SANTA CLARA – Coach Kyle Shanahan is moving on to his fourth defensive coordinator in five years, announcing Wednesday that he has fired Steve Wilks after one season.
Wilks was hired a year ago to replace DeMeco Ryans, who left to become the Houston Texans’ coach after two seasons as the defensive coordinator. Ryans replaced Robert Saleh, who was Shanahan’s initial defensive coordinator and just finished his third season as the New York Jets’ coach.
“Once I realized a different direction was best, it’s what I had to do,” Shanahan said on a media conference call an hour after relieving Wilks of his role.
Shanahan said the team will consider both internal and external candidates. Shanahan said all remaining defensive assistants will “have a chance,” and among them are Kris Kocurek (defensive line), Daniel Bullocks (secondary) and Johnny Holland (linebackers).
Wilks came aboard after serving as the Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator and, later, as their interim coach last year. His 49ers tenure seemed in jeopardy by midseason, when Shanahan had him move from the coaches’ booth to the sideline after a three-game losing streak.
Wilks’ firing comes three days after Super Bowl LVIII, where the 49ers allowed a game-winning touchdown drive in overtime of their 25-22 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Shanahan did not give Wilks a glowing endorsement in Tuesday’s year-end press conference but said he still needed to talk to him. That conversation went down Wednesday morning.
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“He’s done a great job with that back end (the secondary),” defensive end Nick Bosa said Tuesday, before adding: “Obviously we had some issues this year throughout the year but that’s part of a full NFL season. We were playing our best ball at the end of the end.”
Wilks stepped into a 49ers defense that had been successful under Saleh and Ryans and admitted it was a bit bumpy at the beginning of the season but, like Bosa, felt that they had settled into a much better place over the end of the season.
“You’ve got to be confident and in the same token you’ve got to be humble,” he said last week of the challenge of stepping into the role. “Humble to relinquish what you know and what you’ve been accustomed to doing and saying, ‘I’m open to learn what you guys are doing,’ and not to be able to bring in anybody into a staff and build trust amongst those guys, which we did.”
Former NFL head coaches with defensive backgrounds who could be appealing candidates include Mike Vrabel (Tennessee Titans) and Brandon Staley (Los Angeles Chargers). Bill Belichick (Patriots) and Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks) meet those criteria, too, but may be less likely candidates after extended runs as head coaches.
This offseason’s staff shakeups include these assistants leaving for posts elsewhere, according to Shanahan: pass-game coordinator Klint Kubiak (now New Orleans Saints’ offensive coordinator), defensive line assistant Darryl Tapp (now Washington Commanders’ defensive line coach), offensive line assistant James Cregg (now Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive line coach), and running backs assistant/associate head coach Anthony Lynn (now Commanders run-game coordinator).
