The 49ers were in search of a new defensive coordinator this offseason. Legendary head coach Bill Belichick was in search of a new job after leaving the New England Patriots. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan saw an opening and threw a Hail Mary to have perhaps the greatest coach in NFL history join his coaching staff.
Shanahan told Tim Kawakami on the ‘TK Show’ that he gave Belichick his pick of job with San Francisco during the offseason.
“I did. I threw it out to him,” Shanahan told Kawakami. “He loves football so much that you never know. I mean, I can’t believe that he’s not a head coach of a team right now. I know what I would do if I was an owner, so that shocks me. And the last thing you want to do is insult someone like Bill Belichick, but I know he just loves ball in the simplest form. So I threw it all out to him. Whatever he’d want to do. I was like, ‘would you be interested (in the defensive coordinator job)?’ He was very nice and appreciative, but he politely turned me down.”
Shanahan ultimately landed on Nick Sorensen, a fast-rising internal candidate, to be the team’s new defensive coordinator. Belichick could’ve conceivably filled some kind of consultant role after not landing a head coach job this offseason. Instead of staying in the NFL he opted to help his son, Steve, who is the new defensive coordinator at the University of Washington.
The 49ers also added former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley to their coaching staff as an assistant head coach after interviewing him for the open defensive coordinator job. Staley gives San Francisco a different defensive background since he comes from the Vic Fangio tree, whereas Sorensen is a branch of the Pete Carroll tree the 49ers have gotten accustomed to plucking from.
While the 49ers would’ve loved having Belichick on the staff, Shanahan said not having him might be a silver lining over the long-term.
“It could be good, too, because I’m sure he’s gonna be back in the league next year and I could be going against him,” Shanahan said. “It could be in the NFC West, so it would’ve sucked if he came here and then he was going against us.”
