JIM HARBAUGH WAS underqualified when he utilized for the College of San Diego’s head teaching job in late 2003 — and the panel interviewing him knew it.
“For almost all of the group, he was not the main candidate,” Dan Yourg, USD’s senior affiliate director of athletics for administration, stated of the committee composed of Toreros directors and gamers.
Harbaugh, then 39, had not too long ago retired after taking part in 15 seasons within the NFL and was in his second season as an assistant quarterbacks coach with the Oakland Raiders. He had by no means been a head coach. Concern about his lack of expertise prevailed.
However Harbaugh impressed the group along with his enthusiasm and an uncommon stage of preparation. He knew every thing about USD large receiver Michael Gasperson — a member of the interview panel — from Gasperson’s highschool stats to how he deliberate to make use of him on offense.
“For somebody that had performed on the highest stage … he had a humbleness about him, but in addition an excellent ardour and plan,” Yourg stated. “And once more, had finished his homework.”
However one second from that interview nonetheless stands out to Yourg 20-plus years later. When requested about his aims, Harbaugh advised them his final objective was to win a Tremendous Bowl.
It was a shocking admission, contemplating Harbaugh was interviewing for a school job the place he could not win a Tremendous Bowl, however Yourg stated it make clear his dedication to successful. Harbaugh knew step one towards his objective was changing into a head coach.
“He stated that when he was coming all the way down to interview, [Raiders owner] Al Davis stated to him, ‘You are interviewing at USD, not USC,’ that means ‘What are you doing?'” Yourg stated. “And Jim stated, ‘Yeah, that is what I need to do.'”
Harbaugh’s persona and imaginative and prescient satisfied the committee to rent him at USD. His three seasons with the Toreros included two of probably the most profitable seasons in program historical past.
“Phenomenal expertise. Among the finest instances of my life,” Harbaugh stated this week of his tenure there.
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Greater than 20 years since his rent, the 60-year-old Harbaugh nonetheless hasn’t fulfilled his final objective of successful a Tremendous Bowl, however he may have an opportunity this season. Harbaugh has the Los Angeles Chargers (8-6) in playoff rivalry forward of their matchup with the Denver Broncos on “Thursday Evening Soccer” (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video).
In some ways, Harbaugh is identical coach he was two-plus a long time in the past. However again then, he did not have a monitor report of turning round packages, and his demanding teaching fashion drove away many gamers. Those that stayed, nonetheless, had a front-row seat to Harbaugh’s first step in changing into one of the profitable soccer coaches of his period, a coach the Chargers hope has yet one more organizational turnaround in his profession.
“Tremendous polarizing. Some folks liked him, some folks did not,” stated Phil Bretsch, who performed sturdy security at USD. “However he had this factor he stated to us the primary week he was there [derived from a famous saying by his college coach at Michigan, Bo Schembechler]: ‘For those who keep, you may be champions.’ After which that is what occurred.”
ALTHOUGH HE HAD WON the job, Harbaugh’s rent wasn’t met with resounding help from Toreros gamers.
In 2003, underneath coach Kevin McGarry, USD started the season 5-1 and was on a five-game successful streak when the college fired McGarry hours earlier than the group boarded a airplane to Indiana to face Valparaiso. USD misplaced that recreation, however completed the season 8-2. McGarry’s firing (shrouded in thriller on the time however later revealed in courtroom filings to be tied to a collection of alleged interactions on campus that showcased McGarry’s anger) by no means made sense to many gamers.
When USD employed Harbaugh on Dec. 20, 2003, some gamers had been excited a few coach with NFL expertise, however others felt loyalty to McGarry and questioned if Harbaugh can be a very good match.
“I used to be truthfully a little bit skeptical,” stated Ronnie Pentz, who performed linebacker.
Harbaugh’s offseason coaching program within the spring of 2004 rapidly turned away some gamers. Harbaugh demanded plenty of the group, together with 5 a.m. exercises in the course of the offseason when gamers had been accustomed to downtime. USD is a non-scholarship program, so gamers weren’t tied to the group by a monetary dedication. A number of gamers from the 2004 group stated round 50 folks stop that spring.
“It wasn’t at all times easygoing,” stated Nick Garton, a large receiver at USD. “A number of guys finally ended up tapping out … and it left us with a nucleus core of gamers that had been the muse for the groups he had a lot success with.”
For some gamers, it was not Harbaugh himself however the teaching workers who gained them over. Harbaugh constructed a workers that included ex-Chargers Dave Adolph, Charles Dimry and Reggie Davis, which excited gamers in regards to the group’s potential. Harbaugh’s father, Jack, who was employed as USD’s assistant head coach after a profitable stretch as head coach at Western Kentucky, linked with the group as effectively. Jack’s presence helped make clear why Jim operated as he did.
“His dad can be backpedaling like proper behind me. The ball can be thrown. He’d be screaming down my ear, chasing after me,” Pentz remembered with a smile. “I could not decelerate for one second, or this outdated man would smash into me. That is the place Jim’s enthusiasm comes from.”
