San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Know McVay, Shanahan? You’re hired
Kliff Kingsbury became the Cardinals’ head coach last month despite being fired in November by Texas Tech after posting a 35-40 record. Kingsbury had zero NFL coaching experience and a 19-35 record in the Big 12. However, he does have youth (he’s 39), an offensive bent, and this bit of personal information that Arizona included in its initial news release announcing his hiring early last month: “Kingsbury is friends with Rams coach Sean McVay — the 32-year-old offensive genius who has become the blueprint of many of the new coaching hires around the NFL ...” Yes, McVay Mania dominated the NFL’s latest head-coach hiring cycle as NFL teams sought the next X’s-and-O’s whiz who was learning his ABCs in the 1980s. And the phenomenon sheds light on a perplexing offseason question: Why have NFL teams tried to raid the offensive coaching staff of the 49ers, who are coming off a 4-12 season?
Answer: If a coach with a loose connection to McVay is in demand (looking at you, Kliff ), coaches who work under Kyle Shanahan, whom McVay counts as a mentor, could inspire mild hysteria. McVay, who won an NFC championship and an NFL Coach of the Year award in his first two seasons, has credited part of his development to Shanahan, who was Washington’s offensive coordinator when McVay was an assistant from 2010-13.
A mentor to McVay? No wonder NFL teams have pursued the assistants Shanahan has been mentoring the past two seasons with the 49ers. Quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello became the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, offensive assistant T.C. McCartney became Denver’s quarterbacks coach, and assistant offensive line coach Adam Stenavich became the Packers’ offensive line coach.
In addition, the 49ers denied offensive coordinator interview requests for Shanahan’s top lieutenants: passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur, who received interest from the Packers and Vikings, and running game coordinator Mike McDaniel (Cardinals).
“It was a little unexpected,” Shanahan recently said on KNBR. “I didn’t think our staff was going to get raided after a 4-12 year. So that caught me off guard a little bit.”
Shanahan, 39, the NFL’s fourth-youngest head coach, shouldn’t have been shocked. Not only are the 49ers’ assistants linked to Shanahan — and, by extension, to McVay — they are also part of an increasingly popular kiddie corps. McDaniel and Stenavich are 35, LaFleur is 31 and McCartney is 29. Scangarello is the old man in the group at 46.
That should sound familiar. The Bengals just hired head coach Zac Taylor, 35, who was a Rams assistant under McVay the past two seasons. And the Packers hired head coach Matt LaFleur, 39, who has worked with both McVay and Shanahan.
In February 2017, there were four NFL head coaches under 40. That number is now nine, with McVay, who turned 33 in January, and Taylor being the youngest.
McVay, the youngest head coach in NFL history, has inspired the youth movement. And other teams’ obvious attempts to hire the next McVay have inspired some mockery this offseason. Most notably, the Cardinals quickly deleted the reference to Kingsbury’s friendship with McVay after it prompted endless social-media howling.
Similarly, the NFL’s strong interest in the staff of the fourwin 49ers seems equally worthy of derision.
However, the youthful offensive staff deserves credit for some of the 49ers’ statistics in an injury-riddled 2018 season in which their leading passer (Nick Mullens), rusher (Matt Breida) and top wide receiver (Kendrick Bourne) were 2017 undrafted free agents. The 49ers still had their most passing yards (4,247) since 2000, their most passing touchdowns (26) since 2001 and averaged 4.5 yards a carry, their thirdhighest figure since 2006. The NFL, which often has been called a copycat league, is clearly trending one way. But it may not be the only way to go.
The Broncos hired longtime defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, 60, as head coach. And the Dolphins just hired Brian Flores, who is young but defensive-minded. Flores, 37, the NFL’s third-youngest head coach, called defensive plays for the Patriots this past season and teamed with Bill Belichick on a winning Super Bowl game plan: After New England’s 13-3 victory over the Rams, McVay said he’d been outcoached.
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see if the friend of McVay (Kingsbury) or his most recent foe (Flores) will have more success as an NFL head coach.
As for the 49ers, they should feel fortunate they employ one of McVay’s mentors.
At least, much of the NFL seems to think so.