WASHINGTON — The late Rev. Jesse Jackson will not lie in honor in the United States Capitol Rotunda after a request for the commemoration was denied by the House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office due to past precedent.
Johnson’s office said it received a request from the family to have Jackson’s remains lie in honor at the Capitol, but the request was denied, because of the precedent that the space is typically reserved for former presidents, the military and select officials.
The civil rights leader died this week at the age of 84. The family and some House Democrats had filed a request for Jackson to be honored at the U.S. Capitol.
Amid the country’s political divisions, there have been flare-ups over who is memorialized at the Capitol with a service to lie in state, or honor, in the Rotunda. During such events, the public is generally allowed to visit the Capitol and pay their respects.
Recent requests had similarly been made, and denied, to honor Charlie Kirk, the slain conservative activist, and former Vice President Dick Cheney.
There is no specific rule about who qualifies for the honor, a decision that is controlled by concurrence from both the House and Senate.
The Jackson family has announced scheduled dates for memorial services beginning next week that will honor the late reverend’s life in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and South Carolina. In a statement, the Jackson family said it had heard from leaders in South Carolina, Jackson’s native state, and Washington offering for Jackson to be celebrated in both locations. Talks are ongoing with lawmakers about where those proceedings will take place. His final memorial services will be held in Chicago on March 6 and 7.
Typically, the Capitol and its Rotunda have been reserved for the “most eminent citizens,” according to the Architect of the Capitol’s website. It said government and military officials lie in state, while private citizens in honor.
In 2020, Rep. John Lewis, another veteran of the civil rights movement, was the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda after a ceremony honoring his legacy was held outside on the Capitol steps because of pandemic restrictions at the time.
Later that year, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) allowed services for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Capitol’s Statuary Hall after agreement could not be reached for services in the Capitol’s Rotunda.
It is rare for private citizens to be honored at the Capitol, but there is precedent — most notably civil rights icon Rosa Parks, in 2005, and the Rev. Billy Graham, in 2018.
A passionate civil rights leader and globally minded humanitarian, Jackson’s fiery speeches and dual 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns transformed American politics for generations. Jackson’s organization, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, became a hub for progressive organizers across the country.
His unapologetic calls for a progressive economic agenda and more inclusive policies for all racial groups, religions, genders and orientations laid the groundwork for the progressive movement within the Democratic Party.
Jackson also garnered a global reputation as a champion for human rights. He conducted the release of American hostages on multiple continents and argued for greater connections between civil rights movements around the world, most notably as a fierce critic of the policies of apartheid in South Africa.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says he is “happy” to interact with fans but there are times when he has felt “exposed” and “not very comfortable”.
A video recorded after the Gunners’ FA Cup win over Wigan on Sunday showed a man repeatedly asking for Arteta’s autograph as he and his wife waited in traffic outside Emirates Stadium.
Arteta refused to open his window and several more people crowded round the vehicle. They then stepped back while the man followed the vehicle as it crept forward, saying he wanted Arteta to sign an Arsenal jersey for his son.
“I always try to be very respectful,” said Arteta. “I love to sign and photograph as much as we can. I think it’s part of our role.
“But there are certain things in terms of security that we have to respect. Especially when certain people are doing it, they are not doing it for the right reasons.”
“The last time my wife was there, what was in the media was totally wrong and unfair,” Arteta added.
“I prefer to talk about the incredible other people that come around genuinely, because they want to have that interaction, and I think everybody who knows me, [knows] how happy I am to do that.
“But there are moments and context when that is not the case. And then we need somebody there to protect us as well because, if not, we will get exposed, you cannot move from your car and you don’t feel very comfortable there.”
It is understood that as part of Arsenal‘s security guidance, the manager, players and coaches are advised not to roll their vehicle windows down when driving.
Mike Trout says he would prefer to return to center field for the Angels, and the star slugger says he will skip the World Baseball Classic because of insurance issues.
The 11-time All-Star who been plagued by injuries since 2021 says his familiar position isn’t as physically demanding as the corner outfield spots, contrary to traditional thinking.
Trout played his most games since 2019 last season, finishing at 130. The three-time American League MVP started 22 of his first 29 games in right field before a knee injury sidelined him for a month. The 34-year-old was exclusively a designated hitter when he returned in late May.
Trout had 26 home runs but hit just .232, by far the worst average of his career when he had at least 400 at-bats.
