The 49ers on Monday announced the hiring of former long-time Seattle Seahawks assistant Brian Schneider to serve as special teams coordinator.
Schneider, 50, fills the vacancy created when Richard Hightower was not retained on Kyle Shanahan's coaching staff after special teams had an up-and-down season.
The addition of Scheider was among 14 hirings and promotions that Shanahan announced on his staff.
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On offense, Chris Foerster was promoted to offensive line/run game coordinator and Bobby Slowik was promoted to passing game coordinator offense.
The 49ers promoted Brian Fleury to tight ends coach, replacing Jon Embree, and Leonard Hankerson moves into the wide receivers position, following Wes Welker.
The 49ers also officially announced the hirings of Anthony Lynn to assistant head coach/running backs, as he takes over for Bobby Turner, who is stepping aside for a season, and Brian Griese as quarterbacks coach. Griese was hired after Rich Scangarello left the 49ers to become offensive coordinator at Kentucky.
The team also announced the hirings of Stephen Adegoke (defensive quality control), James Cregg and Joe Graves (assistant offensive line), Klay Kubiak (assistant quarterbacks), Asauni Rufus and Deuce Schwartz (offensive quality control) and Nick Sorensen (defensive assistant).
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Hightower was hired for the role of special teams coordinator on Matt Eberflus’ staff with the Chicago Bears on Feb. 6 -- just one week after the 49ers' lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game.
Schneider and Shanahan spent the 2003 season at UCLA, where Shanahan was a graduate assistant. Schneider worked three seasons at UCLA, coaching special teams, safeties and linebackers.
Schneider spent two seasons with the Raiders as special teams coordinator before moving on to USC. He followed Pete Carroll to the Seahawks, where he worked for 11 seasons and won a Super Bowl.
Schneider stepped down in September 2020 for personal reasons. He accepted a job with the Jacksonville Jaguars last year but stepped down four months later, again citing personal reasons.
RELATED: Legendary assistant Turner steps away from 49ers' coaching staff
Schneider takes over a 49ers special-teams unit that struggled through much of the 2021 season. However, special teams played a major role in the 49ers’ 13-10 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.
The 49ers blocked field goal at the end of the first half to keep the score close. In the fourth quarter, Jordan Willis blocked and punt an Talanoa Hufanga returned it for a game-tying touchdown. Then, Robbie Gould connected on a 45-yard game-winning field goal as time expired to send the 49ers to the NFC Championship game.