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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Since You Asked: Crater Lake Avenue road sign confuses motorist Britt upgrades to be re-examined after state land-use ruling Jordan Cove would be 'game-changer,' but coast residents worry about impacts, dangers Get Up & Go: Dec. 29 Missing girl's family, friends, want more info from police Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Missing girl's family, friends, want more info from police Emergency Services Emergency Services Suspect in high-speed chase still unaccounted for Emergency services Politics and Elections State certifies recount showing failure of GMO-labeling measure Time running out for O&C funds GMO vote recount still shows little change GMO labeling votes recounted under careful watch in Jackson County Kent Bush: First Amendment doesn’t mean what you think it means Education Traveling artist sets the stage for Ruch School amphitheater Ruch school class focuses on the natural environment Bethel Church helps families at McLoughlin Middle School Logos may offer students 'fifth year' at RCC or SOU St. Mary's plays host to youth robotics tournament Environment Monument expansion expected to increase tourism, protect resources Biologist resigns over LNG reporting failure Bird flu discovered in Winston backyard flock Jackson County holds back on enforcing GMO ban for now No fish, no funding for problem dams State News Oregon missionary deported back to U.S. faces molestation charges Poverty rate in Oregon schools jumps since 2007 Northwest poultry producers fear bird flu outbreak may hurt exports John Day loggers, conservationists cut a deal to save a mill Seaside man accused in child's death Nation - World Obama makes Maduro’s ‘insolent Yankees’ line harder to sell Obituaries Patricia Ann Burton Alan Leslie Kenmoen Sharon Kay Boldt David A. 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Ashland Ski Area about loan Fans, friends and family welcome home victorious SOU team at airport Wedding: Boldt-Mahon Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories Dobra Tea menu offers hundreds of brews SugarBeats headline an all-ages dance party at Historic Ashland Armory In the Pocket releases 'I Got News' Live Music in Local Clubs Celebrate winter solstice with the Bad Film Society Theater ACT presents reading of 'The Quality of Life' Meet the real Jacob Marley This Nutcracker ballet will have a superhero twist Plumbing the depths of meaning TMTO presents 'A Christmas Carol: The Musical' Music SugarBeats headline an all-ages dance party at Historic Ashland Armory In the Pocket releases 'I Got News' Live Music in Local Clubs Southern Oregon Repertory Singers present 'The Holly and the Ivy' Tomaseen Foley's "A Celtic Christmas" returns to the Craterian Theater Community Events Celebrate winter solstice with the Bad Film Society Tomaseen Foley's "A Celtic Christmas" returns to the Craterian Theater Stefan Baumann and Eugene Bennett highlight Third Fridays Dancing People Company celebrates the solstice Dance to the Southern Oregon Jazz Orchestra Dining Dobra Tea menu offers hundreds of brews Food for Thought: Wintertime wining and dining Coffee shops roll out holiday-inspired drinks Over Easy serves 'pop-up' brunch Sundays Ooblies Artisan Waffle Sandwiches Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Magazines & Special Sections NEWS NOW Our View: Council is barking up the right tree ... Suspect in high-speed chase still unaccounted for ... Southern Oregon Surrogacy Center opens in Medford ... Our View: Council is barking up the right tree ... Suspect in high-speed chase still unaccounted for ... Southern Oregon Surrogacy Center opens in Medford ... NFL 49ers' Harbaugh on the trading block? A deal could be very difficult Comment By Daniel Brown San Jose Mercury News MailTribune.com By Daniel Brown San Jose Mercury News Posted Dec. 25, 2014 @ 4:54 pm Updated Dec 25, 2014 at 4:55 PM By Daniel Brown San Jose Mercury News Posted Dec. 25, 2014 @ 4:54 pm Updated Dec 25, 2014 at 4:55 PM » Social News SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On a winter night in 2002, former Raiders executive Amy Trask returned home just in time to answer a ringing telephone. Al Davis was on the line. Trask was distracted after rushing through the front door and made out only snippets of the conversation. She heard the Raiders owner mention something about trading Jon Gruden. “I really don’t think we should do this,” Trask recalls saying. “You didn’t hear me,” Davis replied. “I just told you that I did it.” That stunning blockbuster marked the last time a hot coaching commodity was traded from one NFL team to another. Now it’s Jim Harbaugh’s turn. And the news could come just as swiftly. The 49ers are expected to part ways with their headstrong but highly successful coach soon after Sunday’s season finale against the Arizona Cardinals. The Raiders, who once traded away a charismatic, ambitious young coach, are among the candidates to be on the receiving end this time — if Harbaugh chooses to stay in the NFL. How do you trade a coach? It’s more complicated than trading a player, which explains why it has happened only a handful of times in the modern era, albeit involving some of the biggest names in coaching — Gruden, Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells and Dick Vermeil, to name a few. It’s such tricky process that the 49ers might have to fire Harbaugh if they can’t swing a deal — or if the coach refuses to play along. (He would have to sign off on any deal and might not be in the mood to make things easy on his bosses). Harbaugh won like crazy, especially over his first three seasons when the team went 36-11-1 and reached three NFC title games and a Super Bowl. But along the way he has clashed with CEO Jed York and general manager Trent Baalke, who have apparently concluded that the Harbaugh-induced headaches now outweigh the wins. Harbaugh has one season remaining on a five-year deal that pays him $5 million per year. But, strange as it sounds for a coach getting pushed out of town, he’s also in position to earn a significant pay raise. This is where it gets complicated. Unlike most players, head coaches under contract have veto power when it comes to their trade destination. It’s essentially a two-step process: 1. The two teams would need to agree on trade compensation. 