Art Spander - Sports Commentary

By Art Spander
49ers Insider, San Francisco Chronicle iPad App

NEW ORLEANS – The mystery is the attraction. That and the success. What we know about Jim Harbaugh is that his teams, at the University of San Diego, at Stanford, and now with the 49ers, win football games.

What we don’t know about Jim Harbaugh is almost everything else, other than his daily attire – the black sweatshirt, the khaki pants – and his circuitous, indirect answers to questions other than the color of his sweatshirt or his pants.

Which is the way he wants it. And what he wants is what Jim Harbaugh gets.

“We don’t give nothing away,’’ said Niners tight end Delanie Walker.

But on the eve of Harbaugh’s first Super Bowl, Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens and his brother, John, something has been given away about Jim Harbaugh.

It wasn’t where we might expect, in the Chronicle Sporting Green or even on ESPN. Instead – and this is so perfect for Harbaugh – it was in the Wall Street Journal. So perfect because Jim Harbaugh is all business.

An article by Kevin Clark points out that Harbaugh is a disciple of Andy Grove, the 76-year-old intellectual and former chief executive of Intel who in the mid 1960's wrote a guide to keeping on top of one’s game – and we’re not talking sports – “Only the Paranoid Survive.”

Of course. Jim Harbaugh, Mr. Paranoia, Mr. “We Don’t Give Nothing Away.” Other than those two fumbles which cost the Niners a chance to make it to the Super Bowl a year ago.

“His whole demeanor is about that book,” 49ers cornerback Perrish Cox, told Clark about Harbaugh.

Is that why he is so evasive? Is that why when asked if his own experience as an Raiders assistant coach in the 2003 Super Bowl, No. XXXVII, Harbaugh responds, “I think everybody’s anybody’s experiences; we’ll use all to a cumulative affect thing”?

Is that why he hoped we’d believe back in November that Colin Kaepernick and Alex Smith both were first-string?

Brother John said Jim is merely toying with the media, that deep down there beats a loving heart, that we really haven’t seen the man he knows. There’s a reason, certainly.

Jim won’t allow us to see that man. He chooses to keep us at arm’s length, psychologically if not physically.

Jim, what have you seen from the changes to the Ravens offense since Jim Caldwell became coordinator a couple of months ago?

“Yeah, we’re not going to get into a lot of scheme talk,” said Jim Harbaugh.

“What’s new, what’s different. What we expect them to do.”

What we expect from Harbaugh isn’t exactly the unexpected but more significantly the unorthodox. Bench Alex Smith after a mid-season injury for someone who never had started an NFL game, Kaepernick? Is Harbaugh crazy? No, paranoid. And brilliant.

Jim is the son of a coach and the brother of a coach. Intensity? “An enthusiasm unknown to mankind.” Jack Harbaugh, the father said that about his sons – and daughter, Joanie Harbaugh Crean, wife of the Indiana basketball coach. And three days ago, Jim Harbaugh said it about the way the 49ers are going about their business.

Harbaugh played under Bo Schembechler, who when Jim got his first head coaching job, at San Diego, said to his pupil, “Tell me you’re going to have a tight end that puts his hand in that ground on every snap. Tell me you’re going to have a fullback that lines directly behind the quarterback, and a halfback in the I-formation.” He had that until Kaepernick and the Pistol.

Harbaugh studied the films and videos of teams coached by Bill Walsh, who led the Niners to three Super Bowl victories.

Harbaugh, we now learn, also is paying homage to the philosophy of a fellow worker from Silicon Valley – if in a slightly different sort of production – Andy Grove, who wrote, companies don’t die because they are wrong but because they won’t commit.

The Niners head coach is very committed and rarely wrong. the best example is Kaepernick, who most of us, including former Super Bowl quarterbacks turned commentators Trent Dilfer and Steve Young, believed wasn’t experienced or poised enough to get the Niners to the Super Bowl.

Paranoia? Someone dared ask Harbaugh whether he second-guessed himself after the decision to go with Kaepernick, as if such an admission ever would be made.

“I hesitate to answer those questions about that,” Harbaugh said in a Harbaugh manner. “All those questions and answers really lead to a lot of self-promotion . . . I’d rather answer those questions another time.”

Meaning, he won’t answer them.

“Life is full of bitter disappointments,” was a Harbaugh comment. He was referring to the playoff loss which ended the 2011 season. But that axiom also served as a reminder to those intent on finding out more about the coach or his team.

They don’t give nothing away.