When Chargers owner Dean Spanos announced the firing of General Manager Tom Telesco and Coach Brandon Staley on Dec. 15, he said the franchise needed a “new vision” if it hoped to meet the lofty expectations placed upon it from outside and from within during recent seasons.
Clearly, the promise of a consistent contender was not met during the regime of Telesco and Staley, whose middling 24-24 record while working together during two-plus seasons underscored the need for change in leadership. So, Spanos and his son, John, the director of football operations, made those changes.
Bold ones, in fact.
One half of their moves were made last Wednesday, when they lured Jim Harbaugh back to the NFL after he coached the University of Michigan to the national championship earlier this month. The second half was completed when they hired Joe Hortiz as their new GM on Tuesday.
Hortiz, 48, spent 26 years in the Baltimore Ravens’ organization, including the past five seasons as the team’s director of player personnel. He worked closely over the years with Ravens coach John Harbaugh, Jim’s older brother, so the connection to the family seemed like a natural fit in L.A., too.
If nothing else, for better or worse, the Chargers are a family-run business.
“Joe is one of the most respected player evaluators and personnel minds in the league, whose contributions to the Ravens’ front office over the past two decades cannot be overstated,” John Spanos said in a statement. “When you consider his football IQ, eye for talent, ability to think both short and long term as it pertains to roster construction, organization, thoroughness and ability to be creative within the confines of our collective bargaining agreement, it’s hard not to be excited about the future.”
John Spanos praised Hortiz’s depth of experience, rising through the ranks of the Ravens’ scouting department over the years while working with current GM Eric DeCosta and his predecessor, Ozzie Newsome, a Hall of Fame tight end who is now Baltimore’s executive vice president.
Spanos also said Hortiz was “without a doubt the right person” for the job.
Hortiz and New York Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown emerged as finalists during a process that began with an interview Jan. 10 with Chargers longtime director of player personnel JoJo Wooden, who served as interim GM after Telesco was fired. Hortiz and Brown were the only candidates to interview twice.
“When you’ve had the privilege of working with one organization your entire career, something that’s exceedingly rare in our business, the opportunity and fit has to pretty much be perfect to consider a change,” Hortiz said in a statement about leaving the Ravens. “This is that opportunity. … Then, of course, having known the Harbaugh family for all these years and the chance to continue that special relationship in this new role, I truly could not be more fortunate.”
Hortiz’s story is an old one, one easily identifiable as someone determined to be a football lifer from an early age. Now that the GM job is his, he’s been tasked with fulfilling the Chargers’ promise, a mission put into motion with a series of astute moves by Telesco but one that couldn’t be completed for whatever reason.
Telesco drafted well, including his selections of quarterback Justin Herbert and safety Derwin James Jr. in recent years, and he also acquired exceptional talent via free agency and through trades, particularly the deal that brought outside linebacker Khalil Mack to the Chargers from the Chicago Bears.
The Chargers finished 5-12 this past season. They were 10-7 during the 2022 season, but lost in epic fashion during the AFC wild-card game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, squandering a 27-0 lead en route to a 31-30 defeat that cast significant doubts on their leadership abilities.
Telesco and Staley survived, but he didn’t make it through the 2023 season.
Now, it’s Hortiz’s turn to make his mark in a new job with a new franchise.
Hortiz worked as a graduate assistant coach at Auburn University, his alma mater, from 1995 to ’97 and then was hired as a personnel assistant with the Ravens in ’98. He became an area scout in 2001 and then a national scout in ’08. He was promoted to director of college scouting in ’09.
In 2019, he moved up to become the Ravens’ director of player personnel. During his tenure, the Ravens advanced to the playoffs four times, including this past season, when they lost to the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game this past Sunday.
Baltimore was 56-27 over the past five regular seasons, including 13-4 in 2023.
“The Chargers’ brand, the uniforms, foundational building blocks already on the roster, a new training facility, SoFi Stadium and a clear commitment from the Spanos family to dedicating every resource possible towards bringing a Lombardi trophy home to our fans, it’s all there,” Hortiz said.
