Jim Harbaugh confirms he didn't leave 49ers by choice, told he was fired after Seahawks loss

You know that mutual parting of ways that occurred between the San Francisco 49ers and head coach Jim Harbaugh? The one that we all suspected wasn't actually mutual in any way, especially after Jed York and Trent Baalke played the fools (does that term work plural?) at Harbaugh's post-divorce press conference? Big shocker: it wasn't exactly mutual.

Harbaugh appeared on a podcast hosted by Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News on Friday, and talked quite a bit about his exit from the team. I haven't had a chance to listen to the full thing just yet, but I've gathered some quotes (primarily from our own Tre9er via Twitter) and of course, there's the link above.

On the podcast, Harbaugh says that he didn't leave the 49ers, but that the 49ers hierarchy left him. He then went on to say that the "mutual parting of ways" was only mutual in that Harbaugh didn't want to put the team in a bad spot by trying to fight with them. It makes sense, given that it would also put Harbaugh in a bad spot to try and stick around with an owner and general manager that were obviously done with him.

This all flies right in the face of the lies told to the fans by York and Baalke. I don't know if it would have necessarily been better if they came out and said "Look, we like power and Harbaugh didn't listen to us. So screw that guy," but at least that would have been honest, right?

From what I've heard, it's a fascinating interview, and Kawakami was clearly very excited to land it (and I know many people here have their own feelings on Kawakami but serious kudos goes to the guy over this). Harbaugh also mentions that things were awkward with Jim Tomsula near the end, which to me calls into question the legitimacy of the team's coaching search following Harbaugh's ousting. Did Tomsula already know the job was his?

I'm sure there's more, but the only other things I've noticed thus far: Harbaugh confirmed that he was told he was out after the Week 15 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and Harbaugh said that he didn't consider any other NFL team -- Michigan was always his destination.

Welp.