New Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh will make Los Angeles the last stop in a busy weekend — and perhaps the last stop in his coaching career.
Harbaugh told the Detroit News that he will say goodbye to his Michigan players today, travel to Baltimore to cheer on his brother John and the Ravens in the AFC Championship game on Sunday, and then get to work with the Chargers.
“And Monday, head back [to Los Angeles] for good,” Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh hasn’t been known for staying long in any of his stints as a head coach: He lasted three seasons at the University of San Diego, four at Stanford and four with the 49ers. He coached Michigan for the last nine years, but he always kept an eye on NFL job openings, including an interview with the Vikings that he claimed was a one-time thing and his last time chasing an NFL job.
Still, at age 60 and having reached the pinnacle of college football, Harbaugh may mean it when he says he’s in Los Angeles for good. The one career goal he has not yet reached is winning the Super Bowl, and he’s driven to do so as head coach of the Chargers.
Harbaugh spent his last two seasons as an NFL starting quarterback with the Chargers in 1999 and 2000, and he said when he interviewed for the Chargers head-coaching job, he was glad to see that some of the people he got to know then are still with the team a quarter-century later.
“I was there in the building, people were still there who were there when I was still playing,” Harbaugh said. “They were good to me then, they’re good to me now and good to me through the years. Just felt like they left the light on for me.”
And when Harbaugh leaves the Chargers, he expects that he’ll be turning out the light on his coaching career.
