* 9:10 a.m. update: For an example of what Harbaugh, York or Baalke might be able to say in the coming days… “Ray McDonald will not practice this week or play in Sunday’s game. We are not pre-judging the investigation and we care about Ray as a teammate. We also care about any possible victims of domestic abuse. This is not an issue the 49ers take lightly. We believe no practice or game is worth jeopardizing our core values. Ray will be paid for the game, pending the investigation and all future developments. We will now take your questions.”
Here, in order of relevant chain of command, is who could and probably should be stepping forward to take responsibility for wrenching the 49ers back towards some understandable code of conduct and declaring what this franchise actually does stand for, after all:
-Owner/CEO Jed York and other members of the York ownership family;
-Team president Paraag Marathe;
-General manager Trent Baalke;
-Coach Jim Harbaugh;
-McDonald’s teammates.
My guess: In the next few days, only the last two of those options will take questions from reporters about defensive lineman Ray McDonald’s domestic-abuse arrest or will generally speak about overall principles of behavior.
My other guess: For the foreseeable future, the most powerful members of the 49ers hierarchy will take a public pass and let the discussion go on without them, which would be a dereliction of responsibility but also relatively true to form.
I could be wrong. Maybe, in the next few days, York and/or Baalke will address the McDonald situation, which came so soon after the Aldon Smith suspension and with the Chris Culliver situation still pending.
If the execs in the top echelon of the 49ers leadership do speak, and speak with conviction and reason, and follow it up with rational action, then I will applaud them for it in this space and in any place that I write or speak.
But I don’t expect that.
I expect that this will all fall to Harbaugh–who is next scheduled to speak to the media on Wednesday–and the rest of the players (other than Smith, McDonald and Culliver).
So, realistically, most of this will probably be addressed by Harbaugh and only Harbaugh among 49ers authority figures. Which is the same as it has been for almost the entirety of the Smith situation.
And it shouldn’t have to come down to him, not really.
He’s the coach, not management; his job is to win games, not necessarily to serve as the steward for team values and discipline. But it still almost surely will be Harbaugh standing up there, by himself, over the next few days.
(What I wrote in May: The 49ers could use a Carmen Policy type for these situations–and to try to make sure there are no more of these situations–and I think Harbaugh was indirectly signalling that back then. They don’t have that kind of power exec in the building and it is ever more clear every day.)
If Harbaugh was also a VP (as Pete Carroll is with Seattle) or the shadow GM (as Bill Belichick is in New England), then all or most of this burden would fall on Harbaugh’s shoulders.
But as he probably would be eager to point out, Harbaugh is not a VP or shadow GM and hasn’t wanted that kind of power, anyway.
He is the coach. He doesn’t have control of the team’s roster. He doesn’t determine salaries. He tries to win games, and he has won a lot of them for the 49ers from the moment he stepped into the building.
Harbaugh can have bumpy moments speaking to the media and often brushes off questions that he doesn’t like, no doubt. But at least he gets up there and takes questions.
And I do believe he has a moral compass, which I’m not sure I can say about the rest of this franchise (at least not that has been displayed recently).
I believe Harbaugh has a clear sense of right and wrong, though it’s built on practicalities, of course, right along with the value sets of all other NFL coaches.
It’s not laced with hypocrisy, it’s not something Harbaugh brags about publicly, it’s not something set up to make himself look good (and then hide behind).
In my opinion, Harbaugh believes first, foremost and almost entirely in winning football games. In dominating the opponent. In conquering territory. He is not shy about saying that or acting upon that.
Which led in large part to the way the 49ers have coddled Aldon Smith and Harbaugh is unabashed about that.
When Harbaugh finally explained the reasoning for playing Smith only two days after his DUI arrest last year, Harbaugh didn’t hide behind fuzzy words and generalities; he told me the 49ers needed Smith to play that game and because he was needed, he had to play. That’s what professionals do.
Clear. Not vague. Not false. Not gauzy. But clear.
And… we do know that the 49ers locker room has a clear understanding of one thing about Harbaugh’s views.
We know it from Donte Whitner’s famous statement about Harbaugh’s values and his dealings with player discipline in 2013:
“He said that we can do anything in the world and we can come and talk to him and he’ll forgive us except put our hands on women,” Whitner said back then.
“(But) if you put your hand on a woman then you’re done in his book. So other than putting your hands on women, you can do anything and come talk to him, and it’s true.”
I’ve stayed away from emphasizing this quote because I’ve never actually heard Harbaugh say those words.
I don’t doubt he said them and believes them. I know several people who know Harbaugh fairly well and they all agree that Harbaugh draws the line at domestic abuse.
But again, this is what Whitner said about what Harbaugh said, so I don’t treat it as known 49ers policy towards domestic violence because it is NOT known 49ers policy.
Baalke certainly has never said anything publicly like that, to my knowledge–nor has Jed York nor has Marathe. Again, to my knowledge.
I will treat it as 49ers policy when I hear somebody who can make that policy say it or when they take an action that follows it.
Yes, that will probably come down to Harbaugh, unless Baalke, York or Marathe want to surprise us all by showing up at the podium before, after or during his Wednesday session.
So while it really shouldn’t be all put on Harbaugh, he might be the one who finally sets the tone for a 49ers code of conduct, lacking all other options on the 49ers hierarchy.
Unless he’s over-ruled by Baalke, York and Marathe. If he is, I hope Harbaugh lets us know that, too.
