Column: Jim Harbaugh may seem like an oddball, but Chargers got the message heading into opener

Even after listening to Jim Harbaugh talk throughout Chargers training camp, defensive end Khalil Mack still can’t figure out how his new coach’s brain works. Every time Harbaugh speaks, Mack has no idea what he’s about to hear.

“You never know what he’s going to say when he’s in front of the whole group in the team room,” Mack said, looking down to hide his smile.

Rookie linebacker Junior Colson played under Harbaugh for the previous three years at the University of Michigan, and he can’t predict what metaphor Harbaugh might use to convey a certain idea.

“He still surprises you sometimes,” Colson said.

This is also the case during press conferences, where Harbaugh’s stream-of-consciousness soliloquies and unusual word choices often cause reporters to look at each other with amusement.

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Last week, Harbaugh explained the importance of players on the practice squad being ready to play in case they are suddenly elevated to the active roster.

“They have to stay ice cold,” he said, comparing the players to beer mugs.

Later, when asked about his evolution as a coach, Harbaugh described himself as open to change and used a comparison to a mall entrance to make his point.

“I usually just look for the open door,” he said. “It’s like you go to the mall and sometimes there’s a row of doors and a bunch of them are closed, but one is open. I don’t look for the one that’s closed. I go through that open door.”

It was weird.

It was weird.

It was Harbaugh.

“I really don’t know what to expect,” Mack said.

But Harbaugh’s unpredictability as a speaker is balanced by his consistency as a coach, which is why his players respect him as much as they love him.

“It’s all understood,” Mack said. “It’s all said in front of everybody and everybody’s on the same page. So you go through the day knowing what you’re going to get, especially from top to bottom. Expectations are expectations.”

Heading into their season opener against the Las Vegas Raiders at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, the Chargers are a changed team.

“The leadership is there because of Coach Harbaugh,” said Mack, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection.

Training sessions are more focused. Drills have clear objectives. Players are more focused.

Colson said Harbaugh is not the same coach he was when he won a national championship at Michigan.

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“You have to coach differently on some things because now you have older guys,” Colson said.

But Colson added: “Deep down, he’s still the same person.”

This person is competitive. This person is driven. This person was like the eccentric uncle of Clayton Kershaw, the famous Dodgers left-hander, who was very driven.

Asked last week if he was pleased with backup quarterback Easton Stick’s progress in the preseason, Harbaugh said: “Satisfied? That’s just a word I would never use in any way related to football. Going forward, that word is just a… I almost never use… it’s a cringe-worthy word. It would be in the bottom five as far as football words go. It wouldn’t even be in the top five. It would be in the bottom five.”

For what?

“Comfortable would be next to satisfied,” Harbaugh said. “That doesn’t resonate with me in football. The other words are better. Committed. That’s a great word. Execution. That’s a top-five word. Calculation. Those are real football words to me. Satisfied, bottom-five.”

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The players seem to have bought into Harbaugh’s mindset. They seem to believe they’re going to win, and why not? Harbaugh has won everywhere he’s coached, including his previous NFL stint with the San Francisco 49ers.

Harbaugh’s personality is felt in every corner of the Chargers’ new training facility in El Segundo, so much so that the fatalism that once permeated this franchise has vanished overnight.

This is no small feat. The Chargers have been defined by their Chargering history, and overcoming that history was the goal of each of Harbaugh’s predecessors. The previous coach, Brandon Staley, went so far as to talk to his players about the franchise’s past failures.

That’s not to say the Chargers will be Super Bowl contenders right away, like the 49ers were when Harbaugh became their coach. But the questions surrounding the Chargers aren’t so much about whether they’ll succeed as when. A win at some point in the relatively near future seems like a safe bet.

As for what Harbaugh will say next, well, that’s another story.

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This article was originally published in the Los Angeles Times.