Sports
Elliott: Jim Harbaugh expects to win 'multiple championships' with Chargers
Without warning, the lights went down inside YouTube Theater. The main feature was about to begin, the promise of a happier future about to be delivered.
In a brief video that touched on the stars and high points of their history, from the days of Air Coryell and Dan Fouts and LaDainian Tomlinson to the present-day aspirational brilliance of quarterback Justin Herbert, the Chargers introduced Jim Harbaugh as the coach who will lead them to unprecedented heights.
At the end, accompanying an image of Harbaugh during his late-career quarterbacking days with the then-San Diego Chargers, the screen displayed the words, “Welcome Home.”
He’s not really coming home, since home for the Chargers is now SoFi Stadium, a short jog from the scene of his news conference Thursday. But why quibble on small points?
“Watching the video, the little hairs on my arms stood up,” Harbaugh said, adding the video reminded him that after his last game as a Charger he had exchanged jerseys with linebacker Junior Seau, a souvenir that occupies a place of honor in his office.
Besides touching Harbaugh’s heart, the video made an emphatic and intriguing point.
The Spanos family, which owns and operates the Chargers, has invested their trust, their money and their credibility in Harbaugh, giving him a deal that has been reported to be for five years at $16 million per year. It’s a make-or-break move for owners who seemed content to run the team as a plaything and whose previous three coaches (Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn, and Brandon Staley) had no NFL experience on their respective resumés.
They got serious. They got Harbaugh, who had the guts to speak Thursday about coming in humble and hungry but with the firm goal of winning “multiple, multiple championships.” That’s music to the ears of fans long frustrated by the Spanos family’s short-sighted ambitions, fans who often are drowned out in their stadium by fans supporting whoever the Chargers are playing that week.
“We talked internally about really being willing to reimagine how we do things,” said John Spanos, head of football operations and son of team owner Dean Spanos. “That doesn’t mean just doing things differently for the sake of change, but really being willing to explore all options, all possibilities, and gaining an understanding of what it’s going to take to get to the next level.”
Fresh off winning a national championship with the University of Michigan, Harbaugh’s comments and responses to questions Thursday sometimes sounded like the kind of rah-rah clichés that work better at the college level than with older, experienced pros. He repeatedly spoke of his goal being to have a productive day and dominate the day, a phrase he often used while coaching the Wolverines.
But he let some of his personality peek through: He made frequent mention of faith, family, and football as his priorities. He quoted his father, Jack, and Jack’s fondness for saying, “Who’s got it better than us?” Several times, he quoted his daughter Katie’s saying of “Work together, win together,” as his mantra.
Along the way, he mentioned Morgan Freeman’s character in “The Shawshank Redemption,” revealed he was a fan of the fictional coach Ted Lasso, and said he wanted to get an RV and park at a Southern California beach in tribute to the 1970s TV show “The Rockford Files,” which started James Garner as a quirky detective.
After his news conference, he was scheduled to visit the Chargers’ new training facility in El Segundo. He said he was ready to go to a hardware store and buy a Shop-Vac to clean up the weight room and make sure the right equipment was ordered.
Harbaugh, 60, sometimes was charmingly folksy, talking about his childhood in Ohio and the frequent moves his family made to accommodate his father’s football coaching career moves. His brother, John, coach of the Baltimore Ravens and roommate for 16 years of their shared childhood, is “as tough as a $2 steak,” Jim said, but their competitiveness made him better as a person and later, as a coach.
Many people came to mind for Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh during his introductory news conference.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
He made no secret of his big ambitions, but he knows he’s got a big rebuilding job to do. The Chargers were 5-12 under Staley and interim coach Giff Smith last season. The Spanos family held on to Staley for too long and fired him only because a 63-21 loss to Las Vegas was too great a beatdown to be ignored. Turning this around will take some time. Success in his first year will have to be graded on a curve.
“Humble and hungry. That’s where we are right now,” he said. “We’re going to respect all our opponents and we’re going to strive to earn their respect. And we’re going to earn a winning [reputation]. Tough team, resilient team, relentless team, physical team, is what we strive to be.”
He then paused, to good effect. “Don’t let the powder blues fool you,” he said of their pastel uniforms, drawing laughs from the audience.
Winning enough to win over fans — and persuading Chargers ticket holders not to sell their seats to fans of visiting teams — will be tough tasks. He sees one way to accomplish that–the old-fashioned basics of blocking, tackling, playing a physical, all-out game.
“My thought is pretty much what I said earlier. By your talent and by your effort you will be known,” he said. “We have our team and people will look at it. They’re going to see that kind of football team.”
His priority now, he said, is to assemble a coaching staff and continue to get to know his players. At some point, he will have to put his words into action. Who’s got it better than them? We’ll find out next season.
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The PGA Tour has announced that it will not be hosting an event in Hawaii during the 2027 season, ending a 56-year run of holding a tournament in The Aloha State. The change comes as the Tour and CEO Brian Rolapp have consistently teased a revamped schedule beginning next year.
The Tour was forced to cancel The Sentry at the start of the 2026 campaign due to the dying grass on the Plantation Course at Kapalua amid a local dispute with the company responsible for delivering water to the area.
