JIM HARBAUGH EYES NFL GLORY IN LOS ANGELES, FLEEING NCAA SANCTIONS
He won his national championship, as treasured, and he escapes Michigan with Connor Stalions in his rear-view mirror, inheriting Justin Herbert and turning on southern California with his crazed drama
Fans of the Chargers in Los Angeles, all 100 of them, will be thrilled to hear Jim Harbaugh signed up as head coach. They will care even less that he fled a savage predicament in the Midwest, where the NCAA was ready to terminate him with Level I violations in two ongoing investigations. Remember: He won a national title despite the presence of Connor Stalions and who knows what else was happening under that blue Michigan cap, which might have included drone delivery and living robots.
But now he has peace in the world, a five-year contract with a team that needs marketing help in southern California but also has Justin Herbert at quarterback. For Harbaugh, one enduring salve will lead to another’s healing. He has won everywhere he has been on the sidelines, finally in college after nearly beating his brother 11 years ago in the Super Bowl. Now he needn’t worry about cheating inside other stadiums and dirty recruiting amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those personal taints are gone forever. He must figure out how to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West while trotting out an NFL career mark of 44-19-1, which is slightly better by winning percentage than Andy Reid. With Herbert, he has hope but will need more weapons despite a salary-cap count $27.5 million over the limit, while fixing a defense that slumped to 27th in the league. It won’t be easy in a conference with Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and C.J. Stroud. But he has Herbert, who needs guidance beyond his TV ads.
“The only job you start at the top is digging a hole, so we know we've got to earn our way,” Harbaugh said Wednesday night. “Be better today than yesterday. Be better tomorrow than today. My priorities are faith, family and football, and we are going to attack each with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. This organization is putting in the work — investing capital, building infrastructure and doing everything within its power to win. Great effort equals great results, and we're just getting started.”
Often, Harbaugh has said, “I want to win a Super Bowl.” He was relieved to join brother John and father Jack at the champions’ dinner table after mauling Alabama and Washington — which led to Nick Saban’s retirement and Kalen DeBoer’s express train to Tuscaloosa. The pressure to win won’t be as insane as beating Ohio State and winning it all in Ann Arbor. But he’s also in a city that has won 17 NBA titles with the Lakers, six World Series titles and 12 National League pennants with the Dodgers and numerous football championships at USC and basketball titles at UCLA. This is the home of Shohei Ohtani and LeBron James.
How will Harbaugh fit in? Here is his chance at SoFi Stadium, which takes on a second home-team appearance for Chargers visitors and lags far behind the Rams as a common entity. He will bring a compelling drama that is headed in any and all directions. When he succeeded with the San Francisco 49ers, he created a scheme that made a GQ star of Colin Kaepernick before he feuded with general manager Trent Baalke. The 49ers sided with Baalke and he left for Michigan, which went sideways when he struggled to beat the Buckeyes before ruling the sport the last three years.
He hit it off with the Spanos family, which opened its wallet bigger than before. When the stadium was built, Rams owner Stan Kroenke spent his billions and asked the Chargers to pay $1 a year in rent. When Taylor Swift and other musical acts play, Kroenke is the one who makes out. The Spanos people are there to play football. Finally, after the wreck of the Brandon Staley era, they are serious enough to give Harbaugh almighty power in the front office. “Jim Harbaugh is football personified, and I can think of no one better to lead the Chargers forward,” owner Dean Spanos said. “The son of a coach, brother of a coach and father of a coach who himself was coached by names like Schembechler and Ditka — for the past two decades, Jim has led hundreds of men to success everywhere he's been as their coach. And today, Jim Harbaugh returns to the Chargers, this time as our head coach. Who has it better than us?"
You’ll be hearing that phrase frequently, maybe after touchdowns. How many times has Harbaugh said, “Who’s got it better than us?” Sure enough, by a photo of Harbaugh, the Chargers posted it on their website. At Michigan, fans are brooding but they realized this would happen. The more the NCAA was on the program’s case, including suspensions of Harbaugh for six of 12 regular-season games, people knew he was leaving. The Wolverines won all 15 games, leading to a firm belief that the interim head coach, Sherrone Moore, will inherit the lead job. There could be more NCAA violations. Harbaugh will be worried about his brother and dealing with Jackson, or Reid and dealing with Mahomes.
“My love for Michigan, playing there and coming back to coach there, leaves a lasting impact. I'll always be a loyal Wolverine," Harbaugh said. “I’m remarkably fortunate to have been afforded the privilege of coaching at places where life's journey has created strong personal connections for me. From working as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky alongside my father, Jack, and time as an assistant with the Raiders, to being a head coach at USD, Stanford, the 49ers and Michigan — each of those opportunities carried significance, each felt personal.”
Don’t forget: This is a homecoming. He played for the Chargers in San Diego during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. “When I played for the Chargers, the Spanos family could not have been more gracious or more welcoming,” he said. “Being back here feels like home, and it's great to see that those things haven't changed.”
The natives will need time. Last Monday, appearing at a March For Life rally in the nation’s capital, Harbaugh wandered into faith. “I just take the counsel from God and the Holy Spirit, and Mr. Jack Harbaugh, my dad, and my wife, Sarah,” he said of big decisions. “Just taking the advice, living one day at a time. One day at a time. One game at a time. One play at a time.”
And one desperate transition at a time.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.