49ers cornerback Carlos Rogers took a few minutes to chat 790 The Zone in Atlanta, and the second team All Pro had some amusing comments about working with a coach like Jim Harbaugh:
On playing for Jim Harbaugh:
"It's fun. He's a little crazy. He do things different than, I would say, a normal head coach. You'll see the guy holding field goals for [David] Akers, taking snaps at quarterback, throwing the ball to the receivers when they're going over their routes, over there talking to DBs like he really knows what's going on, and just having fun throughout the whole practice. He has fun and he interacts with every position."
On Harbaugh still having what he termed "the college mentality":
"Long practices, long meetings. We was there from I guess eight in the morning till probably eight at night. This is a - since I've been in the league - longest training camp I've had as far as meetings. And you still kinda see some of his things where he goes about - as college students, you take more time to learn stuff. With older guys, some guys have been in the league for a while. Even with them, once you come into the NFL, you gotta learn stuff fast. You can't sit there and coach everybody like they're coming from high school to college. These guys, being through college at least three years and a couple years in the league, and even when you come in as a rookie you got to catch on fast. You can't sit back and wait on the coach to give you extra time. You need extra time, it's time after everybody leave. Get with your coach then. But other than that, it's nothing that we complain about. He's a wonderful coach."
We often hear about how players enjoy Coach Harbaugh, but we don't often get these kinds of details about him. At this point, Coach Harbaugh has managed to build a fantastic rapport with the team, while also doing a great job developing his coaching staff. Everybody has their specific complaints about what they see on the field on Sundays, but the coaching side of things remains in great shape.
It will be interesting to see how things would play out if the team starts struggling, but Harbaugh's personality still seems to be something that works well no matter the case. When the 49ers have come off losses, we see a down Harbaugh who is not pleased to be dealing with the media. Of course, there is a difference between being down after a midseason loss in a 13-3 season, and dealing with the players, media and so forth in a 5-11 season. I don't expect that to be happening any time soon, and it's not something I prefer to ponder in general, but it's still something to consider.