EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Jim Harbaugh’s football philosophy is rooted in being physical on both sides of the ball and wearing down an opponent.
However, when it comes to relating to his players, it is nothing but love, respect and adulation.
Like he did with the San Francisco 49ers and the University of Michigan, Harbaugh has turned around the fortunes of the Los Angeles Chargers. The Bolts finished 11-6 in the regular season — a six-win improvement — and are back in the playoffs, where they will face the Houston Texans on Saturday in an AFC wild-card round game.
“I just pretty much take on the personality of the team wherever I go,” Harbaugh said earlier this season. “The love Derwin James has for football, I gravitated to that immediately. The humble warrior Khalil Mack is, everything about Justin Herbert. The toughness, competitiveness and confidence of our players, I want to take on a little bit of that. I want a lot of that in my personality and in my life to keep going. It’s infectious.”
Harbaugh made an early impression on his new team. He participated in conditioning drills with players during offseason workouts. He also had players’ hometowns and recruiting rankings on their nameplates in the locker room to show how everyone got to the NFL.
Before the Sept. 8 opener against Las Vegas, players received a blue-collar work shirt from Harbaugh with an embroidered name patch and the Chargers lightning bolt logo. The shirts looked like those worn by filing station attendants and mechanics. Harbaugh said the shirts for him paid homage to his grandfather, Joe Cipiti, who worked in filling stations and was a self-taught mechanic who ended up teaching automobile mechanics at a trade school in Cleveland, but also to members of players' families who worked in the same type of jobs.
“I feel like that galvanized the team a lot because growing up as a kid, I saw a lot of people in the community who were hard workers. They always had that nameplate and always represented who that person was,” James said. “Just to have that means a lot to us.”
Harbaugh has continued the motivational gifts throughout the season.
After a 17-13 victory over the Falcons on Dec. 1, players received a black metal lunch pail with their names and one of Harbaugh’s favorite words — stalwart — on the front. There were also sweatshirts with the date and score after the Chargers 34-27 victory over the Bengals in a prime-time game on Nov. 17 and the 40-7 win at New England on Dec. 28 that wrapped up a playoff spot.
“To some people, it may seem cheesy, but I enjoy those life gifts,” James said. “It’s been helping to set the culture. We wouldn’t be in the postseason without all the details and stuff we’ve done doing.”
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who was also on Harbaugh’s staff at Stanford and San Francisco, said the area where Harbaugh has evolved the most has been relating his experiences as a player or a coach.
Roman said the stories from Harbaugh’s 15-year playing career or previous coaching stops can help reinforce the message at different points of the season.
Harbaugh’s stories — and there have been plenty — still resonate. Players still mention Harbaugh telling the story of remembering the day he was born on the first day of training camp as one of their favorites.
“This thing is always changing with the mood of the team; what just happened, and where are we in the season? I think it can create some great perspective and bring them into one vision instead of reading a line item on the PowerPoint,” Roman said. “With Jim, he has an art to his storytelling. There’s always a moral to the stories, always, like one of those After School specials when you were a kid."
The player Harbaugh might have had the most enormous effect on is Herbert. Harbaugh has been Herbert’s biggest supporter from the time he was hired and catches passes from his quarterback during pregame warmups.
Harbaugh also spends plenty of time in the quarterback room watching film with Herbert.
“The things we’ve learned from him ... I can’t tell you how much. So it’s cool to be able to share that and learn from him,” Herbert said.
NaVorro Bowman, who played for Harbaugh in San Francisco, has developed more of an appreciation for Harbaugh now that he is on his coaching staff with the Chargers.
Bowman knew Harbaugh loved football, but now he gets to see how much on a daily basis.
“Now I understand why he’s so good at what he does. He doesn’t waste a minute. I mean, if he can squeeze out everything in a minute, he will squeeze it out,” Bowman said. “I didn’t get to see or pay attention to it while playing. But now I understand why he’s so successful is because work is what he loves to do.”
Bowman also sees many similarities in the Chargers and the 2011 49ers, who went from 6-10 to 13-3 and reached the NFC championship game before losing to the New York Giants.
“No one expected us to be where we are today, and the only way that happened is because everyone here treats everyone with respect, respects each other’s space, and grinds,” he said.
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Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh listens to a reporter's question during a news conference following an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) celebrates with head coach Jim Harbaugh during the second half of an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Las Vegas, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
