Fans would probably love an opportunity to get a glimpse at San Francisco 49ers practices and team meetings. One fan has that opportunity. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he's the father of 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Mike Shanahan, the former NFL head coach who served as an assistant with the 49ers from 1992 until 1994, watched his son take over the team in 2017. He has a lot of access to the 49ers — even from his home in the Denver area.
If you haven't read Matt Maiocco's piece from Thursday, the NBC Sports Bay Area reporter shared how the 49ers' director of video operations set up cameras throughout the facility to record every meeting, drill, and practice. The elder Shanahan has access to all of that footage from his iPad a whole timezone away.
"It blew his mind," Kyle Shanahan told Maiocco. "He thought he was going to have to fly out here or get Beta tapes sent to him or whatever, but Mike Bracken, our video guy, is on top of everything."
Mike Shanahan joined KNBR on Friday and was asked about his unique level of access to the team, and what kind of feedback he provides to his son.
"He studies it so much, and he knows it so much because you've got to put a lot of hours in," Mike Shanahan told Greg Papa and John Lund. "You've got to know the little details of everything.
"I just wanted to have the ability to be able to look at his meetings, to be able to study the film, personnel as well, in his scheme, and be able to stay on top of it because when he did call me up for my opinion, I want at least a chance to give him an educated opinion. Just not talk in generalities, but be able to talk specifics.
"Not that he has to call me very often, but it is fun when we do get a chance to talk, we're talking about scheme or personnel. Usually it's about the things that he can't look at. Maybe you're second or third deep at one position, the scout team, or different things that he may see that he might miss. But he doesn't miss very much, I promise you that."
Mike Shanahan gets his access to the footage about 30 minutes after the recordings are completed. He'll start taking a look at it the next day, usually after waking up at 4 a.m. and heading into his home office with the iPad in hand.
"It's kind of neat for me to have it where when he watches something or sees something, he tells me, 'Hey, you guys should've done this or that.'" Kyle Shanahan said. "I look into it what he says. And it's nice to have another set of eyes. Where, 'Hey, I missed that.' I'll go back and check that. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I don't."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Mike Shanahan below.
