SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) – The San Francisco 49ers officially hired Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan as their new head coach on Monday, more than a month after firing Chip Kelly after just one season.
The 49ers settled on Shanahan a couple weeks ago but had to wait until after the Falcons played in the Super Bowl to sign him to a contract. Shanahan will be formally introduced at a news conference later this week.
Shanahan is the son of two-time Super Bowl winning head coach Mike Shanahan, who also won a title as offensive coordinator in San Francisco in 1994. The younger Shanahan served as a ball boy then but now will be tasked along with new general manager John Lynch with rebuilding a team that just matched the worst record in franchise history with a 2-14 mark, leading to the dismissal of Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke.
“As a young man, I had the unique benefit of being exposed to the storied history of the San Francisco 49ers firsthand,” Shanahan said in a statement. “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.”
Shanahan won the AP award as the top assistant coach in the NFL this season when he helped the Falcons post a league-high 33.8 points per game in the regular season and return to the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history.