Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay in his ninth year in his current role, but before that, he spent seven seasons in Washington, and the the first four of those seasons were spent working under current San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
McVay started with Washington in 2010 as an offensive assistant under Shanahan, who was the team’s offensive coordinator at the time. McVay moved up to tight ends coach in 2011 before taking over Shanahan’s role when he left for Atlanta.
Ahead of Los Angeles’ Week 10 matchup with San Francisco, their second of the year, