As The Harbaugh Turns: Albert Breer on Chargers and Harbaugh.
https://x.com/dpshow/status/1748121841724428383?s=61
Breer thinks that while he expects the Chargers to offer Harbaugh the job they won’t cede him as much control as he may want.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:17 AM ^
May he want way, way too much.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:30 AM ^
I'm not sure Harbaugh is a great fit for what they have. They are setup as more of a wide open offense with Herbert throwing to Allen, Mike Williams, Quentin Johnston, and so forth.
If I were the Chargers brass I'd want somebody who could maximize Herbert. Harbaugh (as we've seen with JJ) doesn't really play that way, even when he has the talent at QB. I'm pretty sure they believe they are in their win-now window, but to play Harbaugh style it seems like that roster would need to go through changes that would take longer than one short offseason.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:35 AM ^
They could resign Ekeler and have a dynamic RB as well.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:45 AM ^
Ekeler is closer to a scatback receiver than a between the tackles runner at this point though. On the ground he got 45 yards a game at 3.5/carry this season.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:33 AM ^
Yeah, those type of running backs don't break long runs...
January 19th, 2024 at 8:14 AM ^
They are not re-signing 29 year old Austin Ekeler who showed he's a shell of his former self this season. They are probably chomping at the bit to cut him.
January 19th, 2024 at 8:46 AM ^
Why the negs? Do some people read "resign" as in "turn in your letter of resignation" instead of "sign again"?
January 19th, 2024 at 12:49 PM ^
Ekeler is not the type of RB that would fit Harbaugh's preferred offense.
I have not read through all of this thread yet, but one also has to consider the Chargers are $54M OVER THE CAP...
While this team has talent, any personal changes will be hard to come by, they are even in a position where they have to shed talent (and salary). A win now mentality should be their direction, major shifts in game philosophy would prolong the expected rewards...
January 19th, 2024 at 12:57 AM ^
Not to mention their salary cap situation is jacked which means they're going to have a hard time keeping Herbert clean and apparently ownership is notoriously cheap.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:13 AM ^
Yeah, to be honest the Falcons are a much better fit for Harbaugh. They have a strong run game already, two good backs, two good TEs, and a decent defense. They could make a relatively cheap trade for Fields (or draft Daniels/JJ/whoever), and Harbaugh would have something that at least loosely looks like his Kaepernick 49ers team or Michigan's team (Bijan/Allgeier = Corum/Edwards, Pitts/Jonnu = Loveland/Barner, London = Roman, JJ could literally be JJ)
January 19th, 2024 at 1:36 AM ^
In my opinion, you don't call Bill Belichick back for a 2nd interview and then leave him hanging. The Falcons have had him in for 2 already.
Maybe the world has changed that much and respect just has no place anymore. But I hope I'm right & all JH's NFL options dry up again!
Sorry not sorry 🤷♂️
January 19th, 2024 at 1:47 AM ^
Oh, I agree -- it seems like Belichick is getting the Falcons job. I just think that out of all the open jobs, the Falcons roster matched up the best with Harbaugh's style. Chargers might be the worst, other than the fact that they have a good QB, but that's good for any style of football.
January 19th, 2024 at 6:45 AM ^
I think the Commanders is the better job, or at least on par with the Falcons. They probably need an upgrade at QB, but the RBs/WRs are right up Harbaugh's alley.
January 19th, 2024 at 7:29 AM ^
Then they could move old man harbaugh and the whole clan would be there.
January 19th, 2024 at 9:25 AM ^
I do too. But it seems they are not interested in Harbaugh as far as I can tell. No plans to interview him.
January 19th, 2024 at 9:55 AM ^
The Falcons interview coming out of nowhere tells me they aren't sure they can reel in Belichick and they want Jim as their fallback in case that falls through.
I think they will land Belichick in the end, though, he cannot afford to sit out any seasons if he is serious about passing Shula as the winningest coach (and he is). Guy probably only has 4-5 years left at most before he has to stop.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:27 PM ^
I can just imagine Jim's introductory press conference:
"Falcons are birds. Obviously Ravens are birds. I've got my chickens at home, and they are birds. So it fits. Harbaughs and birds, we go hand in hand."
January 19th, 2024 at 9:17 AM ^
Keenan Allen is 31 and on the last year of his contract. Mike Williams has injury problems, he will be 30 this year and he's on the last year of his contract. I don't see how they factor in for the future?
January 19th, 2024 at 9:03 AM ^
+1
We know he had a lotta issues with the GM in SanFran. The coaches with the most "power" (or at least the ones who think they have power) will always want full control over personnel. For most organizations I think that means restructuring the whole thing around the new coach.
It also means the owner himself has to be willing to step back and let someone else run the show. Kraft did it years ago with Belichick, but I have to assume not everyone is willing to do that.
For example, I don't think Jerry Jones could do that for ANYONE. It'd drive him absolutely nuts.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:20 AM ^
The Chargers should hire Warde Manuel as GM and let him try to sign Harbaugh.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:24 AM ^
He’s “working on it”
January 19th, 2024 at 8:31 AM ^
Why doesn't Warde simply change Jim's mind? What a turkey.
January 19th, 2024 at 10:58 AM ^
He probably did, just not in the direction we all would have wanted.
January 19th, 2024 at 7:06 PM ^
As long as nobody places any blame whatsoever on Jim, I'm good. No blame on Jim for failing to vet Shemmy, Weiss, or Stallions, no blame on Jim for Burgergate, etc...
