Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh knows there are people who call him difficult, but he disagrees.
Harbaugh says people know what he’s all about, which is building a successful football team, and that the people who want the same thing want to work with him.
“The narrative that I am difficult to understand or whatever other stories there are, those are just people’s stories,” Harbaugh told ESPN. “Nobody has ever doubted where my heart is every time: what’s in the best interest of the team I’m playing on.”
Chargers President John Spanos echoed this, saying he checked with many references before hiring Harbaugh and found that the people who had worked with him had a high opinion of him.
“The people I’ve talked to who have worked with Jim have found it very positive,” Spanos said. “His passion and energy rubs off on you a little bit, and the whole attitude of approaching every day with an enthusiasm that is unknown to mankind. I mean, I know it sounds kind of cliche, but he lives it, he breathes it, and it’s real, and it rubs off on people.”
Ultimately, Harbaugh will be judged on the same criteria as his predecessor, Brandon Staley: winning games. Staley didn’t win enough and was fired. Harbaugh was brought in to win, and if he can do that, the Chargers will be happy to work with him.