2. The new team would need to work out a contract with the coach (whose current contract doesn’t generally get shipped over). Both parts of the equation are high stakes. Harbaugh will be operating with substantial contract leverage because the University of Michigan has reportedly offered him a six-year deal in the $48 million range. There is no protocol for compensation between an NFL team and a college team. Harbaugh, despite falling out of favor amid a 7-8 season, is the hottest name on the market. “He’s been an excellent football coach, and we’re losing sight of that because of all the distractions,” former coach Herman Edwards said in a phone interview. Edwards, now an ESPN analyst, was technically the last NFL coach to be traded. In 2006, the New York Jets agreed to let Edwards out of his contract so that he could replace Dick Vermeil with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Jets haggled for a bit but settled for a fourth-round draft pick. “I finally got a chance to show I was worth a draft pick,” cracked Edwards, who went undrafted as a college senior and then played 10 years in the NFL. The compensation for Harbaugh is tougher to peg. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported last off-season that the Cleveland Browns were poised to offer two third-round draft picks for the 49ers coach. But now Harbaugh is a year closer free agency and coming off of tumultuous season, so the asking price likely has fallen. Could Harbaugh step down from his 49ers post in order to move on? If he did, he’d be stuck. The NFL’s Anti-Tampering Policy states that “an employee under contract to a member club... who voluntarily resigns or retires prior to the expiration of his contract, is not free to discuss or accept employment with another NFL club without the consent of the prior-employer club.” That’s what happened in the cases of Vermeil and Marty Schottenheimer, who essentially “retired” only later to be lured back by a coaching offer. In both instances, their old clubs received compensation because they were still under contract. In Harbaugh’s case, it’s tough to imagine the 49ers commanding the type of package the Raiders once got for Gruden. The wunderkind coach established himself in Oakland by going 40-28 (including playoffs) and winning back-to-back AFC West Division titles over his final two seasons. Like Harbaugh, he had resurrected a once-proud franchise: When the Raiders went 12-4 in 2000, they captured their first division title since 1990. The Buccaneers surrendered their 2002 and 2003 first-round draft picks. The Raiders also received two second-round picks and $8 million in the deal. (The identity of those draft picks is murky because the Raiders did more wheeling and dealing, but Philip Buchanon, Tyler Brayton and Langston Walker were the best of the haul.) Gruden got a five-year deal from the Bucs that paid him almost $4 million a season, more than tripling his Oakland salary. Gruden promptly became the youngest coach at the time ever to win a Super Bowl, leading the Bucs over the Raiders at age 39 years, 5 months and 9 days. “We were determined not to let outside pressures derail us from our goal to find the best person to coach the Buccaneers. Our fans deserve nothing less,” Bryan Glazer, the team’s executive vice president, said at the time of the trade. Charley Casserly, the former NFL executive for Washington and Houston, once ventured that the value of a top-tier NFL coach was at least two No. 1 picks. In a piece he wrote for NFL.com in 2013, he put it this way: “Would you rather have a young franchise quarterback like Andrew Luck or Bill Belichick. … Personally, I would pass on the star quarterback and take the top-tier coach … With the salary cap inching up by small amounts each year, the value of an excellent coach only increases.” NFL teams, including the Raiders might be ready to pounce, but the timeline gets tricky. The “Rooney Rule” requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate. If another team hires Harbaugh within a day or two after the season, it would, in the words of Florio, make “a mockery of the Rooney Rule.” Even without the Rooney Rule, league policy prohibits getting a head start. Another facet of the NFL’s Anti-Tampering Policy is that until after the final game of the season: —No head coach may discuss or accept employment for the current or a future season with another club in the League. —No club may request permission to discuss employment with a head coach for the current or a future season. —No employer club may grant another club permission to discuss employment with its head coach for the current or a future season. As the 49ers stagger toward their final game, no one is bothering to pretend that Harbaugh will be back. Even the normally feisty coach has sounded increasingly resigned in recent weeks. At his news conference Monday, he sounded at peace: “What will happen, will happen,” he said. Edwards, the former Jets and Chiefs coach, is mystified that it’s come to such an unhappy ending. But he said that York has to do what’s in the best interest of the franchise. “Harbaugh will continue to be a great coach,” Edwards said. “But this is something we tell players all the time when we (part ways with them), ‘Hey, you’re going to be a good player. But you don’t fit in this system, and in this philosophy right now.’” By Daniel Brown San Jose Mercury News MailTribune.com By Daniel Brown San Jose Mercury News Posted Dec. 25, 2014 @ 4:54 pm Updated Dec 25, 2014 at 4:55 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. fantasy football Week 17 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Dec. 28, 2014 at 10:00 am Last-Minute Outlook for Fantasy Flex Players Dec. 28, 2014 at 9:00 am Last-Minute Fantasy Advice for Week 17 Dec. 28, 2014 at 7:00 am Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 17 Dec. 27, 2014 at 12:00 pm Final NFL Week 17 Odds Projections and Fantasy Stars to Watch Dec. 27, 2014 at 10:00 am Fantasy Football Daily League Guide to Week 17 Dec. 27, 2014 at 8:06 am calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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