The Game that he expects the team to improve next season with Harbaugh gone.
"I'll be shocked if next year's 49ers team isn't better than this year's team," said Dilfer, now an ESPN analyst.
49ers CEO Jed York used his press conference to say he wants his next coach to be a teacher and Dilfer indicated that wasn't a strength of Harbaugh.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh speaks to San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York before their NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at
San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh speaks to San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York before their NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) ( JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO )
"You will hear -- and don't take my word for it, this will happen in the next month -- you will hear a lot of stories coming out of the 49ers building of players feeling like they weren't developed," Dilfer said. "They weren't taught. They didn't become better. They were confused. There was a lack of energy. The work environment was one that was hard to sustain a level of excellence every day.
"Jed and Trent can't say this. I understand it. But there's going be people that will come out and say those things. That's the core of the issue here and the next coach is going to be a guy that can infuse energy and enthusiasm into the building and create a work environment and a culture where everybody feels empowered."
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Dilfer also pointed to Harbaugh's history of maintaining short tenures. He spent just three years at the University of San Diego before moving on to Stanford and his tenures with the Cardinal and 49ers lasted just four years each.
"I get it's really easy to look at the average wins per (season) and Jim did a heck of a job and I've been on record saying that," Dilfer said. "But if you look at how he left Stanford, you look at how he leaves the 49ers, he did a really nice job building, but it was a short tail in terms of success."
Asked for his view on what philosophical differences there could've been between Harbaugh and the front office, Dilfer opined that York and company wanted to change the culture.
When it was suggested that Harbaugh changed the culture to a winning one, Dilfer replied, "Did it win this year? Again, you have to have a long tail in this business. You have to be able to continue to relate to the younger player. You have to continue to inspire. You have to continue to energize and coach your coaches. You have to develop the players that are in your fastball lane, meaning the offensive players if you're Jim Harbaugh.
"He got a lot of credit for developing the quarterbacks, both Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick. But if you really look at their body of work at the end, they never got better in the critical areas of quarterbacking. ... Don't judge them by the stats, judge them by third-down efficiency, red zone productivity, end of halves, end of games -- critical moments when quarterbacking becomes graduate level. And both Alex and Colin did not perform their best in those moments."
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