San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan tried to bring 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 podcast “The TK Show” that he was interested in bringing Belichick onto the staff as a defensive coordinator or some other role.
“I did it, I threw it at him.” Shanahan said“I can’t believe I’m not the head coach of a team right now. I know what I would do if I was the owner, so that surprises me and the last thing you want to do is insult someone like Bill Belichick. But I know he loves basketball in its simplest form, so I told him everything I wanted to do (including the defensive coordinator position). I said, ‘Would you be interested?’ And he was very nice and appreciative and politely turned me down.”
The 49ers had a vacancy at defensive coordinator after they fired Steve Wilks following their loss in Super Bowl LVIII. After Belichick passed on Shanahan, the team ended up promoting Nick Sorensen, who moved from defensive passing game specialist to overseeing the defense. Former Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley was added as an assistant.
Belichick is available for NFL team positions 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 “ManningCast.”
While one of the greatest coaches in league history won’t be on the sidelines when the 2024 season begins in September, Shanahan is confident Belichick’s absence from an NFL field won’t be for long.
“I’m sure he’ll be back in the league next year and I could play him,” Shanahan said. “He could be in the NFC West. It would have been a shame if he came here and then played us, so you have to be careful with that. But he’s the best and I like talking to him.”