An aerial view of the golf course from over the ocean prior to The Sentry at The Plantation Course at Kapalua on December 31, 2023 in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR) (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)
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With The Sentry being canceled, the Sony Open at Waialae Country on Oahu served as the Tour’s season opener in ‘26, which was won by Chris Gotterup. The event was in the final year of its sponsorship, although the Tour has shared that it is working toward making the event the opening event on the PGA Tour Champions circuit.
Chris Gotterup of the United States celebrates with the trophy on the 18th green after his winning round of the Sony Open in Hawaii 2026 at Waialae Country Club on January 18, 2026 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images) (Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
The Tour’s removal of The Sentry and the Sony Open wipes out what has now turned into a traditional two-week stretch on the island to begin a new season.
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The PGA Tour did not share further details about the 2027 schedule upon its announcement about leaving Hawaii, but with Sentry reportedly being an event title-sponsor through 2035, it will need to find a new landing spot on the calendar. The logical stop would be Torrey Pines in San Diego, which checks the West Coast and great weather boxes, but the venue is also looking for a new sponsor, as its deal with Farmers Insurance ended in 2026.
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View of the 18th hole is seen during the final round of The Sentry at The Plantation Course at Kapalua on January 5, 2025 in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images) (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
The Tour’s decision not to begin next season in Hawaii makes sense, as there are plenty of venues in the lower 48 states that are much easier to operate from, but the departure will have a tremendous financial impact on the state.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that The Sentry is estimated to have a $50 million annual impact on the community, while the Sony Open directly generates an estimated $100 million in revenue per year, plus another $1 million per year to Friends of Hawaii charities.
Martin Dugard is a prolific author and writer. He’s also an assistant cross-country coach at Santa Margarita after being head coach at JSerra for 15 years.
His newest book is “The Long Run,” which discusses the 1970s running boom and is a narrative history of four who sparked the marathon boom: Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Grete Waitz.
He’s going to have a book signing on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 26751 Aliso Creek Rd., Aliso Viejo.
Don’t be surprised if he tries to run from Rancho Santa Margarita to his book signing.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
For years, Stephen A. Smith’s many football blunders have been easy enough to explain away.
He’s not an NFL guy (remember when he said the three key players for a game were three guys who weren’t playing in the game?)
Stephen A. Smith falsely claimed the Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, but Golden State reached the second round in both 2023 and 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
He’s definitely not a college football guy (remember when he called Jalen Milroe Jalen “Milroy” multiple times and then read the wrong stat line after a College Football Playoff game?).
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ESPN forces him into those conversations because First Take has to talk football, and Smith knows that football is the most popular sport in the country and he needs to be seen as an authority (even though he isn’t).
But Monday’s latest mistake is a lot tougher to excuse, because this time Smith wasn’t talking about the NFL or college football. He was talking about the Golden State Warriors, one of the defining NBA dynasties of the last decade.
In other words, he was talking about the sport and the league that’s supposed to be his bread and butter.
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While discussing whether Steve Kerr has coached his last game with Golden State, Smith confidently stated the Warriors “haven’t been back to the playoffs since that championship in 2022.”
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr looks on during a game against the Sacramento Kings. (Robert Edwards/Imagn Images)
That’s not even close to true. Not only did Golden State make the playoffs last season, but they also reached the postseason in 2023. Last year, the Warriors made the playoffs, beat the Rockets in seven games and advanced to the second round before losing to the Timberwolves. In 2023, they beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round and before losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
So, Smith wouldn’t even have been right if he said they haven’t won a playoff series since 2022. But he didn’t say that. He said they didn’t make the playoffs in any of the past four years, except they did it twice.
Yikes.
This is not an obscure piece of NBA trivia that Smith could be easily forgiven for not knowing. Perhaps he was too busy playing solitaire on his phone and just missed two of the past three NBA postseasons. That’s a tough look for the guy who fancies himself as the No. 1 NBA analyst in the country.
And it’s a terrible look for ESPN, as they keep selling Smith as one of the faces of their NBA coverage.
Stephen A. Smith made a brutal gaffe while talking Warriors playoff history
If Smith made this kind of mistake while talking about the NFL, nobody would be shocked. At this point, sports fans practically expect him to butcher football analysis. It’s almost endearing that a guy with the ego of Smith can be so consistently wrong while also delivering every “fact” with the utmost confidence. It’s part of the Stephen A. experience.
But this one hits differently because the NBA is where he’s supposed to at least know the basics. This is where Smith prides himself as being an authority figure.
Stephen A. Smith incorrectly stated the Golden State Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since their 2022 championship, despite the team reaching the postseason twice since then. (Candice Ward/Imagn Images)
And yet he couldn’t keep the recent playoff history of the Warriors straight. The team whose head coach is in the news every other week. The team that has won four championships since 2014. Arguably one of the most important franchises in the NBA over the past 15 years.
Yes, Golden State missed the playoffs in 2024 after getting bounced in the Play-In Tournament (although they won 46 games that season). And yes, it fell short again this season. But that’s a lot different from acting like Steve Kerr has spent four years wandering the basketball wilderness since winning that 2022 title.
He hasn’t. In fact, the team is 175-153 in the past four regular seasons.
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The Warriors made the second round in 2023. They made the second round again in 2025.
Before burying Steve Kerr on national television, maybe Stephen A. Smith could take 10 seconds to confirm whether the Warriors were actually, you know, in the playoffs.
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