After Brandon Staley was fired as the Chargers’ head coach late last season, he found himself on the shortlist for several defensive coordinator jobs, but didn’t land any of them.
The 49ers were one of the teams he interviewed with and they offered him a different job on Kyle Shanahan’s staff. The 49ers confirmed this week that the title is assistant head coach/defense and Staley spoke to reporters for the first time in his new role on Wednesday.
Nick Sorenson is the coordinator and Shanahan said Staley knows this and is on staff because “he can help us in a number of roles” including being a sounding board for Sorenson. That’s a big change for Staley, but he said he doesn’t “think seeing it as a reboot is a bad thing” because of how well he fits with Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch.
“Talking to Kyle and John, there’s a lot of common ground about leading a football team,” Staley said, via Cam Inman of the San José Mercurio News. “That’s what I was looking for more than anything, an opportunity where you feel that you will be aligned with the right people who do things the right way and you have the opportunity to improve, and where you also have the opportunity to affect a team that can compete for a championship. All those stars kind of aligned. Is been energizing. That restart has allowed me to do that.”
Staley only spent one year as coordinator before a stint with the Chargers that was viewed as a disappointment for how they consistently came up short in important moments. Taking a step back was going to be necessary for another chance at a head coaching position, and doing so with a team that has developed a different reputation is as good a way as any to start down that path.