All appearances are that Ross and the Dolphins had a handshake deal in place with Harbaugh, who then changed his mind when Stanford made a last minute push for him. Harbaugh's waffling and mind-changing, imo, have left Ross and the Dolphins with egg on their face. This is why the Phins are claiming WE were the ones who changed our mainds. It strains credulity, howver, to ask people to believe the Dolphins went all out trying to get Jim HArbaugh (flying the owner cross country, and throwing ridiculous money at him) then decided we love Sparano. To me, it's much more likely that Stanford managed to sway Harbaugh's decision. One indicator of this was Luck saying he was returning for another year of school, MONTHS before it was normal for a junior to announce such a thing. The timing heavily suggests a concerted and co-ordinated effort to get Harbaugh to remain at Stanford for another year. So, what I hope happens is that Harbaugh signs his Stanford extension... then Andrew Luck changes his mind (just like Harbaugh) and comes out. I hope he goes to the NFL and leaves Harbaugh holding his nutsack the way Harbaugh just did to us. My question is, does anyone know if Andrew Luck is officially allowed to change his mind about entering the draft? Because nothing could make me happier at this point. p.s. - eff Carl Peterson for his crappy football advice. Ross trusted him to navigate these unknown waters (unknown to Ross) and brought Peterson for that reason. We end up with a shipwreck. Thanks Carl.
You shouldn't be bitter about anything other than your owner being incompetent in the one important function he actually has.
lol. Actually, I feel like Carl Peterson was the one whom Ross trusted in this process. Ross doesn;t know football. how many coaching seraches has he done in his life? He flew out there, thought he had 'closed the deal'... probably had not yet fired Sparano on Peterson's advice... and then this happens. The irony is, I think if Ross had been decisive and fired Sparano on Monday, then when he met Harbaugh they could have signed paperwork immediately. Instead, Harbaugh was ready to sign, but we waited and he changed his mind. By the way... check out this quote by Andrew Luck's Dad about where Luck might have ended up being drafted... "Whether it was the Carolina Panthers or the Oakland Raiders or the Miami Dolphins, it didn’t really make a difference to Andrew." Our image is about equal to the Raiders and Panthers, I guess. lol.
Barry, it is my understanding that a player can change his mind about the draft as much as he wants as long as 1) he doesn't sign an agent and 2) sign whatever official documentation there is that declares him in the draft and 3) All this is done by the deadline.
Actually, the deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft is next week. Luck is a sophmore, not a Jr. Harbaugh knew Luck was staying before the Orange Bowl even started.
seems like alot of speculation. i have no idea whats gone down, and to be perfectly honest, dont care anymore
Personally, I wish Harbaugh the best and I hope he turns the 49ers around. That's all. I hold nothing against him because who knows what really went on? "Sources" no longer exist in my world.
The problem with this - which seemed reasonable at the time - is that Harbaugh has gone with the Niners at 5 & $25. Hmmm..... Maybe, like some coaches have done at different times, Harbaugh was swayed by the money and Ross' support in a hard sell meeting (you know Ross has to be good at that to be where he is), agreed ... then walked away for a couple of hours and thought, "No, that's just too much risk and I can't do it." Hey that happens all the time. If it did, the best thing the Dolphins could have done was to be honest about that. To say what they are saying now actually is worse for them than to say, "we had a deal and he went back on it." That makes him look worse in some ways - though most will understand. Everyone gets a few hours to return something they bought. Buyers remorse - even though he was getting the money, that's likely what Harbaugh had.
I warned the board a year ago about Peterson. If he becomes involved in day to day operations of the Dolphins, expect some very bad times for us in the future.