NFL

49ers Owner Jed York Would ‘Love' to Have Dinner With Former Coach Jim Harbaugh

It has been nearly 30 months since Jed York and Jim Harbaugh shared an awkward pregame embrace on Harbaugh's final day as 49ers coach.

The two have gone in different directions.

York and the 49ers have experienced a rapid decline. After a 2-14 season, York made the move to hire Kyle Shanahan as the 49ers' fourth coach in four seasons. Meanwhile, Harbaugh has thrived as head coach of Michigan, his alma mater.

On the MMQB Podcast with Peter King, York addressed what was announced as a "mutual parting."

"I don’t know if 'regret' is the right word," York said. "We had a lot of success together. We tried several times to get an extension done with Jim and, for whatever reason, those didn't culminate. And ultimately, as successful as it was here, I think Jim is very happy and he's doing an unbelievable job at Michigan.

"We obviously didn’t have success after Jim left. I don’t know that we'd be sitting here with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan if something happened. And I don’t know that it would have worked in the long-term if we did get something done. I regret how we performed the last two years. I regret that the relationship was frayed between me and a coach that, you know, did a lot of great things for this franchise."

York said he saw Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, Jim’s brother, at the NFL owners meetings in Arizona. John Harbaugh told York he should get together with Jim and have dinner at some point to clear the air.

"I said, 'I'd love to do that.' I’d love to get together," York said. "And I think enough time has kind of passed where you can let whatever issues were there be buried and just truly be thankful for three great years when nobody expected us, certainly in 2011, to beat the Saints the way we did, to get close and, you know, be two muffed punts away from going to a Super Bowl in ‘11.

"And Just all the things that happened, and I'd love to sit down with Jim. Not in front of cameras, not in front of anybody else, but just share an evening with him and truly say 'Thank you,' and wish him the best of luck. Not obviously when he plays Notre Dame, but for the rest of the season, wish him the best of luck."

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