49ers CEO Jed York said Wednesday that he “definitely” anticipates Jim Harbaugh to be the coach of the 49ers for a long time and that Harbaugh and General Manager Trent Baalke have a healthy working relationship.
That issue came up because of a report from Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News about “creative tensions” between Harbaugh and General Manager Trent Baalke. During an appearance on KNBR, York didn’t deny that the coach and the G.M. butt heads on occasion but that they eventually figure out “the best thing for the 49ers” and move forward from there.
York wouldn’t discuss specifics about an extension for the coach, but did say that Harbaugh has never asked for more personnel control in the future.
“He’s never asked for that, he’s never intimated any of that,” York said, via CSNBayArea.com. “And it’s easy to say, it’s easy to speculate, ‘Well, he was in college and he had full control and he wants full control here.’ That sounds great until you actually get to reality. And Jim’s never really ever asked for that.”
Things have worked out pretty well for the 49ers with Harbaugh and Baalke at the reins of the franchise, so it is no surprise that York wants to keep things in place as long as possible. If Harbaugh feels the same way, hammering out an extension this offseason shouldn’t prove to be too difficult.