Sports
Bill Belichick ‘politely’ turned down Kyle Shanahan’s offer to join 49ers staff
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan took a shot at bringing Bill Belichick to the Bay Area, but the eight-time Super Bowl winner turned him down.
Shanahan told The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami on this week’s episode of “The TK Show” podcast that he was interested in bringing Belichick on staff as defensive coordinator or any other role.
“I did, I threw it out to him,” Shanahan said. “I can’t believe 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 its simplest form, so I threw it all out to him, whatever he wanted to do, [including defensive coordinator]. I was like ‘Would you be interested?’ And he was very nice and appreciative and he politely turned me down.”
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The 49ers had an opening at defensive coordinator after Steve Wilks was fired following their loss in Super Bowl LVIII. After Shanahan was rebuffed by Belichick, the the team ended up promoting Nick Sorensen from defensive passing game specialist to oversee the defense. Former Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley was added as an assistant.
Belichick is available for NFL staff roles after parting ways with the New England Patriots after 24 years in January. While his job search didn’t go as planned, he will remain close to the game during the 2024 season with media roles on “Inside the NFL,” “The Pat McAfee Show” and the “ManningCast.”
While one of the greatest coaches in league history will not be on the sidelines when the 2024 season begins in September, Shanahan is confident that Belichick’s absence from an NFL field won’t be for long.
“I’m sure he’s going to be back in the league next year and I could be going against him,” Shanahan said. “He could be in the NFC West. It would have sucked if he came here and then he was going against us, so that’s the stuff you have to be careful about. But he’s the best and I just like talking to him.”
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