SANTA CLARA — Kyle Shanahan was convinced at a young age he would be an NFL wide receiver until genealogy told him otherwise.
“I always wanted to be a player my whole life, and didn’t admit to myself I wanted to be a coach until probably in college once I started learning I wasn’t a good enough player, the 49ers head coach said Thursday before his team adjourned for a 40-day break before training camp.
Little did Shanahan know he was getting a crash course on football from his father Mike Shanahan that would shape the rest of his life.
“You don’t realize until you get into coaching how much you’ve been working on it,” Shanahan said.
Mick Lombardi, the 49ers quarterbacks coach, would stage races with his brother, Matt, to the landline phone in their Bay Area home for late night phone calls just for the chance of hearing the voice of Al Davis. Then they would hand it off to their father Mike, who was an Oakland Raiders executive.
Mike Lombardi would eventually be dismissed by Davis in 2007, with Mick later joining the Las Vegas Raiders as an offensive coordinator before being fired by Davis’ son Mark along with head coach Josh McDaniels in 2023.
“I’ve heard we are the first father and son to be fired by the Raiders,” Mick Lombardi said.
Klay Kubiak, newly anointed as the 49ers offensive coordinator, was born in 1987 when his father, Gary, was an NFL quarterback with the Denver Broncos backing up John Elway. Gary Kubiak eventually climbed the coaching ladder and became head coach of the Houston Texans from 2006 through 2013 and the Broncos in 2015-16.
Klay’s older brother Klint is offensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks.
Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak of the 49ers is the son of former NFL head coach Gary Kubiak. A.P. Photo
“I’m very, very fortunate to have a dad who was a coach who taught me so much about this profession,” Kubiak said. “I got to be around pro football when I was younger and see what it means to be a pro and what it means to coach.”
Like father, like son. It’s one way coaches are created. Lombardi took over as quarterbacks coach from Brian Griese, whose father Bob was a Hall of Fame quarterback with the Miami Dolphins. Rookie head coach Brian Schottenheimer of the Dallas Cowboys is the son of Marty Schottenheimer, who was head coach of the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers and passed away in 2021.
“I know he’s proud. I miss him,” Brian Schottenheimer told reporters this week in advance of Father’s Day. “I appreciate you asking about him and getting me to tear up on the last day of camp.”
Brian Callahan, in his second year as coach of the Tennessee Titans, used to get tips from assistant coaches of the Raiders during training camp at Napa while a reserve quarterback for East Bay power De La Salle High. His father Bill was a Raiders assistant under Jon Gruden and eventually the head coach of the Raiders in 2002-03 and at the University of Nebraska from 2004-07.
Bill Callahan is now on Brian’s staff as one of the NFL’s most highly regarded offensive line coaches.
Former NFL head coach and assistant Wade Phillips learned at the hip his father Bum, head coach of the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints from 1975-85. The Ryan brothers, Rex and Rob, were on staff with their father Buddy Ryan with the Arizona Cardinals. The son of Don Shula, the NFL’s all-time winningest head coach with 347 wins, is David Shula, who coached the Cincinnati Bengals from 1992-96.
The sons of coaches know what it’s like to pick up and move to a new town after their father either is fired or accepts a new position. The long hours come as no surprise, and often the best way to have a relationship with their fathers is by tagging along at work.
Kyle Shanahan was a 49ers ballboy when Mike was offensive coordinator of the 49ers from 1992-93. Lombardi and Kubiak spent many a training camp helping out courtesy of their fathers. He got into coaching in 2003 as a graduate assistant at UCLA and worked under his father with Washington from 2010-13.
He also was on Gary Kubiak’s staff in Houston.
Kyle Shanahan doesn’t see it as much different than father-and-son relationships where both are firefighters or in law enforcement. They learn by osmosis and naturally gravitate toward the same line of work.
“People who’ve grown up around a certain profession have kind of been paying attention to it since they can remember,” Shanahan said. “It’s not absolute by any means, but I feel those guys sometimes have an 18-year head start over other people whether they realize it or not. It gives you an advantage, but you’ve got to take advantage of it too.”
While Mike Lombardi wasn’t in coaching, he sat in the same room as Bill Walsh, Al Davis and Bill Belichick while employed by the 49ers, Raiders and Patriots — he’s currently Belichick’s general manager at North Carolina — and had a wealth of knowledge from three legends of the sport. He’s written books on the subject.
“My dad did a good job getting a lot of it on paper and it was really cool to be exposed to that kind of lifestyle,” Mick Lombardi said. “Kyle can speak to that for sure. Klay can speak to it.There’s not many houses where you can pick up the phone and it’s Mr Davis.”
Quarterback Brock Purdy believes its evident in the way Shanahan, Lombardi and operate that they are football lifers.
“They’ve been through it as such a young age, being ball boys to gofers to whatever, being around so much football,” Purdy said. “And a lot of concepts they teach have come from their dads. It gives good perspective on things revolving around football.”
Kyle Shanahan remembers peppering his father with questions at the dinner table about the draft, free agent and football philosophy until his mother and sister became annoyed. Mick Lombardi’s mother Millie made sure football wasn’t the only thing discussed at mealtime.
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“She was on me and my brother about grades, progress reports, so I was getting it from all angles — it wasn’t just football,” Lombardi said.
Kubiak is sensitive to a charge of nepotism, where his family connections give him an unfair advantage.
“I think everyone who works here, every coach, every player, we feel like we have to earn our job every day by the work we put in and the results we get,” Kubiak said. “I don’t see myself as any different.”