An Underrated Aspect That Makes Kyle Shanahan a Great Coach

Kyle Shanahan is a head coach held in high regard.

His play calling, play designs, and overall structure of his offense is what makes him reputable. Now that he finally has a winning record as a head coach, he continues to solidify himself as someone the 49ers should feel lucky to have despite his flaws. I personally would label him as a great coach and put him in the top five of all coaches in the NFL. All he is lacking is the hardware to show for it, but he is always close.

Aside from how stellar he is on the field with his offense and winning record, there is one underrated aspect that makes Shanahan a great coach. The aspect is how he can get coaches promoted on all levels. Whether it is within his own organization or another's, Shanahan has turned the 49ers into the Tesla of coaches. Every team is waiting in line to purchase a "Tesla" from Shanahan. It all started with the Jets who hired Robert Saleh as their head coach, then it snowballed from there.

Look at how many coaches continue to get poached from the 49ers coaching staff. Saleh was the one to kickstart it with the Jets, then Mike McDaniel with the Dolphins, and now DeMeco Ryans with the Texans. And sure, a good bulk of other assistant and position coaches are joining these three head coaches in a promoted role, but some are not like former defensive backs coach Joe Woods who became the Browns' defensive coordinator from 2021-2022.

But here’s the thing, these three head coaches did not have to take several staff members from the 49ers with them to their new team. They could’ve easily looked elsewhere if they thought there was better. The fact that they are trying to emulate to a degree what the 49ers are doing is a credit to Shanahan. Why deviate from an offensive system that works?

Take the most recent poached coach for example in passing game coordinator Bobby Slowik who is now the offensive coordinator for the Texans. Ryans has only known him since they both were brought on in 2017 when Shanahan was first hired. It is not like they have known each other before that. Ryans is only familiar with him because they're on the same team. They're not heavily working with each other considering they're on different sides of the ball, so there presumably isn't a deeply rooted relationship like when Saleh took Mike LaFleur to be his offensive coordinator.

For Ryans to hand pick Slowik to be his offensive coordinator with the Texans means he acknowledges that the Shanahan offense is one that is of elite magnitude. He is a phenomenal defensive mind. Ryans know what a great offense should look like and one that is tough to handle defensively, so for him to take an understudy of Shanahan is another solidifying factor of how great of a coach he is.

I give Shanahan a lot of slack more than I do credit, but that is because I believe he can be so much better than he is now. And he is already doing a sweet job with most things. Getting assistant coaches and coordinators promotions is arguably his greatest trait and one that should be recognized more. The more of his coaches are out there, the more of an influence he will have on the game of football.