Chargers News: How Jim Harbaugh Can Win Coach of the Year in LA Debut Season

He's the offseason favorite to win.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Heading into the 2024 NFL season, new Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is the current favorite by many outlets and sportsbooks to win the Coach of the Year award by the end of the season.

There's good reason for Harbaugh to be the favorite. He is coming off a College Football Playoff National Championship title win with the Michigan Wolverines and has proven experience turning around a team quickly, after doing so with the San Francisco 49ers back in 2011 to win the Coach of the Year award. Along with Harbaugh's own success as a coach, the Chargers have a lot of talented players and a strong quarterback who are certainly capable of winning.

The other factor that bodes well for Harbaugh is he is a first-year coach. The award certainly doesn't always go to first-year head coaches (it most recently went to fourth-year coach Kevin Stefanski), but if often does. Four of the last seven winners of the award were first-year coaches. In the beginning of the award's history, it more commonly went to veteran coaches, but since the 1990s it has more frequently been given to rookie coaches or first-year coaches of a team who make a remarkable turnaround on a franchise.

For Harbaugh to win the award, he'll most likely need to lead his team to the playoffs next season, which is practically a requirement to become considered for the award. Winning the division would help the Chargers' case even more, but that won't be easy in the AFC West where the Kansas City Chiefs have won the division in eight straight years.

Even though Harbaugh is a clear favorite, he will have some challengers. There are eight new head coaches this season, two more than the usual six this season. Harbaugh also walked into a 'better' situation than many of those coaches, so if any of the other new coaches make the playoffs or win their division, they could be better candidates.

In addition, if any other coach simply has a dominant season or overcomes a difficult situation (i.e. Stefanski and the Browns quarterback cycle last year), they will be a high contender.

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