Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh knows there are people out there who say he’s difficult. But he doesn’t agree.
Harbaugh says people know him know what he’s 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’m hard to get along with or whatever other narrative out there is, that’s just people’s narrative,” Harbaugh told ESPN. “Nobody’s ever doubted where my heart is every single time: what’s in the best interest of the team that I am on.”
Chargers President John Spanos echoed that, saying that when he called around for references before hiring Harbaugh, he found that people who have worked with him think highly of him.
“The people that I’ve spoken with, who’ve worked with Jim, it was a lot of positive,” Spanos said. “His passion and energy rubs off on you a little bit and the whole mindset of attacking each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. I mean, I know it kind of sounds clichè, but he lives it, he breathes it, and it is real, and it rubs off on people.”
Ultimately, Harbaugh will be judged on the same thing his predecessor, Brandon Staley, was judged on: Winning games. Staley didn’t win enough and was fired. Harbaugh has been brought in to win, and if he does, the Chargers will be happy to work with him.