Lions Coach Jim Schwartz chased after Niners Coach Jim Harbaugh and shoved him after what he apparently felt was an overexuberant celebration by Harbaugh following the 49ers’ 25-19 victory on Sunday.
Harbaugh rejoiced with his players, jumping up and down, as he crossed the field to meet Schwartz. Harbaugh shook Schwartz’s hand vigorously (to put it mildly), backslapped him (again, vigorously), then continued celebrating. At that point, Schwartz snapped and had to be held back by his players after he accosted Harbaugh and jostled him a few times.
Harbaugh admitted he slapped Schwartz’s hand too hard.
“I was really revved up. That was on me a little, too hard a handshake there.” Harbaugh then said he got a jostled by Schwartz after Schwartz chased him 40 yards down the field.
“I do get emotional, I do get fired up. A lot. I not going to apologize for that. If that offends you or anybody else, so be it.”
Harbaugh has ruffled feathers before (see video below). As coach at Stanford, he had a testy exchange after a 55-21 victory over Pete Carroll’s U.S.C. Trojans. Stanford went for a 2-point conversion in the second half during the rout. “What’s your deal?” Carroll said when they met at midfield after the game.
Football isn’t a genteel sport, but apparently Schwartz considered Harbaugh’s behavior a breach of decorum.
We’ll get Schwartz’s reaction soon. But for now, do you think Schwartz was justified in being upset?
6:10 p.m. | Updated Schwartz has been quoted as saying: “I went to congratulate Coach Harbaugh and got shoved out of the way. And then I didn’t expect an obscenity at that point, so it was a surprise to me at the end of the game.”
It’s a puzzling statement because the video doesn’t show Schwartz being shoved, unless he construed Harbaugh’s hard backslap as a shove. And there’s no way to know, for now, what he meant about an obscenity. Maybe he’s suggesting that Harbaugh used a swear word while whooping it up.
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