He spent time in left field early in his career but was a center fielder for 11 consecutive seasons before the switch to right. Injuries limited Trout to 111 games the previous two years.
Trout said conversations with first-year manager Kurt Suzuki have included the idea of a return to center.
“I feel like I’m at my best when I’m in center,” Trout told reporters at the club’s spring training facility Monday. “If I have to go to the corner, I’ll go to the corner.”
Trout said a return to center will be good for his health.
“When I was in center, it was less on my body than the corners,” Trout said. “To be honest, in right field I felt I was running a lot. Talking to some other outfielders and they’re saying that they feel the same way sometimes, center is less on your legs. I just feel … confident in center.”
Trout, who played in his only WBC three years ago, had said he was interested in playing again before insurance issues arose.
“It’s disappointing,” Trout said. “I wanted to run it back with all the guys.”
Promising young Boston outfielder Roman Anthony has been named as a Team USA injury replacement for Arizona’s Corbin Carroll, who has a broken bone in his right hand.
IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. — Mike and Patricia McCoy answered the door of their cozy cottage in Imperial Beach, a short stroll from crashing waves and several blocks from the Tijuana River Estuary, where California meets Mexico and the hiking trails are named for them.
They offered me a seat in a living room filled with awards for their service and with books, some of them about the wonders of the natural world and the threat to its survival. The McCoys are the kind of people who look you in the eye and give you their full attention, and Patricia’s British accent carries an upbeat, birdsong tone.
A sign shows coastal conservationists Mike and Patricia McCoy as young adults “Making a Difference” at the estuary.
(Hayne Palmour IV / For The Times)
In the long history of conservation in California, few have worked as long or as hard as the McCoys.
Few have achieved as much.
And they’re still at it. Mike at 84, Patricia at 89.
The McCoys settled in Imperial Beach in the early 1970s — Mike was a veterinarian, Patricia a teacher — when the coastal protection movement was spreading across the state amid fears of overdevelopment and privatization. In 1972, voters approved Proposition 20, which essentially laid down a hallmark declaration:
The California coast is a public treasure, not a private playground.
Four years later, the Coastal Act became state law, regulating development in collaboration with local government agencies, guaranteeing public access and protecting marine and coastal habitats.
During that time, the McCoys were locked in a fight worth revisiting now, on the 50th anniversary of the Coastal Act. There had been talk for years about turning the underappreciated Tijuana River Estuary, part of which was used as a dumping ground, into something useful.
Mike McCoy knew the roughly 2,500-acre space was already something useful, and vitally important. It was one of the last major undeveloped wetlands in Southern California and a breeding and feeding site for 370 bird species, along with fish, reptiles, rabbits, foxes, coyotes and other animals.
In McCoy’s mind, it needed to be restored, not repurposed. And certainly not as a giant marina, which would have destroyed a habitat that was home to several endangered species. At a 1977 Imperial Beach meeting packed with marina supporters, Mike McCoy drew his line in the sand.
The Tijuana Estuary in Imperial Beach is seen on Friday.
(Hayne Palmour IV / For The Times)
“I went up there,” McCoy recalled, pausing to say he could still feel the heat of the moment, “and I said, ‘You people, and I don’t care who you are, you’re not going to put a marina in that estuary. That’s sacrosanct. You don’t mess with that. That’s a fantastic system, and it’s more complex than you’d ever believe.’”
The estuary won, but the McCoys weren’t done. As I began talking with them about the years of advocacy that followed, Patricia’s modesty blushed.
“We don’t want to be blowing our own trumpet,” she said.
They don’t have to. I’m doing it for them, with the help of admirers who were happy to join the symphony.
Patricia went on to become a member of the Imperial Beach City Council and served for two years on the Coastal Commission, which oversees implementation of the Coastal Act. She also helped Mike and others take the estuary restoration fight to Sacramento, to Washington, D.C., and to Mexico.
“This is what a real power couple looks like,” said Sarah Christie, legislative director of the Coastal Commission. “They wield the power of nature and the power of the people. You can’t overstate their contribution to coastal protection.”
The McCoys’ signature achievement has been twofold, said Jeff Crooks, a San Diego wetlands expert. They helped establish the estuary as a protected wildlife refuge, and they also helped build the framework for the estuary to serve as a research center to monitor, manage and preserve the habitat and collaborate with other managed estuaries in the U.S.
