Jim Harbaugh calls end of contract talks 'refreshing'
Jed York, the 49ers' owner, said Thursday that the team has decided not to rework head coach Jim Harbaugh's contract until after the end of the season. Friday, Harbaugh called the end of negotiations "refreshing," while York said "There's not some crazy divide" between the sides.
Harbaugh has two years left on the five-year contract he signed with the San Francisco in 2011.
The 49ers have advanced at least as far as the NFC Championship game in each of Harbaugh's three seasons with the team. His overall record is 36-11-1.
“Isn’t it refreshing?” Harbaugh told CSN Bay Area. “It has to be refreshing for you, refreshing for everybody in the building, refreshing for our fan base that the concentration will be on the 2014 season and our goals as a football team and achieving those goals. That’s the 49er way that I subscribe to."
“There’s not some crazy divide of where we are,” York told CSN Bay Area. “When we talked about a deal, Jim very clearly said, ‘I don’t want to do a deal too early because as a leader of the team, I don’t want to set that precedent. When we talked about the contract we offered, it wasn’t Jim demanding to be the highest-paid coach. It was him saying, ‘I don’t think now is the right time because it sets the wrong precedent.’"
The 49ers open the 2014 season against the Cowboys on Sept. 7.
- Dan Gartland