The second of acceptance for some gamers over Jim Harbaugh’s strategies got here throughout a group exercise. He joined gamers in operating a steep hill that took round 60 seconds for many to achieve the highest. They ran it a number of instances, sufficient that Harbaugh vomited mid-stride whereas operating — with out stopping. It is a second many gamers nonetheless speak about.
“We did not know whether or not to be pumped on that, ‘Like this man’s superior,” Garton stated, “or like, ‘What’s fallacious with this man? He is bought a screw unfastened.’
“However that is a part of his allure, a part of his attraction. He is a little bit loopy, so guys are like, ‘Dude, I sort of like this, however I’m additionally undecided what to make of this.'”
HARBAUGH, WHO RAN the group’s offense, created an offseason atmosphere that solid the 2 sides of the ball as enemies. The previous NFL quarterback had the ultimate say at follow and this led to lopsided officiating in favor of the offense, which fostered extra rigidity between the offense and protection. Harbaugh additionally not often let follow finish on a defensive cease.
“If the final play the protection gained, then we would need to run it once more,” stated Mike Rish, who was then an assistant large receivers coach at USD.
Wes Doyle, who performed large receiver, remembers Harbaugh chastising him for sitting with defensive gamers within the cafeteria. “He’d say, ‘What may you guys presumably have to speak about?'” Doyle stated with a smile. “‘You do not have to be all buddy-buddy with him within the cafeteria, he is not your good friend proper now.'”
“It was sort of like us versus them in follow and spring ball,” Bretsch stated. “And it was extra intense than plenty of video games we performed.”
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The protection was dominating one follow when Harbaugh grew irritated — and took over as quarterback of the first-team offense. Harbaugh threw a couple of passes, however the protection knocked them down. Finally, Harbaugh, sporting no pads, sprinted out of the pocket and started operating downfield. Now Harbaugh was headed towards Bretsch, who was operating to make a sort out.
“I am like, ‘OK, I’ll gentle him up if he is going to do that,'” Bretsch stated. “And it was like taking part in a recreation of rooster. He put his head all the way down to run me over, and I needed to transfer out of the way in which. On the final minute, he bought up and threw the ball at me. He was like, ‘You p—y. Hit me. Come on, let’s go.’ I used to be like, ‘Oh my God, this man is insane.'”
Bretsch continued: “Our relationship was, he talked crap to me, and that is the way in which he bought probably the most out of me. He knew the way to get probably the most out of every particular person.”
THE FIRST GAME of that season was towards Azusa Pacific College, then an NAIA college outdoors of Los Angeles. The group took a two-hour bus journey there, anticipating a win to start the Harbaugh period at USD.
As an alternative, the Toreros misplaced 24-17. Azusa Pacific outscored USD 10-0 within the fourth quarter to spoil Harbaugh’s teaching debut.
After the sport, Harbaugh took the group to Hooters for a deliberate dinner that included a personal room. When the gamers and coaches entered the room, a big banner learn, “Congratulations, Coach Harbaugh.”
“It was the saddest Hooters expertise in all of our lives,” stated Eric Bakhtiari, who performed defensive finish. “As soon as it did not work out, he took that feeling and every thing after that was ensuring that it will by no means end up just like the Hooters day.”
However the struggles did not finish at Hooters. The Toreros started the season 2-4, together with a 61-14 drubbing by Penn in Harbaugh’s dwelling debut, the place USD allowed eight touchdowns.
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Amid the skid, some started to wonder if Harbaugh was the fitting coach for the job.
“It took a little bit little bit of among the pleasure away,” former USD cornerback Josh Brisco stated. “We’re working so onerous, a lot has modified from an perspective stage to an funding perspective. Like is it value it? We had been doing tremendous earlier than, did we have to change that a lot?”
Nonetheless, Bakhtiari remembered how the shedding streak and particularly the Penn loss “basically switched” the group. “It was a name to motion to himself, to his workers, to us as gamers,” he stated.
Harbaugh inspired gamers to proceed to consider in his teaching philosophy. Regardless of the losses, he promised USD was near being the group he had hoped it will be after probably the most difficult offseason of all his gamers’ faculty careers.
“It wasn’t like everybody felt dejected and gave up,” Doyle stated. “Or like, ‘This man’s loopy, none of his s— labored.’ It was like ‘purchase in additional, purchase into this system.'”
PLAYERS CITE HARBAUGH’S dedication and persona as a purpose they continued believing. He walked the stroll. Harbaugh did pushups in the course of the group’s every day warmups, attempting so as to add to what number of he may do with out stopping. Gamers keep in mind his face going crimson and the veins in his face and neck bulging as he struggled via every rep.
“He bought to a degree the place he was at 100 pushups that he may do with out stopping,” former USD operating again Evan Harney stated, “and it began like 50, after which the following week was at 55.”
Garton remembers Harbaugh changing into a mainstay on the group’s lifts, usually sporting a sweater tucked into khaki pants. At some point, Harbaugh joined the group in doing energy cleans — an train the place the athlete pulls a barbell from the bottom as much as their shoulders, catching it in a squat place. Harbaugh had not warmed up, however grabbed the burden anyway and tried the facility clear.
