Jim Harbaugh Agrees to 5-Year Contract to Be Chargers HC After Michigan CFP Win

Jim Harbaugh will be the next head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers:

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the deal is for five years.

"Jim Harbaugh is football personified, and I can think of no one better to lead the Chargers forward," Chargers owner Dean Spanos said in the team's statement.

"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 coach. Who has it better than us?"

Los Angeles certainly didn't think small with this hiring, as Harbaugh is one of the biggest names in the entire sport with a long track record of success. He is coming off the national championship with Michigan, which was the culmination of a nine-year tenure that also featured three Big Ten titles.

He is also leaving the Big Ten powerhouse ahead of potential NCAA sanctions, as Michigan is currently under investigation on multiple fronts for recruiting violations and a sign-stealing scandal.

The head coach was suspended multiple times during the 2023 campaign.

Harbaugh won't have to worry about those sanctions as he returns to the NFL, where he found success before leading the Wolverines.

He led the San Francisco 49ers for four seasons from 2011 to '14 and directed them to three straight NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl appearance. He posted a 44-19-1 overall record during his first stint as an NFL head coach.

The Chargers would love a run like that, especially after such a disappointing season in 2023.

The position was available because the Chargers fired Brandon Staley in December following a 63-21 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders that dropped their record to 5-9. They also lost their final three games under interim coach Giff Smith, so there is plenty of work to be done in 2024 and beyond.

Staley seemed to be coaching on the hot seat for much of the season after the 2022 campaign ended in stunning fashion.

Los Angeles made the playoffs but blew a 27-0 lead in the Wild Card Round against the Jacksonville Jaguars. That dialed up the pressure on the 2023 season, but five of the team's first six losses came by three points or less.

By then, the writing was on the wall for Staley and a team that had no shortage of star power in Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Joey Bosa, Derwin James and Khalil Mack, among others.

While the Chargers dealt with a number of injuries, including to Herbert, they fell well short of expectations given that roster on the way to a 5-12 record.

Things didn't look so great entering the offseason either, as Kris Rhim of ESPN noted former general manager Tom Telesco, who was fired at the same time as Staley, pushed much of the team's salary-cap concerns into 2024 by restructuring the contracts of Allen, Williams, Bosa and Mack.

"This time, the Chargers are $27.5 million over the salary cap, according to ESPN's Roster Management System," Rhim wrote. "At 5-12, with a roster laden with aging stars, this team no longer appears to be as close to contention as it seemed to be a season ago, putting the future of some of this team's best players in question."

Los Angeles' last playoff win came in the 2018 season, and the salary-cap situation will only make it more difficult to change that in the immediate future.

But it will be up to Harbaugh to figure out a way.