Sewage and debris flow from Tijuana are an ever-present threat and decades-long source of frustration and anger in Imperial Beach, where beaches have been closed and some residents have planted “Stop the Stink” yard signs. Crooks said there’s been some progress on infrastructure improvements, with a long way to go.
Coastal conservationist Mike McCoy looks at a new interpretive sign at the Tijuana Estuary in Imperial Beach on Friday.
(Hayne Palmour IV / For The Times)
But “even though we’re beating it up,” Crooks said of the pollution flowing into the estuary, it’s been amazingly resilient in part because of constant monitoring and management.
Chris Peregrin, who manages the Tijuana Estuary for the state park system, said the nonprofit Tijuana Estuary Foundation has been a good partner, and the president of the foundation board is guess who:
Mike McCoy.
The foundation ”fills gaps that the state cannot,” Peregrin said. “As one example, they run the research program at the reserve.”
For all their continued passion about the mission in their own backyard, the McCoys fret about the bigger picture — the alarming increase in greenhouse gases and the biodiversity decline. Through the estuary window, they see a planet in peril.
“They both think big like that,” Crooks said. “Mike especially comes from the mindset that this is a ‘think globally and act locally’ kind of thing.”
“Restoration is the name of the game, not intrusion,” Mike told me, and he wasn’t talking just about the estuary.
On the very week I visited the McCoys, the Trump administration delivered a crushing blow to the environmental movement, repealing a government finding that greenhouse gas pollution is a threat to the planet and public health. He called those claims, backed by overwhelming scientific consensus, “a giant scam.”
It’s easy to throw up your hands at such knuckle-dragging indifference, and Mike told me he has to keep reaching for more stamina.
But Serge Dedina, a former Imperial Beach mayor who was inspired by the McCoys’ activism as a youngster, sees new generations bringing fresh energy to the fight. Many of them work with him at Wildcoast, the international coastal conservation nonprofit he founded, with Patricia McCoy among his earliest collaborators.
“I wouldn’t be a conservationist and coastal activist without having worked with Patricia and Mike and being infused with their passion,” said Dedina. ”I think sometimes they underestimate their legacy. They’ve had a huge impact on a whole generation of scientists and conservationists and people who are doing work all along the coast.”
We can’t underestimate the legacy of the citizen uprising of 1972, along with the creation of an agency dedicated to coastal conservation. But it’s only fair to note, on the 50th anniversary of the Coastal Act, that not everyone will be reaching for a party hat.
The Coastal Act has been aggressively enforced, at times to a fault in the opinion of developers, homeowners, commercial interests and some politicians. Former Gov. Jerry Brown, who signed the act into law, once referred to Coastal Commission agency staffers as “bureaucratic thugs” for tight restrictions on development.
There’s been constant friction, thanks in part to political pressure and the clout of developers, and one of the many future threats to the core mission is the need for more housing throughout the state. The balance between new construction and continued conservation is sure to spark years of skirmishes.
Coastal conservationists Mike and Patricia McCoy on a trail named after them at the Tijuana Estuary Visitor Center in Imperial Beach.
(Hayne Palmour IV / For The Times)
But as the Coastal Commission website puts it in marking the anniversary, the major achievements of the past 50 years include the “wetlands not filled, the sensitive habitats not destroyed, the access trails not blocked, the farms and ranches not converted to urban uses, the freeways and gated communities and industrial facilities not built.”
In the words of the late Peter Douglas, who co-authored Proposition 20 and later served as executive director of the Coastal Commission, the coast is never saved, it’s always being saved.
Saved by the likes of Mike and Patricia McCoy.
I had the pleasure of walking through the estuary with Mike, past the plaque dedicated to him and his wife and “all who cherish wildlife and the Tijuana Estuary.” We also came upon one of the new interpretive signs that were to be dedicated Friday, including one with a photo of Mike and Patricia as young adults “Making a Difference.”
Mike pointed a finger here and there, explaining all the conservation projects through the year. We saw an egret and a rabbit, and when I heard a clacking sound, Mike brightened.
“That’s a clapper rail,” Mike said, an endangered bird that makes its home in the estuary.
The blowing of the trumpet isn’t just for the McCoys.
It’s a rallying call to those who might follow in their footsteps.
The five-term Louisiana congressman earned a law degree and maneuvered his way to become speaker of the House. That requires a certain mental aptitude.
