Jim Harbaugh is the brand new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, and to know what this implies and why it occurred, it’s important to perceive the place the group has been.
Proprietor Dean Spanos introduced the relocation from San Diego to L.A. in an open letter to followers on Jan. 11, 2017. Within the seven years and 14 days since, the Chargers have confronted an uphill battle to seek out their place in one of the aggressive sports activities marketplaces on the planet. A battle of their very own creation, however a battle nonetheless.
The group knew it was going to take time — to until this new land, to plant the seeds, to groom and domesticate these seedlings till they someday blossomed right into a ripened fan base. So the Chargers took their lumps, some deserved and a few not. By way of a 27,000-seat soccer stadium overrun by opposing followers each Sunday. By way of a paradigm shift at franchise quarterback from Philip Rivers to Justin Herbert. By way of a brief apply facility and two head coaches and a uniform redesign.
What has been lacking is what’s most essential: successful in January and February. They’ve the thrilling star quarterback. They’ve the enticing model, from the dashing powder blue jerseys to the cutting-edge content material. In sports activities, although, meaning nothing with out trophies and banners and parades. Particularly on this city. The enterprise, in the long run, is successful.
Every time the Chargers had an opportunity over the previous seven years and 14 days, they floundered.
The blowout loss to the New England Patriots within the divisional spherical in 2018.
The Week 18 time beyond regulation loss in Las Vegas in 2021 that wasted one of many nice comebacks in latest league historical past.
Jacksonville.
For the Chargers, the hump separating them from Los Angeles relevance has confirmed to be a mountain. They introduced it on themselves, and so they haven’t delivered that almost all important ingredient, sustainable successful.
And in order the staff moved on from head coach Brandon Staley and basic supervisor Tom Telesco in December after a calamitous loss to the Raiders, the seek for successful and successful alone turned the driving motivation.
Gamers and coaches typically get requested a couple of sense of urgency when a season is spiraling.
Over the past month, it has been the Spanos household grappling with the urgency of this second.
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Purchase
The shelf life for staking a declare in L.A. is finite, and the sting is in view.
The Chargers had no selection however to push their boundaries, their approaches, their very id to seek out that lacking ingredient. To seek out the one that might ship them the successful they so desperately want. To try this, they needed to buy groceries on the pinnacle of the game. No up-and-comers or rising stars. No, they wanted proof of idea. A winner by means of and thru, with the skins on the wall to point out for it.
Enter Jim Harbaugh.
He agreed to phrases with the Chargers on Wednesday, the staff introduced. It’s a five-year deal, based on The Athletic’s Jeff Howe.
“Jim Harbaugh is soccer personified,” Dean Spanos mentioned in an announcement.
the man we wished, the man we received. pic.twitter.com/BIRjDWbUBy
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) January 25, 2024
The outcomes converse for themselves.
In 2007, Harbaugh took over a Stanford program that had completed 1-11 the earlier season. In 2009, the Cardinal completed 8-5. The following season, the staff went 12-1, together with a win within the Orange Bowl.
In 2011, Harbaugh made the transfer to the NFL and took over a San Francisco 49ers staff that went 6-10 the earlier season. That first 12 months, they went 13-3 and made it to the NFC Championship Recreation. The following season, in 2012, they made the Tremendous Bowl. They gained 12 video games and made it to a 3rd consecutive convention championship in 2013. They went 8-8 in 2014 earlier than Harbaugh left for Michigan. Harbaugh completed with a 44-19-1 report. He’s by no means had a shedding report as an NFL head coach.
When Harbaugh arrived in Ann Arbor in 2015 to steer his alma mater, the Wolverines had gained greater than eight video games simply as soon as within the earlier seven seasons, by means of two head coaches. They gained 10 video games in 2015. They gained 10 video games once more in 2016. They went 40-3 over the past three seasons, a run that ended with a nationwide championship in January. It was the college’s first nationwide title since 1997.
GO DEEPER
Meek: Jim Harbaugh at Michigan might have ended badly. As a substitute, he delivered a parade.
“You want a staff,” president of soccer operations John Spanos mentioned in an announcement. “And no one has constructed a staff extra efficiently, and repeatedly, in latest historical past than Jim Harbaugh.”
What the Harbaugh rent represents is the group’s dedication, financially and ideologically, to successful.
“This group is placing within the work — investing capital, constructing infrastructure and doing every thing inside its energy to win,” Harbaugh mentioned in an announcement.
That doesn’t really feel like lip service. Not this time.
The Chargers’ new apply facility in El Segundo, Calif., is ready to open within the spring. They signed Herbert to a top-of-the-market extension. They went right into a deep and hyper-qualified pool of head coach candidates and got here away with arguably the most effective of the bunch.
Will all of it work?
That continues to be to be seen.
However the dedication means one thing.
Due to the place the Chargers have been and the place they’re hoping to go.
(Photograph: Maddie Meyer / Getty Pictures)