Each week leading up to the start of training camp, 49ers.com will assess roster groupings as we get closer to the season. In this installment, we will take a look at the coaching staff including the new faces arriving in 2023 and how they'll impact the team.
Previous Installments: Rookies | Free Agents
Coaching Staff Outlook
The San Francisco 49ers will enter the 2023 season with a majority of their coaching staff still intact from the previous year. The team's biggest changes came on the defensive side, as DeMeco Ryans, former 49ers defensive coordinator and 2022 AP Assistant Coach of the Year, departed shortly after the end of the season for a head coaching position with the Houston Texans.
Several coaches followed Ryans to Houston, including defensive quality control coach Stephen Adegoke, passing game specialist and secondary coach Cory Undlin and offensive passing game coordinator Bobby Slowik, who've all found new titles with the Texans.
To complete the team's coaching staff before the start of offseason activities, the 49ers hired five new names to the group, including Steve Wilks as the team's newest defensive coordinator.
"He fits right in. It's been a seamless transition," linebacker Fred Warner said. "He's come in and he's taken a hold of everything. We all respect the heck out of him already as our coach."
"He's a great leader," defensive lineman Arik Armstead added. "He's looking to come in and not change everything we are doing, but just add another level and take it up a notch."
Also new to San Francisco are offensive passing game specialist Klint Kubiak and defensive quality control coaches Jacob Webster and Cameron Brown.
Full Coaching Staff Roster
- Head coach: Kyle Shanahan
- Offensive line and run game coordinator: Chris Foerster
- Special teams coordinator: Brian Schneider
- Defensive coordinator: Steve Wilks
- Defensive backs coach: Daniel Bullocks
- Assistant offensive line coach: James Cregg
- Tight end coach: Brian Fleury
- Assistant offensive line coach: Joe Graves
- Quarterback coach: Brian Griese
- Wide receiver coach: Leonard Hankerson
- Assistant special teams coach: Matthew Harper
- Assistant defensive backs coach: Andrew Hayes-Stoker
- Linebacker coach: Johnny Holland
- Defensive line coach: Kris Kocurek
- Assistant quarterback coach: Klay Kubiak
- Offensive passing game specialist: Klint Kubiak
- Assistant head coach and running back coach: Anthony Lynn
- Special teams quality control and game management specialist: August Mangin
- Offensive quality control coach: Asauni Rufus
- Offensive quality control coach: Deuce Schwartz
- Defensive passing game specialist and nickels coach: Nick Sorensen
- Assistant defensive line coach: Darryl Tapp
- Running backs coach: Robert Turner Jr.
- Defensive quality coach: Jacob Webster
New Coaches in 2023
Wilks joins the 49ers from the Carolina Panthers (2022), where he was promoted to interim head coach in Week 6 after initially serving as the secondary/defensive pass game coordinator. The Panthers went 6-6 and finished second in the NFC South under Wilks following a 1-4 start to the season.
Prior to Carolina, he spent the 2021 season as the defensive coordinator at the University of Missouri. Before his time with Missouri, Wilks was the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns (2019) and the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals (2018). Wilks spent six seasons with the Panthers in his first stint with the team serving as defensive backs coach (2012-14), assistant head coach/defensive backs coach (2015-16) and assistant head coach/defensive coordinator (2017). Wilks spent the previous six seasons as defensive backs coach for the San Diego Chargers (2009-11) and Chicago Bears (2006-09).
Kubiak joins the 49ers from the Denver Broncos (2022), where he served as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach after spending three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings working as the team's offensive coordinator (2021) and quarterbacks coach (2019-20).
Prior to his time with Minnesota, Kubiak had his first stint in Denver as offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach for three seasons (2016-18). He got his start in the NFL coaching circuit as a quality control coach and assistant wide receivers coach for Minnesota from 2013-14.
Webster joins the 49ers after spending the 2022 season as a graduate assistant at the University of Wisconsin where he worked with the team's offensive unit. Webster spent the previous two years at the University of Missouri where he served as a defensive graduate assistant (2021) and a volunteer (2020) for the program.
Webster attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2016-19) where he played tight end. He also comes from a football family, as his father, Ruston, is currently a senior personnel executive for the Atlanta Falcons and previously served as the general manager of the Tennessee Titans (2012-15).
Brown joins the 49ers after spending the last two years as the outside linebackers coach at Case Western Reserve University (2021-22).
Brown attended Case Western where he played four years (2016-19) for the Spartans, appeared in 43 games and registered 187 tackles, 34.5 sacks, 12 forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and one interception. He was named to the Second-Team FCA Division III Coaches All-America in 2018 after registering a program record 15.0 sacks.
While in college, Brown spent four summers interning with the NBA Summer League (2017-20).