But maybe Johnson isn’t stupid. Maybe he’s just willfully ignorant, or uninformed. Perhaps he simply doesn’t know any better.
How else to explain his persistent claim there’s something sinister and nefarious about the way California casts and counts its election ballots?
Just last week, Johnson once again repeated one of the sophistries the president uses to dump all over the country’s elections system and explain away his oft-verified loss in the 2020 presidential campaign.
With an apparent eye toward rigging the 2026 midterm election, Trump suggested Republicans should “take over the voting” in at least “15 places,” which, presumably, would all be Democratic strongholds. Johnson — bowing, scraping — echoed Trump’s phony claims of corruption to justify the president’s latest treachery.
“In some of the states, like in California, for example. I mean, they hold the elections open for weeks after election day,” Johnson told reporters. “We had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on election day in the last election cycle, and every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost. … It looks on its face to be fraudulent.”
Fact check: There was no hocus-pocus. No “holding open” of elections to allow for manipulation of the result. No voting or any other kind of fraud.
California does take awhile to count its ballots and finalize its elections. If people want a quicker count, then push lawmakers in Sacramento to spend more on the consistently underfunded election offices that tally the results in California’s 58 counties.
That said, there are plenty of reasons — none involving any kind of partisan chicanery — that explain why California elections seems to drag on and vote totals shift as ballots are steadily counted.
For starters, there are a lot of ballots to count. Over the last several decades, California has worked to encourage as many eligible citizens as possible to invest in the state and its future by engaging at election time and voting.
That’s a good thing. Participatory democracy, and all that.
Once votes are cast, California takes great care to make sure they’re legitimate and counted properly. (Which is exactly what Trump and Johnson want, right? Right?)
That diligence takes time. It may require looking up an individual’s address or verifying his or her signature. Or routing a ballot dropped off at the wrong polling location to its appropriate county for processing.
In recent years, California has shifted to conducting its elections predominantly by mail. That’s further extended the counting process. The state allows those ballots to arrive and be counted up to seven days after the election, so long as they are postmarked on or before election day. Once received, each mail ballot has to be verified and processed before it can be counted. That prolongs the process.
County elections officials have 30 days to tally each valid ballot and conduct a required postelection audit. That’s been the time frame under state law for quite some time.
“For that reason, we get an outsized amount of criticism for our long vote count, because everyone’s impatient,” said Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation.
As for why the vote in congressional races has tended to shift in Democrats’ favor, there’s a simple, non-diabolical explanation.
Republican voters have generally preferred to cast their ballots in person, on election day. Democrats are more likely to mail their ballots, meaning they arrive — and get counted — later. As those votes were tallied, several close contests in 2024 moved in Democrats’ direction.
There are plenty of reasons to bash California, if one is so inclined.
The exorbitant cost of housing. Nightmarish traffic. High rates of poverty and homelessness.
But on the plus side, a comprehensive study — the 2024 Cost of Voting Index, published in the Election Law Journal — ranked California seventh in the nation in the ease of casting a ballot. That’s something to be proud of.
As for Johnson, the evidence suggests the speaker is neither dumb nor uninformed when it comes to California and its elections. Rather, he’s scheming and cynical, sowing unwarranted and corrosive doubts about election integrity to mollify Trump and thwart a free and fair election in November.
Sunday, the NBC play-by-play announcer will be baptized by fire.
Not only will Tirico call the Super Bowl for the first time, but he will stay on the Levi’s Stadium field after the game to remotely host Sunday night’s coverage of the Winter Olympics.
From football’s mountaintop to the majestic peaks of Northern Italy, it’s an unprecedented double play in the broadcasting business.
“We’ll keep the Super Bowl celebration threaded into the Olympic show — confetti, family moments, that sort of thing,” said Tirico, 59, who worked both events four years ago but didn’t call that Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium, instead hosting the pregame show.
“What I learned from Super Bowl LVI is that it’s possible to do this without cheating either job.”
Maybe so, but it requires the extraordinary organization and preparation for which Tirico is famous within the network. Each year, he distributes to colleagues a color-coded calendar — a different color for every sport he’s covering that day — and the patchwork on every page looks like the Partridge family bus.
“Mike is the world’s best multitasker,” said Rob Hyland, coordinating producer of “Sunday Night Football.”
