T
he San Francisco 49ers are enjoying a very strong start to the 2025 NFL season, holding a 5-2 record through the first seven games. Even with all the injuries that have plagued their roster throughout the season, the 49ers have still found ways to win and are right in the thick of the NFC playoff hunt. So far, everything is going right for the 49ers on the field.
And off the field, the 49ers are receiving the highest possible praise, with three of their former coaches named among the 12 coaching finalists for Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. And of their three former coaches, one of those is a former 49ers head coach– Super Bowl champion, George Seifert.
The 49ers Coaches on the List
Seifert is the lone former 49ers head coach to make the list, but former assistants– Mike Shanahan and Mike Holmgren– are also finalists. Shanahan served as the 49ers offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 1992-94, wining a Super Bowl title with the 49ers in 1994. As a head coach for the Denver Broncos, Shanahan won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998. After his dismissal from the Broncos following the 2008 season, Shanahan returned to coaching in 2010 and finished his career as the head coach of the then-Washington Redskins, serving as the team’s coach until 2013.
A native of San Francisco, Holmgren served as the 49ers’ quarterbacks coach from 1986-88 before earning the title of offensive coordinator in 1989, a role he served in until 1991. Holmgren then put together two legendary head coaching tenures– as the Green Bay Packers coach from 1992-98 and as the Seattle Seahawks head coach from 1999-2008.
Seifert, also a San Francisco native, started as the 49ers’ defensive backs coach (1980-82) before his promotion to defensive coordinator under Bill Walsh (1983-88). During his time as an assistant, he won three Super Bowls before his promotion to replace Walsh as head coach prior to the 1989 campaign. Serving as the 49ers coach through the 1996 season, Seifert’s 49ers’ were as dominant as ever, making the playoffs in every season but one (1991) and winning two Super Bowls.
How Many of the Finalists Make It In?
The coaching finalists group for this year is a very strong one, but in the end, only one will make it in. Next month, a blue-ribbon committee will reduce the field from 12 finalists down to nine and then after that, they will vote on one finalist out of the remaining nine. The one coach that is selected will then be among the official finalists that are on the Hall of Fame ballot for the class of 2026. Last year, Holmgren was the one finalist selected but fell short of induction by one vote.
The coach that is selected is grouped with one contributor and three seniors candidates. Between one and three of the five finalists will make it to the Hall of Fame depending on the votes– needing at least 80% of the votes from the committee to make it in.
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