It might not be immediately noticeable, but Harbaugh has a hilarious knack for redirecting questions during interviews or press conferences into long-winded anecdotes that have absolutely nothing to do with what was asked.

If the above interview is your first introduction to Harbaugh, you’d likely add your own context to his response. Maybe Jim understood the question to be, “What was your biggest challenge in identifying the core players to rebuild around?”

However, after consuming a gluttonous serving of Harbaugh content, you’ll start to recognize the same refrains you’ve heard time and time again. It becomes clear that Jim is equipped with a select number of mantras that he’ll drive home whenever given the chance.

Inspired, I’ll break character and share a personal anecdote for this article… because Jim reminds me why leftovers can still be delicious.

When I was in college, I was friends with the head of the Italian Club (with my last name, who would’ve thought?). Once a semester, the club would fundraise by challenging its members to a cook-off, with all of campus invited to taste and judge for the price of an admission ticket. One year, the president of the club, Tim, encouraged me to attend.

While I circled the table of entries—a smorgasbord of Italian delicacies—Tim pulled me aside and guaranteed that my favorite dish would be this basic baked mac-and-cheese, despite its bland presentation.

What about the timpano, porchetta, caponata, or cacciucco? No, the classic mac-and-cheese was predicted to be the winner. Sure enough, by my vote and by general opinion, the mac-and-cheese won the night.

Tim explained that many younger members hear about a cooking competition and immediately seek out dishes that aim to impress with originality or complexity. But their mistake is not considering which dish will hold its flavor after being pulled from the oven or stovetop and served on campus hours later.

A delicious risotto loses its smooth, velvety texture when cooled. A frittata has eggs, which are never at their best when left out. Gnocchi, with its beautifully soft, pillowy texture, becomes tough when cooled. All these dishes are ambitious endeavors, but they can be quick to lose their flavor.

When done right, a solid three-cheese blend mac-and-cheese, bread-crusted and baked, has the lasting power a cook-off needs! The flavors of the blended cheeses actually mature throughout the process and end up blowing the competition away.

All of Jim Harbaugh’s anecdotes have that same lasting power, and the key is in the ingredients. He embodies the peak of leadership, with a transformative style focused on empowering his players to believe in themselves—not in him, but in themselves and the team’s path to success.

His stories, though redundant as they may seem, serve a purpose. In the above video, he plants his flag on the idea that the team culture is already set and goes on to name a list of players from the last regime. Even if it wasn’t the direct answer to the question, Harbaugh had it prepared for any inquiry Colin might ask that Jim wouldn’t answer directly—especially anything reflecting negatively on the 2023 roster. Anyone who has watched this team knows it’s a fabrication when Jim says, “The culture is already here, it’s already set.” Harbaugh brought a completely different culture with him, and even with a roster likely in transition, the Chargers now play a brand of football fans haven’t seen since Lorenzo Neal was lead-blocking for LaDainian Tomlinson and Jamal Williams was commanding double teams.

But you won’t hear Jim talk about what was wrong with the team’s last regime. You won’t hear him mention any of the new pieces as being the key to turning the organization around. You’ll only hear rhetoric that this team was ready to win before Jim, his staff, and their additions arrived.

And now that they’re all together… well…

Who’s got it better than us?