Unless some big upsets happen and the Big Ten Championship features Nebraska and Michigan, a matchup of new coaches Mike Riley and Jim Harbaugh won't happen in 2015. But a reunion of the two coaches might bring up some memories that they would rather leave in the past.
Jim Harbaugh and Mike Riley were once part of the same awful NFL team
Mike Riley once coached Jim Harbaugh on a 1-15 San Diego Chargers team.
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Before Riley began his most recent 12-year run at Oregon State, he had a short stint as an NFL head coach, leading the San Diego Chargers for three seasons. He finished with a 14-34 record with the team, but no season was worse than his 1-15 year in 2000.
That also happened to be Harbaugh’s last season as an NFL quarterback. He only started five games and played in seven while Riley juggled quarterbacking duties between Harbaugh, Ryan Leaf and Moses Moreno. Harbaugh was 0-5 in his starts and finished the year with eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
It’s a memory that both men would rather keep in the past.
Mike Riley asked about 1-15 Chargers team in 2000 when he was coach, Jim Harbaugh was QB: "It was brutal. We don’t talk about that"
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) July 31, 2015 Both Riley and Harbaugh have found success in the time since. Riley led the Oregon State Beavers to eight bowl games in 12 years and nabbed a big contract in December to coach Nebraska. Harbaugh led the Stanford Cardinal to an Orange Bowl victory, guided the San Francisco 49ers to three consecutive NFC Championship appearances and landed an even bigger contract to coach Michigan.
Big contracts tend to leave memories of hard times in the past.
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