After hiring former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as his new offensive coordinator, Jim Harbaugh dipped into the college ranks to fill his defensive coordinator opening with the addition of Western Michigan defensive coordinator Chris O'Leary.
Before joining Lance Taylor's staff in Kalamazoo, where he helped the Broncos to a MAC championship and 10-win season in 2025, O'Leary coached the safeties for the Chargers.
Now Harbaugh is set to dip back into the college ranks for a hire on the defensive staff.
According to a report from CBS Sports, the Chargers are set to hire Vanderbilt nickels coach Jimmy Thompson to the staff.
The report adds that Thompson will work with the Chargers defensive backs.
A former Notre Dame linebacker, Thompson spent the last four seasons at Vanderbilt under Clark Lea and had started to garner interest for defensive coordinator openings.
An addition to the coaching staff in January of 2021, Thompson spent his first two seasons in Nashville as a graduate assistant and one year as an analyst. He was elevated to senior defensive analyst in 2024 and spent 2025 in charge of both nickels and stars for the Vandy defensee.
Before joining Vanderbilt, Thompson spent the 2020 season as a quality control assistant at LSU, where he worked with the safeties and made the jump to the SEC after volunteering at his alma mater - Hinsdale Central HS (IL), where he mentored the linebackers.
In his time as a linebacker for the Fighting Irish, he spent two seasons playing under the defense led by Clark Lea in South Bend. Lea mentored Thompson first as his position coach before being elevated to defensive coordinator. During Thompson's playing career, the Irish played in three bowl games and also punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff.
With the Commodores, Thompson was part of one of the more impressive turnarounds in college football. Lea had a pair of 2-10 season in his first two seasons at his alma mater, before a jump to 7-6 with a bowl win in 2024 and then a 10-3 season in 2025.
In LA, Thompson will get his first opportunity with an NFL team in joining a new-look defensive staff led by O'Leary as Harbaugh's squad comes off an 11-6 season that ended with a 16-3 loss to the New England Patriots back on January 11th.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest in coaching news and job information.