The San Francisco 49ers are making an interesting change to their coaching staff.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday in his end-of-season press conference told reporters offensive passing game specialist Klay Kubiak would be promoted to offensive coordinator. Shanahan noted Kubiak’s responsibilities wouldn’t change, but that he’d earned the upgrade in title.
It’s only the second time Shanahan has had an offensive coordinator since becoming the 49ers’ head coach in 2017. Mike McDaniel served in that role for one year in 2021 before getting hired as the Miami Dolphins head coach in 2022.
Kubiak is a fast-rising star on the 49ers’ offensive coaching staff. He called plays for two of the team’s preseason games, and then got to call plays for the team’s 2024 regular season against the Arizona Cardinals. Those were signs that he was well-regarded by Shanahan, and now an internal promotion could put him in line for a potential head coaching job in the near future.
Kubiak hasn’t been named in any head coach searches yet, but if he’s the OC for a better 49ers club next year he could quickly be in that mix.
Shanahan handing over play-calling duties to Kubiak for the finale makes more sense in light of his promotion. While Shanahan won’t give up play-calling duties this year and isn’t liable to do so any time soon, he wanted to give the assistant an opportunity to get a regular-season game on his resume along with the promotion. If San Francisco is able to bounce back in 2025 there won’t be any games Shanahan is comfortable turning over play-calling duties for, so a relatively meaningless Week 18 showdown with the Arizona Cardinals provided that rare opportunity.