"sticks-and-stones" School

When Jim Harbaugh was hired out of Stanford to be the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 2011, people drew parallels to the time when Bill Walsh, the legendary 49ers coach, was hired out of Stanford. Niner nation was convinced that Harbaugh will bring back the famed West Coast offense system into the 49ers playbook.

In a Traditional offense, the focus is on establishing a run game first, draw in the defense and possibly open up passing lanes downfield. In contrast,The 49ers' West Coast offense -- as developed by former San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh -- relies on short passes that stretch the defense horizontally using a quick, horizontal passing attack which then sets up the running game. The legendary 49ers QB Joe Montana mentioned that in the Bill Walsh system he was never forced to throw down the field unless he liked it. He said the emphasis was to give the ball to the play makers and let them make big plays.

But Jim Harbaugh is not a West Coast practitioner. Looking at how the 49ers have played under Harbaugh, it is clear that the emphasis is on a strong defense and a powerful running game. The great Jerry Rice called for the diapers to be taken off Alex Smith so that he can play more freely, perhaps throw passes more frequently, but that does not look like it will happen. The reason is: 49ers under Harbaugh play old school football.

Harbaugh said this after winning the NFL Coach of the year in 2011: "I consider myself from the Woody Hayes coaching tree, Bo Schembechler is also part of that tree. Woody has the biggest tree in coaching". In this Woody Hayes/Schembechler coaching style the emphasis is on a fundamentally sound ground game and a physical and strong defense. 

Reading about Harbaugh's life, Bo's influence on him is clear. Harbaugh was around Bo when Jack, Jim Harbaugh's dad, worked as a defensive coach under Bo Schembechler. It continued when Schembechler picked Harbaugh to be Michigan's QB and the duo went onto win many bowl games. It seems like it was here that Jim picked up on Bo's coaching style which traditionally featured strong defense, dominating offensive lines, and a power-running attack. In the words of one commentator, Schembechler coached a "remorseless and punishing" brand of football. Bo's mentor in turn was Woody Hayes who has been described to profess the conservative style of predominantly running the ball at the opponent. Woody, they said, believed that the pass should be used as an element of surprise.

In an increasingly QB driven pass happy league, the 49ers, a proud and regal franchise, are bringing back an old style of playing football. Looks like other teams are going nuts trying to make sense of all this.

P.S - I actually wonder but don't know enough about football yet to determine if Harbaugh is creating a hybrid approach. San Francisco seems to utilize complex formations and personnel packages which is probably west coast style. Mind going crazy now.