“This is in his DNA. It’s how he’s wired.”
Even for Tirico, however, the task is ambitious. The day after calling the Rams’ divisional playoff game at Chicago, he boarded a flight for Italy to check out the NBC studios in Milan. It was all part of getting comfortable with the setup.
On Super Bowl Sunday, hours before the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots take the field, Tirico will be up at 4:30 on the West Coast to watch Lindsey Vonn in the women’s downhill. He then will try to get back to sleep to prepare for his long day of football, knowing he will be running on adrenaline deep into the night. At halftime, he’ll carve out a few minutes to get up to speed on what’s happening in Italy.
On Monday, he and others from NBC will fly to Milan, with Tirico beginning his in-studio Olympics coverage Tuesday.
Tirico is just the 13th play-by-play announcer to call a national Super Bowl broadcast. He said Sunday will be like being back at Syracuse and taking three final exams in one day. He figures he will graze his way through the day but doesn’t plan to sit down for a meal, per se.
“They always say you should be slightly hungry when you take a test,” he said. “I subscribe to that theory on game day.”
Whereas preparation for the Super Bowl begins the moment the participating teams are determined, Tirico said his work on the Olympics has been years in the making.
“You want to be prepared but not over-prepared,” he said, referring to both events. “You want to know the important things you can get to during the game.”
The key is to use the information judiciously without overloading the audience with facts and statistics.
“With all that detail and information as granular as he can get, he never loses sight of what’s important for a mass audience,” Hyland said. “Mike is a unicorn. He’s one of one.”
As for Hyland, he’s one and done. After the Super Bowl, he will head home to Connecticut and become part of said audience.
“I’ll be playing the role of dad back on my couch in Southport with our six-month-old baby boy,” he said. “I’ll be watching the Olympics as a fan.”
In a sense, Tirico is a fan, too. There’s still a kernel of disbelief that this is his job.
“This is the thing that happens after you stop dreaming,” he said. “Because your dreams never let you get this far.”
The Rams have a successful season and other NFL teams raid his coaching staff.
Mike LaFleur, the Rams’ offensive coordinator for the last three seasons, is the latest to parlay his time with McVay into an NFL head coaching opportunity.
LaFleur, 38, is the seventh former McVay assistant to land an NFL head coach job.
LaFleur’s brother Matt, was the Rams’ offensive coordinator in McVay’s first season in 2017 and then called plays for the Tennessee Titans in 2018 before he was hired by the Green Bay Packers.
The LaFleurs are the second tandem of head-coaching brothers currently in the NFL along with Jim (Chargers) and John Harbaugh (New York Giants).
Rams assistants who made the jump directly to head coach were Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals, Brandon Staley (Chargers), Kevin O’Connell (Minnesota Vikings), Raheem Morris (Atlanta Falcons) and Liam Coen (Jacksonville Jaguars).
This will be Mike LaFleur’s first job as a head coach at any level. LaFleur, like McVay, began his coaching career working under Kyle Shanahan.
LaFleur coached with the Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers before he became offensive coordinator and play-caller for the New York Jets in 2021.
LaFleur was let go after the 2022 season and joined McVay’s staff in 2023. McVay is the Rams’ play-caller.
With the Cardinals, LaFleur inherits a team that finished at the bottom of the NFC West in 2025 with a 3-14 record — well behind the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers at the top of the division.
LaFleur’s Rams exit could create an opportunity for passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase to move into the offensive coordinator role. Scheelhaase has interviewed for multiple head coaching positions.
Minter has agreed to return to Baltimore in the top job, having previously spent four years as an assistant coach with the Ravens under Harbaugh.
The 42-year-old then worked in the college game before returning to the NFL as the Los Angeles Chargers defensive co-ordinator for the past two seasons.
“This is an organisation whose values, culture and tradition of excellence reflect everything I believe about the game of football and how it should be played,” said Minter.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti added: “He clearly understands the values, high expectations and history of the Ravens, and he has a great vision for the future.”
Harbaugh had been in charge of the Ravens for 18 years so Minter will be just the fourth head coach in the team’s 31-year history.
He also had a second interview with the Las Vegas Raiders and cancelled an interview with the Cleveland Browns.
Just like his famously inventive offenses, Mike McDaniel had many options.
