EL SEGUNDO — Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll are similarly described. They are both energetic and entertaining football lifers. They have made their marks over the past few decades as high-profile coaches, both in college and in the NFL. They have won at almost every stop, lifting every team.
“I bet we could have been really good friends,” Harbaugh said of Carroll.
Harbaugh and the Chargers and Carroll and the Raiders meet on Monday night in Las Vegas, a chance to renew an acquaintance that goes back years, an opportunity to meet for the first time as AFC West rivals. Harbaugh, 61, is in his second season with the Chargers; Carroll, 73, is in his first with the Raiders.
Harbaugh’s journey from his start as an assistant coach with the then-Oakland Raiders to the University of San Diego to Stanford to the San Francisco 49ers to Michigan to the Chargers has been a lengthy one, following a standout career as a college and NFL quarterback, including with the Chargers.
Carroll’s trek has been equally fascinating, from a halting start with the New York Jets to the New England Patriots to a career rejuvenation with USC that featured a 97-19 record over nine seasons to a Super Bowl victory with the Seattle Seahawks to teaching at USC during an all-too-brief retirement to the Raiders.
If they crossed paths, it was most often at midfield after a hotly-contested game. Harbaugh’s tenure at Stanford coincided with Carroll’s time at USC from 2007 to ’09. Harbaugh and Stanford defeated Carroll and the Trojans in Pac-12 games in 2007 and 2009, sandwiching a loss in 2008.
“I’ve learned a lot from him, just watching him, but he’s always been on the other side,” Harbaugh said. “When I was a player, he was a defensive coordinator, a coach somewhere. When I was coaching, we were trying to gouge each other’s eyes out. I mean, in the competitive spirit of that. He’s the same person, the same coach, every day, and I respect him for that.”
Harbaugh recalled that Carroll once attended a coaching clinic with Harbaugh’s father, Jack, and his brother John, now the longtime and highly successful coach of the Baltimore Ravens. It was a “lot of fun,” as Harbaugh remembered their limited interactions way back when.
“Like I said, we could have been pretty good friends,” Harbaugh said. “Alas, we have been on opposite sides. I’m not on his Christmas card list. Just trying to win. Just trying to beat him. It’s hard to do. So, that’s it. Our focus is on Raiders week and we’ll just do everything we can do in our power to be just as tough to beat.”
The Chargers opened the 2025 season with an eye-catching 27-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last Friday night in Sao Paulo, Brazil, ending a seven-game losing streak against the team that has won nine consecutive AFC West championships and three of the past five Super Bowls, including two of the past three.
Harbaugh is 12-6 in his return to the NFL after nine seasons at Michigan.
The Raiders began the season with a 20-13 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday in Carroll’s return to the NFL after his coaching sabbatical last season following 14 seasons with the Seahawks. Carroll’s overall NFL coaching record is 171-120-1, including 137-89-1 with Seattle.
“It’s something I enjoy the most, the competition,” Harbaugh said of facing Carroll and the Raiders a little more than one week after besting Andy Reid of the Chiefs and less than one week before meeting Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos in the Chargers’ home opener on Sept. 21.
“If you ask me, why do I do this?” he asked. “Why do most of us do it? At least speaking for myself, number one on that list is competition. I just love to compete, and we find others that are, you know, like that, too. And you have respect for that. That’s respect for a guy or another player or a coach.
“It’s like looking in the mirror, savage warrior looking at savage warrior.”