Harbaugh interviews with Chargers for coaching job
By The Associated Press
The Chargers said Monday they interviewed University of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh for their vacant coaching job, their highest-profile candidate so far. Harbaugh was the eighth person to interview either in person or via video conference call since the process began last week.
More interviews are still to come, although Harbaugh would be considered by many to be the front-running candidate so far in almost all aspects. The Chargers must meet the NFL’S Rooney Rule requirements by interviewing minority candidates before they can complete their hiring process.
Teams must comply with the Rooney Rule by interviewing at least two minority candidates, including one in-person interview.
However, contrary to popular opinion around the football universe, spending big bucks will not be an issue in hiring the best possible replacement for Brandon Staley, as Chargers director of football operations John Spanos said during a rare on-the-record session with beat reporters last month.
In fact, the Chargers gave quarterback Justin Herbert and safety Derwin James Jr. mammoth contract extensions in the past two offseasons. They also are set to open a new training facility in El Segundo that comes with a $250 million price tag, replacing their temporary headquarters in Costa Mesa.
“I’ve never felt or seen any limitations in terms of cash or any other reason,” Spanos said Dec. 18. “I want to know where narratives come from. If you just look at the facts, right? I mean, we have spent more, if you look at our spending on players, if it’s not No. 1 it’s toward the top. The spending on the new facility (too).
“If you look at the last three coaching hires, all three of them are coaches that were sought-after to the point that they were going to get other jobs if we didn’t step up and get them, right? We’ve competed for players, we’ve competed for staff. We’re competing for a new facility.”
Harbaugh, 60, has a 10-year, $125 million contract extension on the table from Michigan, an offer extended before he led the Wolverines to a 15-0 record and a national championship victory over the University of Washington
last week. His nine-year record at Michigan is 89-25.
During the run-up to the Rose Bowl and the championship game, Harbaugh declined to answer questions about a possible return to the NFL and also to the Chargers. He also said he wished only to celebrate Michigan’s victory over Washington upon his return to Ann Arbor last week.
Harbaugh was a quarterback for 14 years in the NFL, his final two with the then-san Diego Chargers during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. He then went on to coach at the University of San Diego and Stanford before jumping in 2011 to the San Francisco 49ers, where he was 44-19-1.
Despite three straight trips to the NFC championship game with San Francisco, a bitter disagreement with management led Harbaugh to leave the 49ers for Michigan, his alma mater, in 2015. He has had double-digit victories with the Wolverines in all but three of his nine seasons at the school.
The Chargers have interviewed seven others for the coaching vacancy, including in-house candidates Giff Smith, who was their interim coach for three games after Staley was fired, and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Smith was 0-3, but rallied the players around him in the final weeks.
Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, Todd Monken (Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator), Steve Wilks (49ers defensive coordinator), Mike Macdonald (Ravens defensive coordinator) and Leslie Frazier (ex-buffalo Bills defensive coordinator) also have interviewed.
The Chargers’ search for a replacement
NFL PLAYOFFS
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Sunday’s results
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Monday’s results
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DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS Saturday, Jan. 20
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AFC: for Tom Telesco as general manager also continues. So far, interim GM Jojo Wooden, Brandon Brown (New York Giants assistant GM), Joe Hortiz (Ravens director of player personnel) and Ian Cunningham (Chicago Bears assistant GM) have interviewed.
— Elliott Teaford
Saturday night’s AFC wild-card playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs on Peacock set a record for the most-watched event on a streaming service.
According to Nielsen, the Chiefs’ 26-7 victory in frigid temperatures averaged 23 million viewers on Peacock, NFL+ and on NBC affiliates in Kansas City and Miami. Nielsen also reported Sunday night that the game had a total reach of 27.6 million.
Fans had to pay for a Peacock subscription, which starts at $5.99, to watch the game, making it the NFL’S first playoff game behind a paywall — a move by the league that generated no shortage of complaints from fans. The average viewership surpassed the previous record of 15.3 million for the Nov. 30 matchup between the Seahawks and Cowboys on Amazon Prime Video. It also beat viewership for Saturday night wild-card playoff games that were shown on NBC in two of the last three years.
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