Jim Harbaugh makes one thing clear about his Chargers coaching future

Jim Harbaugh had his final media availability on Friday before this weekend's Broncos game. After heaping praise on S Tony Jefferson for his play and leadership, Harbaugh was asked about Jefferson unretiring. Specifically on the urge to return to the game after retirement, Harbaugh said this:

"I can imagine it," Harbaugh said. "I wanted to do that myself, but didn't. I had a whole plan when I was coaching at USD to go play Arena Football in the spring and coach the team in the fall. Never did it, you know."

Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh is never short on his share of quips at the podium

Harbaugh said that he had conversations with the Los Angeles Arena League team at the time, but the discussions didn't go very far. The Chargers head coach said that college recruiting and spring program building ultimately became too demanding to consider unretiring. But the inspiration for the idea was that when Harbaugh retired, he thought he still had "two more years" left in him as a player.

This led into a story in which Harbaugh told the media exactly when he'll know it's time to retire from coaching. Five years ago, Jim and John Harbaugh asked their father (Jack Harbaugh) about when to hang up the whistle. The father of the prolific head coaching duo reportedly told them this:

"You coach as long as you possibly can," Harbaugh said as he started to recall his father's words. "Until you cannot do one more script, you can't walk out on the field for one more practice or do one more gameplan-that's when you know you should coach for two more years."

"When you get to that point, give it two more years!" Harbaugh exclaimed.

A reporter than asked Harbaugh about Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw announcing that the 2025 season would be his last. Harbaugh repeated the same sage advice his father gave him for the 3x Cy Young Award winner: "Give it two more years! A piece of advice if I may for Mr. Kershaw: give it two more years."

It doesn't seem like retirement will be on the mind of either Harbaugh brother anytime soon as long as they can continue coaching at a high level. The AFC West's coaches as a whole remain the oldest in the sport with champions who want to continue pushing themselves. Harbaugh will face off against the youngest coach in the division on Sunday: 61-year-old Broncos HC Sean Payton.

For as long as the Chargers are willing to have Harbaugh, it sounds like he'll remain in LA for the foreseeable future before any substantive retirement talks. It's a breath of a fresh air for a fanbase that's been looking to have a consistent, winning, and dedicated leader at the top.

Harbaugh and his Chargers look to remain in the ranks of the unbeaten this Sunday when they play the Denver Broncos on CBS at 1:05 PM PT.