Getty Head coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers.
An important part of any NFL team’s success is belief in the head coach, and the San Francisco 49ers and CB Richard Sherman feel that for Kyle Shanahan.
Speaking to Heavy.com in a recent interview on behalf of his new video series, Adulting with Richard Sherman, the corner talked about his head coach as well as what his time with the 49ers has been like in his first two seasons with the team.
After a lackluster 2018 for the team, Sherman went second-team All-Pro and became an immense part of the 49ers’ campaign to Super Bowl LIV.
Sherman complimented Shanahan for being an impressive coach, but the former Stanford Cardinal also said that it was encouraging to see his coach speak out on the lack of diversity at the NFL head coaching level a couple months back.
“It’s encouraging to see,” Sherman said. “And it’s just a testament to who he is. The kind of person he is more than anything. He’s a guy that wants to treat people the right way and he calls it straight. If he thinks something’s wrong he calls it, if he think’s something’s right, he’ll call it. That’s how he always been.”
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Shanahan’s Comments
Speaking to 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, Shanahan spoke on the lack of diversity at the NFL level in the immediate aftermath of Minneapolis, Minnesota man George Floyd’s murder while in police custody.
While touching on Floyd, Shanahan also spoke on how it doesn’t make sense that the NFL has such a high percentage of black players but not similar representation at the NFL’s higher levels.
How the heck are there only four black head coaches out of 32? And only two GMs? The majority of our players are black, so the fact that there are that few, that’s not debatable. I don’t know if people are openly thinking they’re doing it, but that’s what the problem is. That number is not debatable. And that is an issue.
Shanahan went on to say that this mindset has affected the way he looks to hire, and that it’s obviously translated to success.
I only speak for myself, but I try to hire people that I work with that are prepared for it. Fortunately, that has worked out well for me. We have a Muslim coordinator, a black coordinator, we have a lesbian on our staff — we have everything. It’s not just to show people we’re trying to be diverse. It’s just because I have been around these people and they’re really good at what they do and we can’t win without these people. And that’s just how it works out. I don’t know why the numbers are like that, but it’s wrong.
Sherman Comments Further on Shanahan
While the one-time Super Bowl winner praised Shanahan for his view in relation to diversity in the league, Sherman also made it a point to tell us that Shanahan isn’t just a guy that he appreciates off the field, but that his traits translate to on-the-field success too.
“I’ve just enjoyed the seasons,” Sherman said. “[Shanahan] is a great coach, very honest and straight-forward and down-to-earth. He takes his players [being] humans into account, and tries his best to treat people with the right amount of respect and appreciation. That’s all you can really ask for of a coach. Obviously, he’s a great playcaller and I’ve enjoyed it a lot.”
After a breakthrough season for Shanahan and his 49ers team in 2019, Sherman’s words are no surprise, but they are still just as encouraging.
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Evan Reier is a sportswriter covering the San Francisco 49ers for Heavy.com and local sports for the Montana Standard in Butte, Mont. Reach out to him on Twitter at @evanreier and join our 49ers community at Heavy on 49ers on Facebook.