INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The Los Angeles Chargers are hoping they got it right this time. Jim Harbaugh made his first official press conference as the head coach of the Chargers. The hiring of Harbaugh hopefully can quiet the noise about the Chargers being that other team in Los Angeles.
“It’s been about a week now and in this very short period of time, you’ve electrified this city and this fan base. Our fans deserve a day like this. I am so incredibly happy for them. I think I speak for everyone when I say we are all looking forward to this season and the seasons to come,” Chargers owner and Chairman Dean Spanos said.
The Chargers moved to the Los Angeles area in 2017 as the organization sought greener pastures away from San Diego. Up until the Harbaugh hiring, it has been a nightmarish transition for the Spanos family and the Chargers. Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn, and Brandon Staley didn’t move the needle for Chargers fans.
The Chargers going out and nabbing Harbaugh as their head coach is the jolt the team needed.
“All of the traits that you hear about Jim, they just really presented themselves in the interview. His passion, his values of faith, family and football,” Chargers President John Spanos said. “The fact that what you see with Jim is what you get. He’s very upfront, he’s very honest. He told us the other day, ‘Guys, I’m not a very good poker player. You’re going to know how I feel.’”
For the Spanos family, it has been one dumpster fire after another. Seeing the team get popped in the mouth over and over again in a 63-21 Thursday Night Football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, was probably the last straw. The blowout defeat in front of a nationally televised audience had to be a gut punch for the Chargers.
With Harbaugh, the Spanos family don’t have to guess. They have a proven winner with a track record of changing a program’s culture. He did it at Standford. He did it at Michigan where he won a national championship. He did it with the San Francisco 49ers where he took the team to the Super Bowl.
To change the mediocrity coming out the from the locker room, the Spanos had to go bold and go big. They swung for the fences and landed Harbaugh, who talked about what it would take to change the culture of the Chargers.
“It’s going to be a team effort,” said Harbaugh. ”There won’t be any magic formulas. The only ones that I know are just good, old fashioned hard work and teamwork. That’s the vision that I’ve received from the Spanos family. That’s the guidance — this has to be done. This has to be done like a team and the great family that they are.
“Team, family — those are synonymous for each other. I have to quote Katie, my daughter, Katie Harbaugh because she came up with one of the best quotes I’ve ever heard — ‘Work together. Win together.’ The operating word there is together. Everything that we’re going to do is going to be done as a team,” Harbaugh added.
Now that he’s ready to get to work, Harbaugh said his expectations of the team is the his ballclub is going to battle.
“It has to start with being humble and hungry,” Harbaugh said. “Tight there. That’s, where we are right now, humble and hungry. We’re going to respect all of our opponents. We’re going to strive, we’re going to earn their respect and we’re going to earn our winning as a tough team, a resilient team, a relentless team, a physical team. That is what we’re going to aspire to be. Don’t let the Powder Blues fool ya’ [laughter]. That’s what we’re going to aspire to do.”
After leading Michigan to the national title, Harbaugh said it was time for him to pursue what evaded him in his tenure as an NFL coach, and that’s a win in the Super Bowl.
“I have a love of Michigan, but love the NFL,” Harbaugh said. “This opportunity, as my Dad would say, who’s got it better than us? It was time. I know that I said this the other day, only have so many sands left in the hourglass and I want another shot, I want another shot to be simply known as world champions. The Lombardi Trophy, that’s my mission. Happy, and grateful, to have this opportunity.”
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com