While the Los Angeles Chargers head coach job was reportedly one of the most coveted in the sport, it seems the reason why they were able to land Jim Harbaugh was a willingness to agree to unique terms that other teams weren’t.
On Wednesday, what had been rumored for weeks finally came to pass. After endless speculation, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh finally decided on his plans for 2024 and beyond, and it’s to return to the NFL. Even before the Wolverines won a National Championship earlier this month, there had been rumblings that this year would finally be when he made his jump back to the professional ranks.
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However, this wasn’t the first year where Harbaugh’s name was tossed around in conversations about NFL head coach vacancies. In previous offseasons, the 60-year-old was also linked to potentially being the next head coach of the Denver Broncos and Minnesota Vikings but, obviously, deals were never made.
The assumption was always that better money to stay at Michigan was the deciding factor. Well, it seems that this year the Chargers were able to get different results due to a willingness to go to lengths that the Broncos and Vikings weren’t.
Jesse Minter expected to be next Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator
In a new report on Wednesday night, Bleacher Report NFL insider Jordan Schultz revealed that while Harbaugh will be getting big money in LA it was the ability to bring a lot of his program from Michigan to the Chargers organization that played a huge role in getting a deal done.
According to Schultz, Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter will be joining him as the DC of the Los Angeles Chargers. He also required a “commitment” from the Chargers to keep the same “structure” he has had at other stops and will let him bring in the same nutritionists and analytics experts he had at Michigan.
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“Basically, what he was saying was ‘I’ve won every single place I’ve been when I’ve had that specific structure. Whether it’s the University of San Diego, Stanford, the [49ers], Michigan and I’m going to do that for you, as long as you give me what I need.’ So this was some of the cat and mouse game he had to play to make sure he was leveraging all of the different factors he needed into this deal.”
Schultz admitted this is uncommon in the process of hiring head coaches, but Jim Harbaugh knew he had the leverage to get what he wanted due to having a stellar resume as a head coach, which includes a National Championship at Michigan and a trip to the Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers.
