After undergoing a pair of procedures this offseason, Jim Harbaugh is good to go.
The Los Angeles Chargers head coach confirmed Tuesday that he had a hip replacement and a cardiac ablation this offseason, and that “everything’s good.”
“Had a hip replaced and a heart ablation, and now the doctors can’t find anything wrong with me,” he said. “Got an A-grade.”
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The 61-year-old head coach had multiple health scares last season, which was his first back in the league after he led Michigan to a national championship at the college level. Harbaugh had been walking with a significant limp near the end of the season, but he struggled to move on the sideline during L.A.'s postseason loss to the Houston Texans. It’s unclear what prompted that injury, if anything, though it led to his hip replacement.
Harbaugh also briefly left the Chargers’ matchup with the Denver Broncos last October with what ended up being an atrial flutter, which is a type of arrhythmia. Harbaugh was treated by paramedics at the stadium and then returned to the game.
The atrial flutter was the third that Harbaugh has experienced in his life. The first came in 1999, and it happened again ahead of a game in 2012 when he was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Harbaugh has undergone an ablation procedure each time, which destroys the tissue that causes abnormal electrical signals in the heart.
The Chargers went 11-6 under Harbaugh’s watch last season and they made the playoffs for the second time in three years. The team, which will open its season against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 5, started its mandatory minicamp Tuesday.
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While Harbaugh has dealt with significant health issues in recent years, he’s not anywhere close to wanting to retire.
“It would take my heart stopping for me not to be out there on the sidelines,” he said in October.