It looks like the San Francisco 49ers have finally zeroed in on a "head coach of training." That individual appears to be Philadelphia Flyers director of sports science, Ben Peterson, according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic.
The 49ers fired head strength and conditioning coach Ray Wright and long-time head athletic trainer Jeff Ferguson in January. Kyle Shanahan later said that the medical and training staffs would soon be run by what he called a "head coach of training" and the team was actively searching for someone to lead the two groups. It is not yet known what the official title of the new position will be.
"(The new position will) mold those two places, so you're not dealing with separate parts of the building, and we can make it a little more collaborative," Shanahan said via NBC Sports Bay Area.
The 49ers have been hit hard by injuries since Shanahan, and general manager John Lynch took over the team in 2017. San Francisco finished the 2018 season with 14 players on injured reserve, including franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and featured running back Jerick McKinnon, both of whom suffered torn ACLs.
McKinnon's injury occurred during a practice before the start of the regular season while Garoppolo's was during a Week 3 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. San Francisco finished the season with four wins and has won just 10 games over the past two seasons.
The 49ers hope having one person overseeing the operations of both groups will create more cohesion and lessen the number of injuries moving forward.
"It's trying to make the overall medical and strength and conditioning staff of the San Francisco 49ers stronger," said Shanahan.
Peterson has been with the Flyers organization since 2016. Before that, he served as the director of research and analytics and as a sports performance manager at Catapult Sports, a company that provides player-tracking equipment to several professional leagues across numerous sports.
"I help teams identify and evaluate contextual analytics by measuring training volumes, (accelerations, decelerations, change of direction speeds, biomechanical and physiological load quantifications), in real time, to improve performance outcomes and reduce soft tissue injuries of athletes," wrote Peterson via his LinkedIn page.
Peterson put together this 28-minute presentation in 2015 which outlined how hockey teams can keep their players healthy on the ice.
The 49ers also plan to fill Wright's and Ferguson's former roles.
