On January 1, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia threw his name into the mix of what was to become a head coaching search. He tweeted to the 49ers and team CEO Jed York that he was interested in taking on a coaching role with the team. "You want fire, passion & knowledge, I have it all & an experienced staff to back me," the 4-time Pro Bowl quarterback wrote. The tweet has since been deleted, but Garcia is still very much interested in joining the 49ers or any other NFL team.
The 49ers are expected to hire Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan following Super Bowl LI. Shanahan will then have the difficult task of assembling a coaching staff. It will be difficult because every other head coach vacancy has already been filled and those teams have had a head start on assembling their staffs. Garcia said that he would love to be part of Shanahan's coaching staff once the latter is hired by the 49ers.
Garcia joined 95.7 The Game on Monday and reaffirmed his interest in coaching. "I'm not going to sit here and deny the fact that I'd love to coach in the National Football League once again," Garcia said. "I had an opportunity to do that with the Rams two seasons ago. I was an assistant receiver coach now, so I was just kind of getting my foot in the door. I didn't have a chance to really work with the quarterbacks. I didn't have a chance to work with the quarterbacks at all. So that was probably the discouraging or frustrating aspect of being involved in the sport – not being able to help the position that you know best.
"But really looking at it and seeing if I can get myself in there, get myself back into a position to be beneficial to that quarterback position, that would be an ideal situation for me. Whether that happens or not, it's really difficult to say. It's one of those situations where the 49ers, obviously, are still in a position where they need to get their guy hired. They need to get their GM hired. They need to get their staff put together.
"In a lot of ways, they're going to be falling behind the 8-ball when it comes to what they're looking at from a draft standpoint to what they need to do with their team, but they need to catch up fast and they're going to have to figure that out and Kyle Shanahan is a guy that, obviously, they're focused upon and potentially could lead to an opportunity for me. Who knows? That's something that he'll have to decide, that the organization will have to decide, and we'll just see what happens down the road.
"If it doesn't happen, it doesn't mean that I'm not coaching. I'm just coaching younger people and helping my kids out and being around my kids is a blessing."
You can listen to the entire interview on 95.7 The Game.
In November, Garcia expressed interest in the then-vacant head coach vacancy at San Jose State. That job was given to former Oregon State receivers coach Brent Brennan in December.
Following five seasons with the Calgary Stampeders, Garcia joined the 49ers in 1999 and was to be Steve Young's backup until the Hall of Fame quarterback retired following a concussion. Garcia became the starting quarterback and remained with San Francisco through the 2003 season. After that, he spent time with the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Since ending his pro football career in 2010, Garcia has tutored several quarterbacks, been a CFL assistant coach, and briefly served as an NFL assistant with the then-St. Louis Rams in 2015.