Rivalry renewed: Raiders, Chargers coaches cross paths once again

In a football universe far, far away, Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh would likely have become close companions.

At least that is how Harbaugh, the Chargers coach, thinks it would have played out with his arch nemesis if they joined forces instead of butting heads.

“I always thought if I had ever played for him or on one of his teams, I bet we would have been really good friends,” Harbaugh told reporters this week in Los Angeles.

The football gods had a different script in mind. They instead had Carroll, the Raiders coach, and Harbaugh take center stage in one of sports’ greatest rivalries. They’ve faced off on opposing sidelines in college and the NFL.

Their showdowns started in the Pac-12, when Carroll was overseeing one of the greatest runs in modern college football history at USC and Harbaugh was reviving Stanford’s program.

The two adversaries soon took their tension to the NFL. They faced off in the NFC West when Carroll was coach of the Seahawks and Harbaugh was leading the 49ers. Their teams produced some of the league’s most memorable matchups in recent memory.

Carroll and Harbaugh, after a decade apart, will square off again when the Raiders host the Chargers at Allegiant Stadium for “Monday Night Football.” Every time the two go in opposite directions, they seem to find their way back to the same football field.

“They’ve been great games, that’s all,” Carroll said. “There’s been a bunch of them.”

‘What’s your deal?’

Carroll and Harbaugh’s teams have squared off 12 times.

To no one’s surprise, they’ve split those matchups evenly.

Carroll was coy this week when asked about his favorite moments from those meetings.

“I have no fond memories, so I’m not going to go there,” Carroll said, joking.

Harbaugh had praise for his counterpart, calling Carroll “a great coach, one of the best.” Though he said because they’ve been on opposite sides so often, “I’m not on his Christmas card list.”

Carroll had a comeback for that one.

“I’m surprised he would say that, because he sends me a birthday card every year,” he said.

That likely wasn’t always the case. The friction between the two highly competitive coaches has been real throughout the years. They’ve thrown shade at one another, traded sound bites and turned their postgame handshakes at midfield into must-see TV.

It started in the early days. Harbaugh was hired at Stanford in December 2006, when Carroll had USC rolling. The Trojans had already won two national championships in his tenure, though one was later vacated due to NCAA violations.

Harbaugh, despite taking over a downtrodden program, took direct aim at USC. He declared the Cardinal were coming to get the Trojans.

To everyone’s surprise, Stanford did exactly what Harbaugh set out to do. The Cardinal snapped USC’s 35-game home winning streak with a stunning 24-23 road win Oct. 6, 2007. Then Stanford stomped the Trojans two years later with a 55-21 road win Nov. 14, 2009.

The blowout produced a moment for the ages. Carroll, agitated the Cardinal attempted a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter, confronted Harbaugh when they shook hands after the game.

“How are you feeling?” Carroll asked Harbaugh, with TV cameras watching. “You all right?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Harbaugh said. “What’s your deal?”

Off to the NFL

Carroll left USC following the 2009 season to take over the Seahawks.

It seemed like the pair’s paths were set to diverge. At least until Harbaugh was hired by the 49ers in January 2011, forcing the two foes to face off twice a year in the NFC West.

The two shared a division for the next four seasons. In that time, they created one of the NFL’s most compelling rivalries because both teams were among the league’s best.

Harbaugh went 44-19-1 in San Francisco and led the team to Super Bowl 47, which it lost to the Baltimore Ravens and his brother John Harbaugh.

The 49ers were 4-4 in the regular season against Carroll’s Seahawks those four years. But Seattle earned ultimate bragging rights in the 2014 NFC title game. The Seahawks won 23-17 when cornerback Richard Sherman tipped quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s pass in the end zone to linebacker Malcolm Smith with 22 seconds remaining.

Seattle proceeded to defeat the Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl 48, making Carroll one of three coaches ever — along with Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer — to win a championship in college and the NFL.

Strong resumes

It’s clear, no matter who fans may think is better, that both Carroll and Jim Harbaugh can coach.

Carroll, 73, was 97-19 at USC and is 171-120-1 in the NFL after winning his Raiders debut last week against the Patriots. Harbaugh, 61, is 144-52 as a college coach and led his alma mater Michigan to a national championship in 2024. He’s also 56-25-1 in the NFL, including 12-6 with the Chargers.

The rivalry between the two has produced plenty of drama. But there’s also a good amount of mutual respect.

“One thing we would certainly see eye to eye on is about competing. He’s always been a great competitor,” Carroll said. “He battled through so much in his playing days and in his coaching days as well.”

The two now get to clash on a new stage in what should be a fascinating part three to their shared story.

Carroll is trying to revive the Raiders, who have made the playoffs just twice the past 22 seasons and finished 4-13 a year ago. Harbaugh is hoping to help the Chargers and quarterback Justin Herbert take the next step and win the franchise’s first Super Bowl.

Both sides will enter Monday’s game 1-0. Only one can leave 2-0.

And only one man can get a brief leg up in a rivalry that’s now spanned three stops and three decades.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.