Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh left the 49ers last year because of a reportedly salty relationship with management. San Francisco players apparently weren't the coach's biggest fans, either.
Harbaugh will be featured on HBO's Real Sports this week, and 49ers guard Alex Boone was one of several players interviewed; asked about his former coach's ways. Pro Football Talk took an advanced look at the episode and found that Boone likely won't miss Harbaugh.
MORE: One Michigan, under Harbaugh: 'Hollywood-ified' with rights
"He does a great job of giving you that spark, that initial boom," Boone said, according to the report. "But after a while, you just want to kick his ass. ... He just keeps pushing you, and you're like, 'Dude, we got over the mountain. Stop. Let go.' He kind of wore out his welcome."
Interviewer Andrea Kremer asked for clarification, and Boone expanded.
"I think he just pushed guys too far. He wanted too much, demanded too much, expected too much. You know, ‘We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this.’ And you’d be like, ‘This guy might be clinically insane. He’s crazy.’ ... I think that if you’re stuck in your ways enough, eventually people are just going to say, ‘Listen, we just can't work with this.'"
Harbaugh led San Francisco to a 44-19-1 record in four seasons, including three consecutive NFC title game appearances from 2011-13. He and the 49ers "mutually agreed to part ways" as soon as the 2014 season ended, and the team hired former defensive line coach Jim Tomsula as Harbaugh's replacement.
Tomsula, who has been with the 49ers for eight years, is billed as the polar opposite in personality to his predecessor; well-liked among players, coaching staff and management.