“He ended up on his ass, however he tried it, and we’re all taking a look at him … and he would not get embarrassed, dude,” Garton stated with amusing. “He is simply sort of like, ‘Huh. It is heavier than I believed.’ Will get up, walks out. We’re similar to, ‘What the f—?’ I imply, we’re taking a look at one another like, ‘Dude, this man’s totally different.'”
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Past the exercises, Harbaugh elevated the legitimacy of this system. Earlier than Harbaugh, Brisco remembers paying $200 for his group journey gear and gear. Harbaugh ended that instantly, although, to this present day, the gamers aren’t positive what strings he pulled. “Now, after I wanted gloves, I may simply go to the gear room,” he stated. “It was small, however it began to really feel like this was an actual program.”
Harbaugh did many issues that first 12 months that saved follow or conferences fascinating, measures the gamers now understand had a deeper that means associated to soccer.
As soon as, throughout a gathering, he advised gamers to stroll outdoors, the place they watched a site visitors controller direct site visitors for 10 minutes. Whereas they watched, Harbaugh preached “mind-numbing repetition” — doing one thing sufficient to make it turn out to be second nature. He wished his gamers to concentrate on probably the most mundane particulars even when nobody was watching — the identical as this man directing site visitors.
“I get delicate about these tales generally as a result of if you happen to oversimplify him all the way down to a quote, you miss Harbaugh,” Doyle stated. “For those who carry the covers on many of the one-off quotes and tales, there’s much more there for these of us who know him.”
USD PUMMELED ITS opponents in a five-game successful streak to finish the 2004 season, successful by a minimum of 21 factors in every recreation however one.
Harbaugh usually advised the gamers in conferences forward of video games that season that they might beat groups and “it did not have to be shut.” In USD’s wins, Harbaugh inspired the group to maintain scoring. “He at all times advised us it wasn’t his job to cease his group from scoring,” Doyle stated. “That was the opposite group’s job.”
Maybe the largest win of that marketing campaign got here in the one non-blowout in the course of the streak. USD performed Dayton within the season’s penultimate recreation, a measuring stick for Harbaugh and a Toreros program that had overwhelmed the Flyers solely as soon as in group historical past earlier than that season. Dayton was the Pioneer Soccer League’s most dominant group with a conference-best eight titles.
With 9:18 left within the fourth quarter and USD main 31-28, operating again Evan Harney fumbled. Dayton defensive again Casey Klaus returned the miscue 79 yards for a landing that gave Dayton a 35-31 lead.
“I am pondering I simply misplaced the sport,” Harney stated. “I by no means had a second like that the place I used to be so helpless on the sphere.”
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On the next drive, Toreros quarterback Todd Mortensen remembers a run-pass-option play name on third down, and his selection was to throw the ball when he ought to have handed it off based mostly on Dayton’s protection. USD was pressured to punt. It was two errors from two of the group’s finest gamers, however Harbaugh assured Mortensen when he got here to the sideline that they’d have a shot to win the sport.
Pentz stopped a Dayton fourth-down try on the following drive to offer the offense the ball with 2:40 left within the recreation. The Toreros drove down the sphere and Harney scored a landing to place them up 38-35. They sealed the win with Bakhtiari’s interception on Dayton’s remaining drive.
“The truth that he would have that belief in me to place the ball in my arms was enormous,” Harney stated. “That was an enormous win for us. And I feel it was an enormous deal for him, too, however we’ll nonetheless speak about that play collectively after I see him.”
“If I made a mistake, he would coach me as an alternative of chewing me out after which specific his confidence in me,” Mortensen stated. “These sorts of experiences actually made an enormous distinction in my profession.”
USD ended the season with a 35-14 win over Wagner to complete 7-4. In keeping with their report, the Toreros had taken a step again from 2003. And but, the gamers largely felt that they’d discovered a successful system, that they had been on the doorstep of one thing larger.
USD went 22-2 over Harbaugh’s subsequent two seasons, successful the primary two PFL championships in class historical past. Harbaugh left USD after 2006 for Stanford, the place he spent 4 seasons and led the Cardinal to a 12-1 report and Rose Bowl win in his remaining 12 months.
He moved to the NFL in 2011, main the San Francisco 49ers to 3 straight NFC championships and a Tremendous Bowl look in 4 seasons earlier than going again to varsity. Harbaugh returned to his alma mater, the College of Michigan, in 2015, teaching the Wolverines for 9 years, culminating in an undefeated nationwide championship season in 2023.
At every cease, Harbaugh considerably elevated packages from the place they had been when he arrived. Over 20 years and 5 groups, his gamers are unified by that sample of development, traditions that began for Harbaugh throughout that first season in San Diego.
“There was simply sort of a collective swagger,” Doyle stated. “There was positively a sense that sort of, no wanting again from right here. We had purchased in and this was our factor.”