He interviewed for several head coaching jobs after his four-year tenure in charge of the Miami Dolphins ended this month, and he could have been an offensive coordinator pretty much anywhere he pleased.
McDaniel still wants to be a head coach again someday, but he chose to join the Chargers alongside Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert because the combination of time, place and personnel seemed perfect for this idiosyncratic coach who also happens to be one of the top offensive minds in football.
“It didn’t take long for me to feel this is what I was looking for,” the Chargers’ new offensive coordinator said Tuesday. “You just want to be a part of a hungry organization with like-minded football people that are doing anything and everything to win. And for me, the opportunity to work with coach Harbaugh was too good to pass up. It felt like I was extremely fortunate to be afforded this opportunity.”
Harbaugh and the Chargers seem equally fortunate to land McDaniel, an ideal candidate for the crucial job of directing Herbert’s career into something worthy of his prodigious talent.
In his introductory news conference, McDaniel immediately went into great detail about what he wants to do for Herbert, who has thrown for 24,820 yards and 163 touchdowns while emerging as one of the NFL’s top passers in his six seasons with the Chargers.
“You have a competitive player that each and every year is trying to get better at his craft, (but) I think he hasn’t neared the ceiling to what he’s capable of,” McDaniel said.
Herbert has consistently shined despite playing with three permanent head coaches, four offensive coordinators and a changing collection of playmakers and linemen around him.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert scrambles against the New England Patriots in the AFC wild-card playoffs on Jan. 11.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Despite playing in some offensive schemes perceived to be relatively primitive by modern NFL standards, particularly in the past two years under Harbaugh and fired coordinator Greg Roman, Herbert has frequently carried the Chargers through his improvisation, arm strength and sheer competitive will.
Essentially, McDaniel doesn’t want Herbert to have to work so hard.
“There’s a lot of incredible plays Justin has made,” McDaniel said. “He’s firmly capable, and sometimes as a coach you can rely upon that a little too much. … It can be taxing over time for a player to necessitate an incredible play too often, so you try to take it off of him by creating some low-cost, high-reward offense that he’s firmly capable of doing, but maybe a player of lesser talent would be capable of doing as well.”
McDaniel said the Dolphins’ struggles when Tua Tagovailoa was out with injuries reinforced his determination to keep Herbert safer. The Chargers quarterback took 96 sacks in the past two seasons.
“He has an incredible ability to do off-schedule (throws),” McDaniel said. “I think I’ll be firmly coaching away from the off-schedule stuff at the front end, because he can always go back to that comfort zone as you work out other things. I think a primary focus on how to have offense without putting him in a vulnerable position will be a starting point, and we’ll extrapolate from there.”
McDaniel and Herbert spoke last week, and the quarterback is ready to work.
“He was in high spirits and just excited about attacking something,” McDaniel said. “You lose in the playoffs in the first round, it’s a lot of work that you feel kind of like (left you with) an empty stomach. So that hunger, I could hear in his voice.”
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh attends Mike McDaniel’s introductory news conference on Tuesday.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
McDaniel is joining a good team that needed a spark after consecutive 11-6 seasons followed by two playoff losses under Harbaugh. The Chargers have needed that spark to join the NFL’s upper echelon ever since they moved north from San Diego, posting six winning records over nine years with just one postseason victory.
McDaniel could be the ingredient to put the Chargers into championship contention if this partnership with Harbaugh flourishes. The 42-year-old coordinator hit it off immediately with his famously square-looking new boss.
“I feel like we’re the same guy,” McDaniel said while Harbaugh laughed at the back of the room. “He’s just taller. No, I think one thing we share is that Jim has never patterned himself after somebody. He’s his own person, and I would say that hopefully I would be described in a similar fashion. Who knows? I might be a 100% Dockers coach now.”
The fashion-forward McDaniel’s line was even funnier because he delivered it while wearing what appeared to be a $12,000 Bottega Veneta woven leather jacket.
The chance to learn from Harbaugh was important in his decision, but McDaniel also paid his respect to past Chargers coaches Sid Gillman and Don Coryell, two offensive innovators who changed football forever.
“There was a lot that I found very attractive,” McDaniel said. “I was fortunate to have some opportunities, but it started with coach Harbaugh. To be a part of an organization that has the legacy of Sid and Air Coryell, I was super attracted to. Got a quarterback who I’ve always admired, and just a lot of young players. A great situation for my family and me to go to the next chapter.”
