SANTA CLARA—After Chip Kelly was dismissed as the 49ers’ head coach last month, CEO Jed York and other team officials began interviewing candidates to fill the open position. On Monday, February 6, it was announced that, following Super Bowl LI, Kyle Shanahan, the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons and son of two-time Super Bowl winning head coach Mike Shanahan, was appointed as the new head coach of the team. Shanahan, 37, is the team’s 20th coach and the third youngest in franchise’s history.
His coaching career commenced in 2003 when he served as a graduate assistant at UCLA. He served in the NFL as the offensive quality control coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans, Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns, and Atlanta Falcons. This season, he received the AP award for top assistant coach in the NFL after helping the falcons cultivate 33.8 points per game and leading the team to the Super Bowl for the second time in history.
“This is a very exciting day for the San Francisco 49ers and our fans. Throughout this process, we learned many things about Kyle that convinced us he is the perfect coach to lead this team. Over the years, he has proven to be one of the brightest minds in the game of football and his recent success speaks for itself. Kyle’s leadership has brought the best out of his players at every phase of his career and we look forward to watching him build a talented staff to accomplish the same with our players,” said York to members of the SF 49ers staff on Monday.
Shanahan told reporters, “It is truly an honor to be named head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, one of the marquee franchises in all of sports. I must thank Jed and the York family for entrusting me with this great privilege and tremendous opportunity. I would also like to express my gratitude to Arthur Blank, Dan Quinn and the Atlanta Falcons organization for their support and the experience of a lifetime.”
Shanahan’s contract is set at 6 years, along with that of the new general manager John Lynch, who told 49ers staff that the team is “very fortunate to be able to bring in a coach of the caliber.”
Shanahan, who is set to be formally introduced as the new head coach in a press conference this week, told the Associated Press:
”As a young man, I had the unique benefit of being exposed to the storied history of the San Francisco 49ers firsthand. From that exposure, I developed great respect for those who created a world-class, championship standard. As this team begins the task of re-establishing that standard, I could not ask for a better partner than John Lynch. He is a man who certainly has personal knowledge of what championship organizations look like. John and I look forward to establishing a strong culture that will serve as our foundation for constructing this team.”
