The San Francisco 49ers have promoted Joel Patten to Director of Player Personnel, Matt Malaspina to Director of College Scouting and Mike Williams to Director of Pro Personnel. Additionally, the team also promoted Justin Chabot to National Scout, Steve Rubio to Regional Scout and Josh Williams to Pro Personnel Scout.
"We are very fortunate to have such a talented and quality player personnel staff," said 49ers General Manager Trent Baalke. "The group's hard work, dedication, and scouting skills are instrumental to our club's success, and we take great pride in promoting these six individuals from within our organization."
Joel Patten is in his fourth year with the 49ers after previously serving as Director of College Scouting with the team. In his previous position, he managed the college scouting staff and the daily operations of the department. He joined San Francisco with 14 years of NFL scouting experience and more than a decade of professional playing experience.
A graduate of Duke University, Patten played eight seasons in the NFL and three in USFL as an offensive tackle. Having originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Cleveland Browns in 1980, he played in 56 career games for the Browns (1980-82), Colts (1987-88), Chargers (1989-90) and Los Angeles Raiders (1991-92). He also played for the Washington Federals (1983-84) and the Orlando Renegades (1985) of the USFL.
Matt Malaspina is now in his ninth year with the 49ers after serving as a national scout for the past three years. His duties included covering the Southeast region, as well as crosschecking college football's top prospects throughout the country.
Malaspina joined the 49ers after spending five years as an area scout with the Seattle Seahawks. Prior to the Seahawks, he spent the 1999 season with the Carolina Panthers, where he evaluated college players in the Southeast region.
A graduate of the University of Central Florida, Malaspina went on to have a brief playing career as a center for the Shreveport Pirates of the Canadian Football League, playing in 1994 and attending training camp in 1995.
Mike Williams re-joined San Francisco in 2012 as a pro personnel scout after spending the previous three seasons as Vice President of Player Personnel for the St. Louis Rams.
Prior to joining the Rams, Williams spent the previous nine seasons (2000-08) with the 49ers in various roles. He served as the assistant director of pro personnel during his last four years with the team, with responsibilities that included advance scouting, evaluating free agents, setting up free agent workouts and tracking NFL rosters and depth charts. Williams originally joined the 49ers in 1999 as a volunteer in the personnel department, and later became a full-time personnel assistant in 2000.
A native of Santa Ana, CA, Williams earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Santa Clara University, where he was a four-year starter at safety for the Broncos.
Justin Chabot is in his 10th year with the 49ers, spending his first six seasons with the team scouting the Southwest region, two seasons covering the Southeast and last season scouting the Midwest region.
Prior to joining the 49ers, Chabot spent five seasons as the director of football operations at Northwestern University. As part of his role with the Wildcats, Chabot served as the pro liaison to visiting NFL scouts.
Chabot starred as an offensive lineman at Northwestern University on the 1995 and 1996 Big Ten Championship teams. A four-year letterman and captain of the 1996 squad, he was named first-team All-Big Ten by the media and coaches as a senior. He was also named to the Academic All-Big Ten list in 1993.
Steve Rubio enters his second season with the 49ers after being hired as a scouting assistant in 2012.
Rubio served as the director of player personnel for the University of Tennessee's football program from 2010-11, after originally joining the team in 2009 as a recruiting intern. In that role, he oversaw all recruiting board material while handling the initial evaluation of high school and junior college prospects.
The Fort Lauderdale, FL native graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in sports administration. Rubio worked in various roles on the Knights football staff over a span of six years. He spent the last 12 months of his tenure as UCF's director of player personnel, after having spent time as a defensive graduate assistant and as the recruiting and operations graduate assistant.
Josh Williams enters his third season with the 49ers after spending the last two seasons as a scouting assistant.
Prior to joining the 49ers, Williams worked in the financial industry in New York City as a business analyst of investment products at TD Ameritrade. A native of Santa Rosa, CA, he graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco. A four-year wide receiver for the Columbia University Lions, he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology.