January 19th, 2024 at 12:36 AM ^
Ron English coaching the Chargers has a nice ring to it.
January 19th, 2024 at 7:11 AM ^
I call that a good start. Jim Stapleton would also need to be involved somewhere.
January 19th, 2024 at 7:49 AM ^
You win all comments for the week lmao
January 19th, 2024 at 12:21 AM ^
Somewhat off topic -- but I was wondering this earlier today ...
What other coaches have won a championship and then not returned to the team they were with? Retirement would be a reasonable circumstance, but even then I can only think of Tom Osborne in 1997.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:37 AM ^
Jimmy Johnson (NFL) most (in)famously.
Vince Lombardi also didn't come back as HC after his 2nd consecutive Super Bowl win. He did stay within the organization as GM.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:42 AM ^
Any college football examples though?
College basketball might make more sense bc a smaller program can have a one-off and then the HC takes the big pay day to go elsewhere.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:44 AM ^
Jimmy Johnson at Miami. He went to the Cowboys.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:50 AM ^
Close example --- but Miami didn't win a National Title.
Miami finished 11-1 in 1988 and was very very good. But they were a clear #2 behind Notre Dame: ND went 12-0 and they beat Miami along the way (the classic "Catholics vs Convicts" game).
January 19th, 2024 at 12:48 AM ^
Don James is a "sort of maybe comparable example" ---- Washington won a MNC title in 1991, they got off to an 8-0 start in 1992 and were ranked #1. And then a big story broke, in terms of Washington players receiving improper benefits.
It clearly distracted the team, they lost pretty uncompetitively at Arizona (a good Arizona team, but still) the very next week and went 1-3 overall down the stretch.
Both the NCAA and Pac-10 sanctioned Washington in the off-season, and James quit in August 1993 in protest, saying the sanctions were unfair.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:26 AM ^
I'll never forget Osborne campaigning for the vote on ESPN, and the cheers that erupted in the studio when they announced, live, the results of their tabulations of the voting.
I don't consider Osborne a legitimate answer to this question.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:38 AM ^
Look up The Flea Kicker.
You're right, he's NOT!
January 19th, 2024 at 7:03 AM ^
I’m very confused that you think anyone reading MGoBlog needs to look up the “flea kicker.”
January 19th, 2024 at 8:24 AM ^
Because a team that almost lost a game didn’t actually lose the game? Kind of like how Alabama didn’t lose against Auburn when it was 4th and goal from the 31.
January 19th, 2024 at 6:19 AM ^
And the ONLY reason he got it, campaign or not, was Phil fucking Furmer voting us FOURTH because he was still pissed at his beloved Manning not getting the Heisman.
January 19th, 2024 at 5:43 AM ^
Sorry, but Osborne did not win a championship in 1997. The good guys won the championship.
January 19th, 2024 at 11:36 AM ^
I’m going to see my Nebraskan in-laws this weekend, and will gladly let them know that no amount of Scott Frosty and Tom Osborne complaining/campaigning will get them a split this time.
I will also let them know that this year’s Nebraska team has about as much of a claim to the Nat Champ as the 97 team did, and that will really piss them off 😀
January 19th, 2024 at 11:55 AM ^
That's right, this Nebraska narrative needs to stop.
No one outside Nebraska, Ohio, or Phil Fulmer's Pants thinks Nebraska won a share of that title.
January 19th, 2024 at 6:56 AM ^
Didn’t Saban leave LSU right after their championship to go to the Dolphins?
January 19th, 2024 at 7:36 AM ^
No he stayed one more year at LSU
January 19th, 2024 at 7:44 AM ^
He won the title in 03 but left after the 04 season.
January 19th, 2024 at 8:53 AM ^
Jack Harbaugh comes to mind. He won his Western Kentucky I-AA championship then retired from coaching (though he later came back for various stints as an assistant to Jim. Jack and Jim talked about the right time to retire in one episode of their Attack Each Day podcast. IIRC, they agreed that the only way to leave a program and not have people upset with you is if you say you are going to retire at the beginning of the year, then win the championship, then retire.
I've been re-listening to the old episodes for a week to try and find the quote, but I haven't yet. Still, a lot of really good listens, maybe I'll put up a top ten episode list in the OT season.
January 19th, 2024 at 10:48 AM ^
I've reviewed national championship winners going back to 1950, and in that time, the only head coach who left his team immediately after winning a NC in order to coach another team was Howard Schnellenberger.
He won the NC at Miami in the 1983 season, and right after that season he resigned to become part-owner, president, general manager and head coach of the Miami franchise in the USFL. That opportunity evaporated after the USFL made the decision to move to a fall schedule for the 1984 season, leading the franchise owner to re-locate the team to Orlando, and Schellenberger declined to move to central Florida. He sat out the '84 season, and then began coaching Louisville in '85.
So when Harbaugh accepts whatever NFL job he's offered, he'll be making history of sorts.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:02 PM ^
Great info Don. I was hoping to do a deep dive myself (on work hours), but actual work got in the way. I had a feeling it might be unprecedented for a coach to leave a NCAA Championship squad to coach elsewhere. Lucky us, lol.
January 19th, 2024 at 12:22 AM ^
Whatever happens, I just hope the team stays intact and no one enters the portal. Specifically the defense. They’re gonna be elite next year. Who knows tho bc minter if leaves, all bets are off