Jim Harbaugh - San Diego Savior? Diehard Chargers Fans See New Coach Working Michigan-Like Miracles In L.A.

Jim Harbaugh's halo has beamed 2,200 miles southwest from Michigan to coach the Los Angeles Chargers.

Could this finally be heaven for the long suffering Chargers fans from San Diego to Los Angeles and beyond? Can Saint Jim walk the Pacific Ocean? Is he the captain who can bring a port city team without a port its first overall championship since the 1963 season?

"I'm hoping he's the savior," said San Diego native Joe Post, 62 and a fan since he was 7. "It's been a love-hate thing with them. I love the Chargers. I hate the ownership. I've tried to get away from the team. But I can't. I just can't get rid of them. And now, there is hope like there hasn't been in decades."

Because Harbaugh - a proven winner as a head coach (188-71-1) at four stops - has taken over. He was 29-6 at the University of San Diego (2004-06), 29-21 at Stanford (2007-10), 44-19-1 at the San Francisco 49ers (2011-14) with a Super Bowl appearance and three NFC title games, and 86-25 at Michigan (2015-23) with three College Football Playoff appearances and a national championship.

"It's like night and day," Post said.

Harbaugh will be paid like a savior at $16 million a year.

Chargers Owner Dean Spanos Finally Makes Bold Move

Harbaugh follows a litany of no-name hires by Chargers owner Dean Spanos with cursory playoff appearances - Mike McCoy (27-37 from 2013-16, 1-1 playoffs), Anthony Lynn (33-31 from 2017-20, 1-1 playoffs) and Brandon Staley (24-24 from 2021-23, 0-1 playoffs). All were rookie head coaches.

Amid the mediocrity, Spanos moved the team from San Diego after the 2016 season two hours away to the L.A. area, first in Carson, where they played in a 27,000-seat soccer stadium from 2017-19. And finally in 2020 to Inglewood, where they share SoFi Stadium with the Los Angeles Rams. The Chargers had been in San Diego from 1961 through 2016.

"The way he moved the team left people with a very bitter taste. He just wanted to be in L.A. But now, we've at least got Harbaugh, and the best thing is he's got control," Post, whose Fantasy League team's name is "Spanos Hitmen," said.

Yes, Spanos first hired Harbaugh as coach last week. Then he hired the new general manager on Tuesday, and guess who had a heavy hand in that? Obviously, Harbaugh. The Chargers' new GM is Joe Hortiz, who left his position as a successful director of player personnel with the Baltimore Ravens. Harbaugh's older brother Jim Harbaugh coaches the Ravens, who just lost the AFC title Sunday to Kansas City.

Jim Harbaugh is in rare air, having left an NFL head coaching job (San Francisco) to be a college head coach (Michigan) and return to the NFL as a head coach (Los Angeles Chargers). (Getty Images)

"Spanos is getting smarter," Post's buddy and fellow diehard Chargers fan Randy Blanck, 63, said. "Harbaugh is THE hire. I was praying about it, hoping Spanos didn't screw it up. But, like I said, he's getting smarter."

The Chargers also have one of the NFL's best young quarterbacks in 6-foot-6 Justin Herbert, the sixth pick of the first round in 2020 out of Oregon.

"Harbaugh is going to be so great for Herbert," Post said. "Harbaugh is a quarterback at heart. In Herbert, you have a quarterback with the potential to be a Hall of Famer with the right coach. They have the right coach finally."

The Chargers have had great quarterbacks before, though - Dan Fouts (1973-87), also from Oregon, Drew Brees (2001-05), and Philip Rivers (2004-19). And they have not won an overall championship in 60 years.

San Diego Chargers Still Waiting For That Super Bolt Title

The San Diego Chargers won the AFL title on Jan. 5, 1964 - three years before the first Super Bowl. They beat the Boston Patriots, 51-10, before 30,127 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego.

"I've had my heart broken a million times," Blanck said. "Between the Chargers and the Padres, we can't win the big one. It just keeps not happening. Now, I know it can."

The Chargers have reached one Super Bowl. They fell, 49-26, to San Francisco in Super Bowl XXIX on Jan. 29, 1995, in Miami, under coach Bobby Ross.

San Diego just missed Super Bowls three other times with losses in AFC championship games in the 1980 (34-27 to Oakland), 1981 (27-7 at Cincinnati) and 2007 (21-12 at eventual Super Bowl champion New England) seasons.

Is Harbaugh The Hex Cure The Chargers Crave?

There were four other losses in pre-Super Bowl AFL title games. In the first year of the AFL in 1960 and in their only year as the Los Angeles Chargers before 2017, they fell to Houston, 24-16, in the L.A. Coliseum. The San Diego Chargers then lost three AFC title games at Balboa in the 1961 (10-3 to Houston), 1964 (20-7 to Buffalo) and 1965 (23-0 to Buffalo) seasons.

The Chargers of coach Don "Air" Coryell won one of the greatest games ever played - 41-38 at humidity-drenched Miami in the divisional round after 13:52 of overtime on Jan. 2, 1982. But they lost the next week at Cincinnati with temperatures in the single digits and an NFL record wind chill of -59 because of 50 mph winds.

Diehard Chargers fan Randy Blanck with a Chargers cheerleader during team's last season in San Diego in 2016. (Photo Courtesy Of Randy Blanck).

"No team has ever played in such extremes back-to-back," Blanck said. "After that Miami game, we thought we'd beat Cincinnati and go to the Super Bowl. But they couldn't do anything in that weather."

