49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Thread

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Big question on my mind, and perhaps for Kyle also, wonder what hat you wear for the big game..
maybe some special SB logo hat

Originally posted by RonnieLott:
Wear a hat that will influence the Refs to throw flags in our favour.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Big question on my mind, and perhaps for Kyle also, wonder what hat you wear for the big game..
maybe some special SB logo hat

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Big question on my mind, and perhaps for Kyle also, wonder what hat you wear for the big game..
maybe some special SB logo hat

big game, big hat

Originally posted by RonnieLott:
Kyle - pound the rock and make us strong again!

On the back of CMC we can fly.

Originally posted by evil:

Originally posted by RonnieLott:
It will be a lot closer than that.

Kyle may need to pull out a trick play or two

I'm not sure it takes Shanahan too long to make adjustments, although he did say that after talking to Quality Control at halftime on Sunday v the Detroit Lions , he decided to stop worrying about the scheme and just get the ball into the hands of his best players. That worked.

Can you share the whole quote please and thanks?

Originally posted by evil:

Originally posted by evil:

Originally posted by RonnieLott:
It will be a lot closer than that.

Kyle may need to pull out a trick play or two

I'm not sure it takes Shanahan too long to make adjustments, although he did say that after talking to Quality Control at halftime on Sunday v the Detroit Lions , he decided to stop worrying about the scheme and just get the ball into the hands of his best players. That worked.

Can you share the whole quote please and thanks?

Still waiting Ronnie....

And what do coaches do when they're not coaching? They attend coaching conventions. While some go to schmooze, some go to drink with their buddies, and some go to campaign for a new job, a few, like Mike, take it seriously. The 1972 Coaching Convention at the Hyatt Regency in Rosemont, Ill., just outside of where he grew up, included some of the brightest minds in the sport, and Mike was eager to soak it up. There was one coach in particular who would take the stage that day and plant a vital seed. It was a young assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals named Bill Walsh.

Mike's eyes lit up as he recounted for me Walsh's speech, almost word for word, 52 years later. And my eyes lit up hearing it. Bill Walsh was the skipper of the 49ers team that made me fall in love with the sport. When I was coming out of Menlo College, Walsh, serving as a consultant for the 49ers, was instrumental in getting me signed to my childhood team. And when I was stuck down on the S.F. depth chart, he picked up the phone and called Mike Shanahan, orchestrating my trade to the Denver Broncos, where he thought I'd be a better fit.

Walsh took the stage that day in Rosemont and asked how many head coaches there were in the crowd. Some hands were raised. Then he asked how many were coordinators. Some more hands raised. How many were position coaches? Even more hands went up. Then he asked how many of the assistants wanted to be head coaches someday. Everyone raised their hands, including a 21-year-old Mike Shanahan. Then Bill said the thing that Mike didn't know he was waiting to hear, and the thing that most football coaches don't understand, or don't have it in them to pursue—even though they say they want to be great.

"If you coach wide receivers," Walsh said, "and you can't coach offensive line, or you coach linebackers and you can't coach running backs or quarterbacks. If you are an offensive coach and you can't coach defense, or you are a defensive coach and you can't coach offense, then you'll be fired in five years. You have to know every position on the field."

Walsh also had some more advice for young coaches who wanted to get their foot in the door: "Go to a winning program, so you can see how it's done."

Northern Arizona appealed to Coach Shanahan because they were running the "Air Coryell" three-number system, popularized by Hall-of-Famer Don Coryell. This was a passing system based on timing and rhythm that used the tight end to run wideout-type routes, and put receivers in motion, which, because of rules that prevented defensive players from jamming them, gave receivers free releases. This stretched the field vertically and forced defenses to cover the whole field, which, if you called the plays right, could open things underneath and give you more opportunities in the run game, too.

The "three-number system" meant that each route in the route tree had a designated number—we often hear the term "9 route." "9" is a "go" route. Go long! The three numbers—like 329—told the three receivers what routes they were running. This makes it easy for a pass catcher to know what to do: listen for your number and run that route. It doesn't, however, teach the receiver to understand the big picture—to understand why he is running the route he is running. That's up to the coach to explain it, or not.

One thing I learned about the Shanahan Offense when I played in it is how each route is tied to every other route on the play. There is a reason for my route. If I don't take an outside release, the corner's eyes will go inside and he will see the slot receiver coming into his zone and will decapitate him. That sort of thing. Nothing happens in a vacuum.

After one season at NAU, Mike's alma mater, Eastern Illinois, came calling. After one year there as the OC and one national championship, Mike then accepted an OC job at Minnesota.

During this time, in 1979, the run-and-shoot offense was entering the marketplace, but no one was really running it well except for Mouse Davis at Portland State, so while at Minnesota, Mike took a trip to Oregon and spent three days at Portland State observing. The run-and-shoot used similar concepts to the Air Coryell, but often had four wide receivers on the field and those receivers would adjust their routes based on the coverage they were seeing, and the quarterback had to understand these adjustments as well. This required a great deal of practice—lots and lots of reps, and lots of watching film together to get on the same page. It is one thing for a quarterback to read coverage from the pocket, where he is stationary, but for a wide receiver, reading coverage while running a route is a different skill. Most people, when they decide to read a book, for example, don't do so while sprinting. Your eyeballs are bouncing. You are straining your body. You are concentrating on your own movement. To also be deciding whether the corner is in man or cover 2, or deep third versus quarters coverage, requires a great deal of patience and practice, and that extra something special that connects a quarterback to his receiver—the shared mind that sees the same things and reacts accordingly.

Of course, every advantage must be gained, and during this time, the use of wide receiver motions was pioneered to give the offense crucial pre-snap reads. This, more than most other things in my mind, defines the Shanahan Offense. Shifting and motioning players before the play forces the defense to reveal whether they were in man or zone coverage, a vital component to understanding where to run the route and where the open man will be. If they are in man coverage, a defender will run with you as you motion. If they are in zone, he'll stay put. Those three days at Portland State were very productive. Shanahan came back to Minnesota and began to implement the concepts in his own offense.

In Minnesota, the Shanahans had a son, and they named him Kyle. Soon after, the three of them hit the road again, this time to Florida. After a successful stint there, Mike was finally ready for the NFL.

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
I heard the interview with Jed where he recounts the story of Kyle talking to him about the QB situation. It says a lot about Kyle that he was able to admit that Brock was better than Trey. Not easy for these guys with their big egos to admit they made a mistake.

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

Originally posted by evil:

Originally posted by evil:

Originally posted by RonnieLott:
It will be a lot closer than that.

Kyle may need to pull out a trick play or two

I'm not sure it takes Shanahan too long to make adjustments, although he did say that after talking to Quality Control at halftime on Sunday v the Detroit Lions , he decided to stop worrying about the scheme and just get the ball into the hands of his best players. That worked.

Can you share the whole quote please and thanks?

Still waiting Ronnie....

chief in 9er clothing

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

Originally posted by evil:

Originally posted by evil:

Originally posted by RonnieLott:
It will be a lot closer than that.

Kyle may need to pull out a trick play or two

I'm not sure it takes Shanahan too long to make adjustments, although he did say that after talking to Quality Control at halftime on Sunday v the Detroit Lions , he decided to stop worrying about the scheme and just get the ball into the hands of his best players. That worked.

Can you share the whole quote please and thanks?

Still waiting Ronnie....

chief in 9er clothing

Quality Control means Grant