Chargers back in San Diego for 2 days at school where Harbaugh landed 1st head coaching job

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Chargers returned to San Diego on Tuesday for the first time since they bolted for Los Angeles eight years ago, holding the first of two practices at the small college stadium where Jim Harbaugh began his head coaching career in the mid-2000s.

Harbaugh ran the Chargers through their first padded practice of training camp at Torero Stadium at the University of San Diego, a hilltop Jesuit school about five miles west of the site where they used to play.

It was just the second time the Chargers have held a practice in San Diego County since 2017, when owner Dean Spanos moved them to Los Angeles after he was unable to get a stadium deal in San Diego. They held a walkthrough at Camp Pendleton in far northern San Diego County during minicamp in 2024.

The Bolts haven't held a public event or practice here since their acrimonious split with the city they called home for 56 seasons. Tickets to Tuesday's practice were made available to active-duty military and veterans, and tickets to Wednesday's practice were available to season ticket holders.

The 6,500-seat stadium appeared half full. A dozen or so fans watched from a public sidewalk overlooking the stadium.

There were a lot of No. 10 Justin Herbert jerseys in the crowd, and also some from the San Diego days, including Philip Rivers — who quarterbacked the Chargers in both cities — LaDainian Tomlinson and Junior Seau.

The Chargers were scheduled to hold a walkthrough on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on Tuesday evening.

While some San Diegans still follow the Chargers, many remain bitter or have moved on from the NFL.

Harbaugh said the idea to practice in San Diego “came from the organization. I heard the idea and said, ‘Heck yeah, let’s do it and a suggestion, if I might, let’s do it at USD.’ This is about as good as it gets.”

Harbaugh was asked if having practices here was the sign of the team extending an olive branch to San Diego, where he still owns a home.

“I don't know anything about that. I never once heard the olive branch analogy used,” he said. "We love our fans. We love our LA fans, we love San Diego fans, Santa Barbara, Fresno. We just want to go to our fans, wherever they might be. Stockton. I want to go to Stockton. Just all those that come to see us, we want to go to them whenever we can.”

Harbaugh played for the Chargers in 1999, when he replaced injured quarterback Ryan Leaf, and in 2000, when he started five games during a 1-15 season.

He said he often visited USD for basketball and baseball games and befriended Monsignor Daniel Dillabough.

“One basketball game I asked him if we could go look at the football field,” Harbaugh said. “I stood on the top of the hill and said, ‘This is incredible. Someday, when I get done playing, I’m going to go into coaching, and it would be incredible if this is where I coached.'”

He was quarterbacks coach of the Oakland Raiders when the USD job opened in 2004.

“I saw they had an opening for head coach and called Monsignor Dillabough and said, ‘Remember what I said about five years ago?’ And he said, ‘I was hoping you would call.’”

He coached at USD for three seasons, going 29-6 overall.

“It was my first head coaching opportunity, and the thing I’ve asked Monsignor before, ‘What did you see in me to make you think I’d be a good head football coach?' I’d still like to know. He hasn't told me that.”

Harbaugh said he wanted to get the blessing of Al Davis, who asked, “'Why would you do that? I thought you wanted to be a pro coach.' I said, ‘Mr. Davis, I really want to emulate your career. I know you started as a college coach and I want to take the same path.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, but that was USC, not USD.’ That's a fond memory for me.”

Harbaugh went on to coach at Stanford, the San Francisco 49ers and Michigan. He led the Wolverines to the national championship to cap the scandal-plagued 2023 season. He was hired by the Chargers and led them to an 11-6 record last season before they lost to Houston in the wild-card round.

He said being back at USD was “incredible. As the buses came through, the little hairs on my arm were standing up.”

Harbaugh praised Rivers, who on Monday announced in a video that he was retiring as a Charger. The quarterback played 16 seasons for the Chargers and last played for Indianapolis in 2020.

“Nothing but the highest respect for Philip Rivers,” Harbaugh said. “He was so good and I just appreciate him in every way. The thing that always stands out to me is coaching against Philip, when the 49ers played the Chargers, his enthusiasm for the game is right there with Derwin James.

“His ability to talk, during the play, sometimes he was directing it at the players, one time he directed it over at me,” Harbaugh said. “Really, I guess, talk smack, as the young people say, and to do it without swearing is just another level of eliteness. Tremendous competitor. Everyone in the organization has love and appreciation for Philip Rivers. We're excited he's going to retire as a Charger.”

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Los Angeles Chargers running back Omarion Hampton runs through a drill during an NFL football training camp Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert smiles as he runs through a drill during an NFL football training camp Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh speaks at a news conference during an NFL football training camp Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh gestures as he works with players during an NFL football training camp session Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's photo portrait display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document U.S. history.

The wall text, which summarized Trump's first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum's “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.

The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

Trump's original “portrait label," as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump's Supreme Court nominations and his administration's development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”

Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”

Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump's “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”

The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents' painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump's display.

Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.

Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.

The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok's work.

“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”

For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.

And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”

Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents U.S. history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation's development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.

In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery's director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian's governing board, but she ultimately resigned.

At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.

The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump's two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden's autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”

Barrow reported from Atlanta.

A photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)