The 2006 San Diego Chargers under coach Kurt Schottenheimer remain one of the greatest teams not to reach a Super Bowl. Behind quarterback Phillip Rivers and running back LaDainlan Tomlinson, the Chargers finished the regular season at an NFL-best 14-2 for the No. 1 seed. Their two losses were by a combined six points. But they blew a 21-13 lead in the final minutes and lost at home to New England, 24-21, in the divisional round at Qualcomm Stadium, formerly Jack Murphy Stadium.

San Diego Chargers And Padres Have Come Close, But ...

"That was a killer, because it was our best regular season ever," Blanck said.

"It has been hard to watch them waste some really good talent, but that may be changing," Alan Mashburn, 62 and a San Diego area native since 1986, said. "Most of the fans I know have cheered against the Chargers because they moved to L.A., but Jim Harbaugh is a great hire. And the Chargers will now have a coach who is way more popular than the owner."

The San Diego Padres have had a similar history to the Chargers, as in no overall championships. They have reached two World Series since their birth in 1969. In 1984, they lost to Detroit, four games to one. In 1998, the Yankees swept them. Manager Bruce Bochy took the Padres to National League West crowns in 1996, '98, 2005 and '06, but San Diego fans then had to watch him win World Series titles managing San Francisco in 2010, '12 and '14, and the Texas Rangers last season.

"We know how to get there or come close. We just can't win it all," Blanck said.

Harbaugh found Michigan in a similar situation when he became the Wolverines coach before the 2015 season. You think the 1963 season was long ago for Chargers fans? Michigan had not won an overall national title since 1948. The Wolverines shared the 1997 national title with Nebraska as Michigan won the Associated Press media poll at 12-0 with the Cornhuskers taking the coaches' poll at 13-0.

Michigan had also not won an unshared Big Ten title since 2003. The Wolverines were coming off five fifth place or worse Big Ten finishes from 2008 through 2014 under previous coaches Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke. And there were those 12 losses in 14 games to hated Ohio State from 2001-14. Oh, and Michigan fans had to watch the Buckeyes win two national titles (2002 and 2014) since Michigan last shared that one in 1997.

Jim Harbaugh Won Fast At Michigan, Slowed, Then Won Big

"He turned it all around at Michigan, and he did it quick, just like every other place he's been" Blanck said.

There were three 10-3 seasons and a 9-4 finish in Harbaugh's first five seasons at Michigan through 2019. And eventually, he solved Ohio State after going 0-for-5 to start. Three straight wins over Ohio State, three straight Big Ten titles and three straight College Football Playoff appearances happened from 2021-23.

And then he did what the San Diego pro teams couldn't. He finished, beating Washington, 34-13, in the CFP national championship game last Jan. 8 in Houston to wrap Michigan's greatest season at 15-0.

Michigan Wolverines Won 2023-24 National Championship

"He's going to do with the Chargers what he did in Michigan," Post said. "I was texting with my son Ryan the other day, and he said, 'He's the key. He's the missing link.' And he's right. Harbaugh was the missing link at Michigan. Now, he's going to be our missing link."

Harbaugh is linked strongly with San Diego. He played quarterback for the Chargers in 1999 and 2000 toward the end of his 15-year playing career out of Michigan.

San Diego Chargers fans in the second-to-last season in San Diego at Qualcomm Stadium on Dec. 20, 2015, for a 30-14 win over Miami. But the Chargers finished 4-12 and left San Diego after 2016 season. (Photo Courtesy of Joe Post).

Harbaugh's first head coaching job was at the University of San Diego, an FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) school, where he took over 20 years ago last month. Soon, the San Diego Toreros won like they never had before or since. Harbaugh led San Diego to back-to-back 11-1 seasons and the program's first two Pioneer League titles in 2005 and '06. The Toreros had last won as many as nine in 1973 and have not won more than 10 since.

From there, Harbaugh headed due north to Stanford, which had gone 1-11 in 2006 for its fifth straight losing season just before Harbaugh's just-forming halo arrived.

He went 4-8 and 5-7 in his first two seasons in 2007 and '08 before an 8-5 campaign in 2009 for Stanford's first winning season and bowl since 2001. Then, as with the Toreros, Harbaugh produced heavenly results with the best season in Stanford history at 12-1 in 2010, including a 40-12 win over No. 12 Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl for the Cardinal's first BCS bowl win. It was Stanford's first bowl win of any kind since 1996 and first double-digit-win season since Bill Walsh went 10-3 in 1992.

Jim Harbaugh paces the sidelines in his fourth and last season as the San Francisco 49ers coach in 2014. (Photo by Don Feria/Getty Images)

Harbaugh stayed in the San Francisco area to coach a downtrodden NFL team. He took over the once-proud 49ers after seven losing seasons and an 8-8 finish under three coaches since their last winning season in 2002. He again won immediately in his first season in 2011 at 13-3 and reached the NFC championship game. In his second year, he went 11-4-1 for his second straight NFC West title and reached the Super Bowl before losing to his brother John and Baltimore. A third straight NFC title game ensued in 2013 after a 12-4 regular season.

After an 8-8 season in 2014 and disagreements with management, he returned to that other home - Michigan. And the rest is history.

Hopefully, Jim Harbaugh, 60, has one more heavenly trip under his halo for the hungry. The Chargers' 5-12 season in 2023 was their fifth losing season of the previous nine. They have not won a playoff game outside of the wild-card round since the 2007 season.

"The guy wins everywhere he goes," Blanck said. "It's unbelievable. Nobody wins at Stanford. They weren't winning at Michigan. The 49ers weren't winning. I've been wanting him to be our coach since he was at University of San Diego. He works miracles, and that's what San Diego needs."