Mike Riley can laugh about it now — that time his starting quarterback fought his teammate.
As Riley, the then-Chargers head coach recalled it, the team was on its way to its fourth consecutive loss. The Chargers failed to score a touchdown in a road game against the Oakland Raiders. Chargers safety Michael Dumas, who Riley called “one of the toughest guys around,” said something to the team’s quarterback about the offensive struggles.
Jim Harbaugh took offense. The quarterback pressed his facemask against Dumas’ and linebacker Junior Seau pulled them apart. It didn’t end on the field.
“By the time they got to the locker room, they were full-fledged fighting,” Riley said. “Jim would not back down to anything.”
Nearly three decades after being the maniacally driven quarterback who wasn’t afraid to square up with his defensive teammate, Harbaugh is bringing the same fire to the franchise as its head coach.
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The player once known as “Captain Comeback” for his dramatic playoff wins with the Indianapolis Colts will try to orchestrate another reverse for an organization that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2018.
Those who watched Harbaugh during his playing days know his rare mix of competitiveness, authenticity and empathy make him the ideal person to pull off the feat starting with Sunday’s season opener against the Oakland Raiders, kickoff at 1:05 p.m. in SoFi Stadium.
“He wants to win more than anybody, and he’s gonna,” said former Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf. “He’s gonna win. I just thought this was the best fit in the world because he’s going to do what’s best for the team to win. … That’s exactly what the Chargers were in need of.”
“The most competitive person you’ve ever met.”
Ryan Leaf, on former Chargers teammate Jim Harbaugh
Harbaugh, a former Heisman Trophy finalist at Michigan, threw the final passes of his 15-year NFL career while with the Chargers. In two seasons with the Chargers, Harbaugh was 6-11 as a starting quarterback.
When he joined the team in 1999, the Chargers needed a proven veteran to mentor Leaf. Harbaugh, then in his 13th pro season, didn’t stop at just coaching up the former No. 2 pick.
During the offseason, Riley would occasionally peer out of his office window that overlooked the practice fields as the rookies started their workouts. When he looked closer, he saw one veteran among the group.
“Jim was totally consumed by his preparation for the season, for the game, whatever it was, he was always going to do whatever he could to be ready,” Riley said. “Then in the games was the ultimate competitor.”
Even in a league full of the most driven people in the world, Harbaugh is “the most competitive person you’ve ever met,” Leaf said.
It wasn’t just on the field. During the 2000 season, the Chargers quarterbacks Leaf, Harbaugh and Moses Moreno spent their weekly off-days playing golf together. They rotated who got to pick the course and Leaf noticed a particular pattern in Harbaugh’s choices. He just didn’t want to play at the best courses. Looking for any edge, Harbaugh picked the courses that suited his swing specifically.
“He was like Michael Jordan,” Leaf said, referring to the basketball legend’s role in designing his private course in Florida to suit his playing style.
Harbaugh’s effort to find every advantage has extended to his famous attention to detail as a coach. Players are instructed to wear shoes — not slides or flip flops — to meetings if they need to get up and walk through a play. They line up their shoes in precise order in the weight room.
“He’s a winning machine. He’s a culture setter.”
Offensive lineman Foster Sarell, on Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh
With his signature “enthusiasm unknown to mankind,” Harbaugh orchestrated a record-breaking team picture day, getting players and coaches on and off the bleachers for the annual group photo in less than seven minutes. Just as he does to set up the game plan, Harbaugh explained the assigned seats in a team meeting before everyone took the field.
“If you allow the little things to slide, big things will slide,” offensive lineman Zion Johnson said. “Details are everything.”
When some coaches make such exacting requests or tell eccentric stories like the ones Harbaugh spins, the messages can fall on deaf ears, Leaf said. Not when Harbaugh talks. Players laugh when asked about his meandering stories, but they still follow him to the final message.
“When you look at him and you listen to him, you know there’s a realness to him,” Leaf said.
A shoulder injury Leaf suffered during the first day of training camp in 1999 led to Harbaugh taking over as the starter during his first year with the Chargers. The team went 8-8, and the quarterback competition resumed in 2000 with Harbaugh battling Leaf, who was then in his fourth season with the Chargers.
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They went throw-for-throw during training camp. Leaf threw a game-winning touchdown pass in the final preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals to secure the starting position. Harbaugh relented. Accepting the backup position, Harbaugh shook hands with Leaf.
“He then became this unbelievable mentor in the room,” Leaf said. “He taught me how to be a professional quarterback.”
Harbaugh started competing to be “the best backup quarterback in this league,” Leaf said.
It started with mentoring the quarterback whose career was marred by injuries and bad behavior. Leaf got into shouting matches with teammates, reporters and fans. When he acted out, everyone just added the latest transgression to the list of reasons to write him off.
Harbaugh instead asked why.
“I think people admonished me, the general manager, other teammates, the media,” Leaf said. “There was an earnestness behind the why, and then he listened. … That coach was already instilled in him starting to play out.”
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Receiver Derius Davis called Harbaugh a “players’ coach” who knows exactly what players need because he once stood in their same cleats.
Running back Hassan Haskins, who played at Michigan, knew he wanted to play for Harbaugh because of how the coach created a family atmosphere around the program.
Offensive lineman Foster Sarell noted that Harbaugh often sits with players during lunch and asks about their families and spouses. He participates in Bible study with players.
“He’s a winning machine,” Sarell said. “He’s a culture setter.”
Harbaugh has proved his mettle at every level at every stop. He led University of San Diego to a 29-6 record during three seasons.
He orchestrated what Riley called “one of the best jobs of coaching I’ve ever seen” by turning Stanford, which went 1-11 the season before he arrived, into the dominant force of the Pac-12.
He led the San Francisco 49ers to three NFC championship games in four years then led his alma mater Michigan to its first national championship in 26 years.
Watching and rooting for the Chargers and Herbert from afar for the last several years, Riley was thrilled to see his former player back in powder blue as a coach. Harbaugh was the only veteran to work out with the rookies. He was the only starting quarterback Riley’s ever seen get into a fight.
He’s now the man tasked with breathing life back into the Chargers.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.