After the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday, Sept. 15, coaches Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll exchanged a friendly handshake before they headed to their locker rooms. This cordial interaction between the two might be the friendliest they have ever had in their bitter, 18-year rivalry.
With a 20-9 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, Jim Harbaugh, the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, retakes the lead against Pete Carroll. He now owns a 7-6 record against Carroll, dating back to October 2007, when both coaches still coached college football. At that time, Carroll was coaching an elite USC Trojans team that ranked 2nd in the nation, while Harbaugh was attempting to revitalize a struggling Stanford Cardinals team that went 1-11 the year before. The game seemed decided before it even started, but Harbaugh and the Cardinals rallied to win 24-23 despite USC being a 41-point favorite. Carroll responded next year by crushing Stanford 45-23, but the rivalry really began the year after. On Nov. 14, 2009, a number 9-ranked USC team yet again fell to the unranked Cardinals 21-55. The main highlight of the game was when Stanford was up 48-21 in the 4th quarter and attempted to convert a 2-point conversion. Carroll saw the action as disrespectful and told Harbaugh after the game, “What’s your deal though, you all right?” Harbaugh responded by saying, “Yeah, I’m good, what’s your deal?” This interaction went viral and fans soon became invested in the tension and rivalry between the two coaches.
The rivalry seemed to end as soon as it began when Carroll went to the NFL to coach the Seattle Seahawks; however, Harbaugh joined him a year later after accepting the head coach position for the San Francisco 49ers. Since both the Seahawks and 49ers were in the NFC West conference, they played each other twice a year and often brought electrifying games. Harbaugh went on to win three in a row against Carroll and take 5-1 lead in the rivalry, but Carroll and the Seahawks, led by the famous “Legion of Boom” defense, went on to win five of the next six matchups, holding the 49ers to only 62 total points during that stretch. The 49ers never scored 20 points or more in those six games, and were also held to three points twice. Carroll’s biggest moment against Harbaugh came in the playoffs of the 2013-14 season, where the Seahawks barely held off a talented 49ers offense led by Colin Kaepernick to win 23-17 in the NFC Championship. The Seahawks then went on to win the Super Bowl right after, giving Carroll his one and only ring. Harbaugh never pulled through to win one, and he parted ways with the 49ers after a disappointing season in 2014.
Carroll remained the Seahawks head coach until 2024, and he stayed there serving in an unspecified advisor role until 2025, where he accepted the head coaching job for the Los Vegas Raiders. After Harbaugh left San Francisco, he coached the Michigan Wolverines until 2024, winning a national championship along the way. Carroll often drafted Michigan players to the NFL and joked that “Coach Harbaugh does a great job.” The Los Angeles Chargers then offered Harbaugh the head coaching job, which he accepted in January 2024. Now, the Chargers and Raiders, who are both in the AFC West, will face off twice a year. While both coaches are getting older, the abundance of games ahead between the two teams will bring plenty of excitement and tension. Carroll looks to even the score against Harbaugh in their next match-up, where the Chargers host the Raiders Nov. 30.
