49ers chief executive office Jed York, who a decade ago nearly reached the NFL mountaintop with Harbaugh before the relationship came to an abrupt end, recently expressed optimism for the Chargers' future with their new head coach, Bobby Kownack of NFL.com reports.

"I think Jim is a hell of a coach," York told The Athletic's Tim Kawakami on The TK Show. "I think it's a great spot for him. I'm excited for the Chargers. I think they'll be very, very successful."

Harbaugh's first head-coaching stint in the league, a four-year run with the 49ers, could be described much the same way.

When Harbaugh made the jump from Stanford to San Francisco in 2011, the 49ers hadn't had a winning season or sniffed the playoffs in eight years. He immediately flipped them from a 6-10 team with little identity to a 13-3 squad highlighted by a bruising defense and a capable offensive attack.

Just as the current iteration of the 49ers has, Harbaugh led San Francisco to three straight NFC Conference Championships, with two defeats and one triumph.

He would lose that lone Super Bowl trip to his brother John and the Ravens, but he went a remarkable 36-11-1 during his first three seasons in charge of the Niners.

Perhaps a bigger surprise is York's vocal support given how things ended with Harbaugh. With time, though, proper perspective trumps any previous animosity.

"I think with anything, people mature, time passes and you tend to remember a lot more of the good things than maybe the not-so-good things," York said. "I'm happy for him. Again, he's a heck of a coach. He'll do a heck of a job."

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