Michigan Football: Jim Harbaugh the college football version of Taylor Swift
San Francisco is to John Mayer
When Jim Harbaugh arrived in San Francisco to take over as head football coach of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers they hadn’t had a winning season since finishing 10-6 in 2002. After the dynasty that Bill Walsh had created in the 1980’s, George Seifert then took over in 1989 and won Super Bowls in 1989 and 1994.
The 49ers then fell on hard times after Seifert’s departure and returned to prominence under Harbaugh winning forty-four games in four seasons. Those successes included a trip Super Bowl XLVII where the 49ers lost to John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens. Following an 8-8 season in 2014 Harbaugh and the 49ers parted ways. Harbaugh moved on to the University of Michigan while the 49ers have only won thirteen games over three seasons (Harbaugh won thirteen games in 2011 alone).
After finding great success with Fearless, Swift decided to date John Mayer after contributing backing vocals to his single, “Half of My Heart.” Swift and Mayer had a tumultuous relationship leading to hit songs by Swift like “Mean” and “Dear John.” While the relationship of Swift and Mayer led to her album Speak Now which sold over a million copies in its first week of release, it did put a black eye on her reputation as Swift entered the much criticized world of the tabloids and her dating record led to gossip and rumors about her personal life.
Harbaugh left the 49ers with a taint on his reputation as well. While he did take the 49ers to three consecutive NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl appearance, Harbaugh’s reputation became one of being hard to deal with and burning out quickly.
Coach Harbaugh and Ms. Swift were both able to “Shake it Off” quickly and come back with hits of their own, while the 49ers and Mayer are in epic slumps. Mayer went on hiatus, had vocal cord issues, and is now the frontman for Grateful Dead as Dead & Company; not exactly the peak he saw while dating one of pop music’s biggest stars.