This February, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, will announce their 2026 Hall of Fame class, and on Tuesday they announced 12 coaching candidates.
That list included three former San Francisco 49ers coaches – George Seifert, Mike Shanahan and Mike Holmgren.
Seifert, 85, began coaching at Utah as a graduate assistant in 1964 and finally made the jump to the NFL as 49ers defensive backs coach in 1980. Four years later, he was promoted to defensive coordinator and six years after that, he was promoted again to head coach. In eight seasons as 49ers head coach, he led the team to a 98-30 record with seven playoff berths and two Super Bowl rings.
Shanahan, 73, started his coaching career in 1975 at Oklahoma as a graduate assistant. He made it to the NFL in 1984 as the Denver Broncos wide receivers coach, and nine years later, he joined the 49ers as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He served as offensive coordinator for three years before leaving in 1995 to run the Denver Broncos. The father of Kyle, San Francisco’s current head coach, won two Super Bowls with Denver and has been inducted into their Ring of Fame.
Holmgren, 77, began coaching at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco in 1971, moved to the college game at San Francisco State in 1981 before finally breaking into the NFL as the 49ers quarterbacks coach in 1986. He held that title for three seasons before adding offensive coordinator duties to his resume in 1989. In 1992, Holmgren left to coach the Green Bay Packers. He was the offensive coordinator for San Francisco’s 1988 and 1989 teams that both won Super Bowls, and he won another as head coach of the Packers.
Surrounded by a deep group of talented coaching candidates, it will be interesting to see if any of the three are finally inducted next year.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Trio of former 49ers coaches named candidates for Pro Football Hall of Fame
Reporting by Mike Masala, Niners Wire / Niners Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
