EL SEGUNDO — Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll are similarly described. They are both energetic and entertaining football lifers. They have made their marks over the past few decades as high-profile coaches, both in college and in the NFL. They have won at almost every stop, lifting every team.

“I bet we could have been really good friends,” Harbaugh said of Carroll.

Harbaugh and the Chargers and Carroll and the Raiders meet on Monday night in Las Vegas, a chance to renew an acquaintance that goes back years, an opportunity to meet for the first time as AFC West rivals. Harbaugh, 61, is in his second season with the Chargers; Carroll, 73, is in his first with the Raiders.

Harbaugh’s journey from his start as an assistant coach with the then-Oakland Raiders to the University of San Diego to

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