Coaching Staff: 49ers Hire Bobby Engram As Offensive Assistant

Last week Jim Harbaugh lost one of three of his offensive line coaches and former-49er Ray Brown to the Carolina Panthers.  Brown decided to leave and take a similar position for the Panthers. This move left Harbaugh with an opening on his staff that was finally filled.

Today the 49ers announced that former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Bobby Engram has been hired as an offensive assistant.  This will be the first coaching job for Engram, who retired in 2009 after 14 years in the NFL.  Engram's role will likely be to work with the young wide receivers and help them grasp the West Coast Offense. 

Engram played eight seasons in the West Coast Offense learning under Mike Holmgren, Gil Haskell, and Nolan Cromwell.  In his 14 years as a player he played for the Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, and Chicago Bears.

49ers Coaching Staff - Harbaugh adds 3 more; Singletary gets new job

Jim Harbaugh’s coaching staff is starting to come together. The 49ers are reporting that Harbaugh has added Ed Donatell (defensive backs coach), Jim Leavitt (linebackers coach), and Geep Chryst (tight ends coach).

The hiring of Ed Donatell was reported at the Raiders press conference by new head Hue Jackson. Donatell was the secondary coach last year in Denver and prior to that was a defensive coordinator in Green Bay (2000-03) and Atlanta (2004-06).

Former USC assistant coach, John Morton will likely be taking over for Jerry Sullivan as the receivers coach. When at USC, Morton was the passing game coordinator and receivers coach on Lane Kiffin’s staff. Morton has worked with Harbaugh in the past at both the Oakland Raiders (2002-03) and University of San Diego (2005). At the Raiders Harbaugh was an offensive assistant and Morton worked as a “senior offensive assistant.”

ProFootballTalk first reported the 49ers interest in Jim Leavitt over a week ago and now he appears to be one of the newest additions. Jim Leavitt, most recently was the head coach of USF before he was fired for allegedly grabbing a players throat and then slapping him in the face. Leavitt declined those allegations and just recently settled out of court with USF for $2.75 million. It does not appear that he has any relationship with Harbaugh other than they were both in the college ranks. With the hiring of Leavitt, that would likely end the Jason Tarver era with the 49ers. He had quite a nice run with the 49ers as he has been an assistant since 2003.

One of Harbaugh’s most recent hires is Geep Chryst as tight ends coach. Chryst has been on the Carolina Panthers coaching staff as tight ends coach for the past four seasons. Chryst worked for both the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers when Harbaugh was a player.

It has not been made official but reports are that John Morton has been hired as the new wide receivers coach.

Former USC assistant coach, John Morton will likely be taking over for Jerry Sullivan as the receivers coach. When at USC, Morton was the passing game coordinator and receivers coach on Lane Kiffin’s staff. Morton has worked with Harbaugh in the past at both the Oakland Raiders (2002-03) and University of San Diego (2005). At the Raiders Harbaugh was an offensive assistant and Morton worked as a “senior offensive assistant.”

The 49ers coaching staff looks like this currently:

Head Coach – Jim Harbaugh
Offensive Coordinator – Greg Roman
Quarterbacks coach – none
Running Backs coach – Tom Rathman*
Wide receivers coach – John Morton
Tight ends coach – Geep Chryst
Offensive line coach – Mike Solari and Tim Drevno
Defensive coordinator – Vic Fangio
Defensive line – Jim Tomsula*
Linebackers coach – Jim Leavitt
Defensive backs – Ed Donatell
Special Teams coordinator – Brian Schottenheimer

*These hiring’s are not official but all indications are that Harbaugh wants them to return under their current roles.

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It didn’t take long for Mike Singletary to find a new job. Singletary confirmed on local radio in Chicago that he has accepted a position to be the linebackers coach on former teammate Leslie Frazier’s coaching staff. Both were part of the 1985 Chicago Bears that won the Super Bowl.

In his radio interview Singletary talked about his experiences as head coach with the 49ers and see’s this as an opportunity to move forward and get back to head coaching.

It sounds like he still plans to be the greatest head coach of all-time as he compared himself to Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll.

49ers Coaching Staff: Jim Harbaugh adds Fangio, Drevno, and Roman

Earlier today we wrote that Jim Harbaugh was ready to add former Stanford assistant Greg Roman to his staff with the 49ers. Since that report, the 49ers have announced the addition of Greg Roman as well as two other former Stanford assistants. Both Vic Fangio (defensive coordinator) and Tim Drevno (offensive line) will join Harbaugh in Santa Clara. Drevno will be the offensive line coach and will share those duties with current offensive line coach Mike Solari.

