One of the biggest storylines when the next NFL season gets underway again in September will be the return of Jim Harbaugh.
The former San Francisco 49ers head coach is back in the NFL with the LA Chargers after a nine-year stint with his college football alma mater, Michigan Wolverines.
Harbaugh led the 49ers to three consecutive NFC Championship games between 2011 and 2013, a run that included a Super Bowl XLVII defeat to the Baltimore Ravens in 2012.
Harbaugh’s big, infectious personality was a hallmark of his time by the Bay and Joey Bosa, one of his new star players, has quickly endorsed the new boss.
"We sat down and probably talked for 30 minutes, an hour a couple of weeks ago," Bosa told The New York Post. "Great first impressions. … I have a lot of confidence in him and the staff that he's bringing around him.
“I think he seems like a really genuine guy, which you don’t find that a lot in coaches all the time. He’s interesting. He loves football more than anything. I think all he wants to do is win. The way he talked about his feelings toward this job and toward the future was pretty exciting.”
Bosa, who will be entering his ninth season in the NFL this year, with the Chargers having made the playoffs just twice in the span, having developed a reputation as one of the league's most underperforming sides.
The appointment of Harbaugh, one of the most in-demand coaches in this offseason’s hiring cycle, was a statement move and while Bosa realises expectations will be raised, he insists everyone on the team will keep a level head.
“That’s an expectation for sure,” Bosa added. “I’d like to win Game 1 first, then we can talk about Week 2 and then Week 3. Sometimes getting caught up with all the Super Bowl talk and all the hype gets you unfocused and worrying about the wrong things when you should just be worrying about what’s in front of you.
“There’s a lot of talk of Super Bowl every year, and every year I kind of have a similar answer like ‘alright, let’s see how the first week goes and then we’ll talk about that.’”
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