Chargers put Jim Harbaugh on big stage for introductory press conference
Harbaugh answered questions for nearly an hour at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, a session that was short on specifics and long on cliches
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, holding a jersey, poses with team owner Dean Spanos, left, new Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz, second from right, and Chargers president of business operations John Spanos at Harbaugh’s introductory press conference Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Jim Harbaugh introduced as the new Chargers head coach during a press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Chargers owner Dean Spanos speaks before introducing Jim Harbaugh as the team’s new head coach during a press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Chargers president of business operations John Spanos speaks before introducing Jim Harbaugh as the team’s new head coach during a press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, right, poses with team owner Dean Spanos as Harbaugh is introduced during a press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh calls broadcaster Jim Hill a legend as he asks a question during Harbaugh’s introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, center, with team owner Dean Spanos, left, new Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz, second from right, and Chargers president of business operations John Spanos pose for pictures as Harbaugh is introduced during a press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
An image projected on a video board shows new Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh during his days as a quarterback for the team during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, right, poses with his family during his introductory press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
New Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, center, team owner Dean Spanos, left, and Chargers president of business operations John Spanos pose for pictures as Harbaugh is introduced during a press conference on Thursday at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood. (Photos by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
INGLEWOOD — Jim Harbaugh stood behind a lectern stationed between two clusters of native plants. He wore a dark blue suit, a white shirt, a gold tie and wire-rimmed glasses for his introductory press conference on Thursday, a commanding presence on a stage inside a darkened, 6,000-seat theater.
The Chargers could have held it at their temporary headquarters in Costa Mesa or at their still-to-be-completed facility in El Segundo. But they went big, determining it was important to put Harbaugh in front of bright lights and cameras and reporters and his new employers, the Spanos family.
Harbaugh, 60, answered questions for nearly an hour, a session that was short on specifics and long on the sort of rah-rah, let’s-get-after-it cliches you might have expected to hear at a corporate sales retreat. It was more like a political rally, with homespun tales and midwestern charm.
“We want to have a team Vince Lombardi would be proud of,” Harbaugh said at one point near the end, referring to the legendary Green Packers coach of yesteryear, the man for whom the NFL’s championship trophy is named. “We want to be world champions. We’re going to do it or die trying.”
How might a middling Chargers franchise actually win a championship? How might they take advantage of the remarkable talents of quarterback Justin Herbert and his teammates? How might they edge further into the Los Angeles sports landscape? How will the coaching staff be assembled?
These and other specific questions largely went unanswered beyond a string of platitudes that might have enthralled a gathering of alumni and boosters at the University of Michigan, Harbaugh’s previous place of employment. But it had some reporters rolling their eyes as the afternoon wore on.
Dean Spanos, the Chargers’ owner, spoke of talking with Harbaugh while his delayed flight was snowbound on the tarmac in Michigan. Spanos told Harbaugh there would be another storm Thursday for his press conference at the YouTube Theater, part of the sprawling SoFi Stadium complex.
“Dean, we are the storm,” Spanos recalled Harbaugh saying.
Spanos’ tale elicited laughter and cheers from the many visitors who were invited to the press conference in addition to a larger-than-normal collection of reporters and camera crews. It was not the last time a well-told story would invite that sort of reaction, with Spanos telling the audience:
“Our fans deserve a day like this.”
Harbaugh began by greeting longtime TV personality Jim Hill of Channel 2 as “a legend” with Hill quickly returning the compliment. Harbaugh then referred to veteran columnist Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times as “another legend,” and the press conference was off and rolling.
“The team, the team, the team,” Harbaugh said without going into specifics when asked how he might go about changing the Chargers’ well-known culture from disappointments year after year to consistent winners year after year. “My job is to put the team in a position to be successful.”
“A crown jewel,” he said of Herbert before he then segued oddly into an anecdote about cleaning out the weight room in Costa Mesa the other day, visiting Home Depot to rent a Shop-Vac to get the place shipshape for the many players sticking around Orange County to work out during the offseason.
“Faith, family, football,” he said several times of his life’s priorities.
“Work together, win together,” he said, repeating a family motto.
“Who has it better than us?” he said, another family motto.
Harbaugh also revealed the 1970s-era hit “The Rockford Files,” starring the late James Garner, was his favorite TV show and he suggested that he might drive his RV out from Michigan and park it in Orange County until the Chargers make their move into their new El Segundo headquarters later this year.
“I want to Jim Rockford-it for the next few months,” Harbaugh said of possibly living in his RV, as Garner’s private investigator did in a trailer in a parking lot next to the beach in Santa Monica. Or was it Malibu?
No one had the heart to tell him Garner was a Raiders fan.