The announcement of Fangio as the new defensive coordinator ends Greg Manusky’s time with the 49ers but he already has another job for the San Diego Chargers’ as their coordinator. Manusky worked for the Chargers in the past as their linebackers coach (2002-06) before he was hired by Mike Nolan to be the 49ers defensive coordinator.

Vic Fangio, like Greg Roman, has a lot of experience in the NFL. 2011 will be his 25th season coaching in the NFL of which 11 of them were as a defensive coordinator. He was a coordinator at Carolina (1995-98), Indianapolis (1999-2001), and most recently with the Houston Texans (2002-05).

Fangio will take over a defense that ranked 13th in the league but will continue to run the 3-4. He worked with Dom Capers when he was at Carolina and is known to be very aggressive much like Capers.

It is being reported that former Broncos assistant, Ed Donatell, will join Harbaugh’s staff as the defensive backs coach. Donatell was the secondary coach last year in Denver and prior to that was a defensive coordinator in Green Bay (2000-03) and Atlanta (2004-06).

Tim Drevno will join the 49ers and is set to be the co-offensive line coach with current offensive line coach, Mike Solari. Unlike the other assistants, Drevno has no NFL experience but has 18 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level.

Drevno has been with Stanford for the past four seasons (2006-10), the last two as the offensive line coach. Prior to joining Stanford he was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at the University of San Diego (2003-06). He also coached at Idaho (2000-02), San Jose State (1999), UNLV (1998), and Montana State (1993-97).

Stanford Assistant Greg Roman Hired as 49ers Offensive Coordinator

Now that Stanford has announced that David Shaw will replace Jim Harbaugh as the new head coach of the Cardinals it is time for Jim Harbaugh to make his move to hire his former assistants. The first guy that has accepted a role with the San Francisco 49ears appears to be Stanford assistant Greg Roman according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Greg Roman has 12 years of experience coaching in the NFL having worked for the Carolina Panthers for seven years, Houston Texans for four years, and the Baltimore Ravens for two years. He was with Jim Harbaugh for two years at Stanford where he was responsible for the offensive success while coaching the tight ends and offensive tackles.

Roman did wonders with the offensive line for Stanford and coached them to be one of the best lines in the country. They gave up only seven sacks in the entire season and were the #11 team in the nation in rushing yards.

49ers Coaching Staff: Rumors Afloat of New Coaching Staff

Less than one week on the job and Jim Harbaugh has met with most of the assistants to discuss their future. Although, with the CBA in question, it could be a long time before the coaches actually coach the players Harbaugh is still getting a move on putting together his staff. Harbaugh has some options on his current staff that he may want to keep but all indications is that he told both of the current coordinators, Mike Johnson and Greg Manusky, that they are welcome to look for other coaching jobs because he would be looking elsewhere to fill their current roles.

Greg Manusky got his job search started off early last weekend when he interviewed for the Carolina Panthers’ head coaching job, which ultimately was given to Chargers’ defensive coordinator Ron Rivera. Manusky has also interviewed with the Arizona Cardinals and has an interview scheduled with the Dallas Cowboys to interview for defensive coordinator.

Manusky’s counterpart, Mike Johnson, has been busy looking for a job as well. According to BruinsNation.com, Mike Johnson has already found that new job as the new offensive coordinator for UCLA. Johnson was offered a job by Harbaugh to stay with the 49ers but it was not as the offensive coordinator. The report is very interesting since the current OC, Norm Chow, has not been fired but has reportedly agreed to a job with the Utah Utes.

There have been some rumors as to Harbaugh’s new assistants but nothing has been announced by the 49ers. It has been reported that Harbaugh is looking to bring both his offensive coordinator, David Shaw, and his defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, from Stanford to the 49ers. The 49ers is not Fangio’s only suitor though. According to Adam Schefter, Fangio has spoken to the Cowboys about their coordinator position and he is also thought to be in the running to replace Harbaugh at Stanford. David Shaw is also in the running to replace Harbaugh at Stanford.

Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee is reporting that former USF coach Jim Leavitt is being discussed as the new linebackers coach for the 49ers. Leavitt was fired last January for allegedly grabbing a player by the throat and then hitting him in the face. If Leavitt takes over as the linebackers coach that would likely leave current linebackers coach and longtime assistant Jason Tarver without a job. Tarver has been with the team since 2001 so I would assume that he could get another job with the team, maybe coaching another position.

I expect the 49ers to start offering the new assistants contracts and announcements by the team being made by the end of next week. I would think that Harbaugh would want his staff put together before the Senior Bowl.