Kyle Shanahan Unveils Details of 49ers' Job Offer to Bill Belichick

Karl Rasmussen | Aug 7, 2024

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan speaks during a press conference before Super Bowl LVIII / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Back in March, various reports indicated that the San Francisco 49ers had made contact with Bill Belichick, and potentially even going as far as to offer the former New England Patriots coach a job within the organization.

On Tuesday, with training camp getting underway this week, Kyle Shanahan spoke with Tim Kawakami on The TK Show and discussed Belichick, detailing whether or not the team had looked into hiring him in some capacity.

Shanahan expressed his surprise that Belichick had made it through the head coaching cycle without a new job lined up. He even revealed that he had offered the legendary coach any role that he'd like in San Francisco, excluding, of course, the head coach position.

"I threw it out to him," said Shanahan about potentially adding Belichick to the Niners' coaching staff. "He loves football so much, that you never know—I can't believe that he's not the head coach of a team right now. I know what I'd do if I was an owner... I threw it all out to him, whatever he'd want to do.

"He politely turned me down," he added, though he expressed confidence that Belichick would be back in the NFL before long.

Belichick had been the Patriots coach since 2000 but the two sides parted ways after the '23 campaign, with Jerod Mayo taking up mantle in New England.

Belichick had been linked to various different coaching vacancies in the NFL's cycle, but ultimately ended up without a gig after teams elected to go with different candidates. Shanahan made clear how much of a shock that was to him, though his efforts to poach the 72-year-old for his own staff ultimately proved futile.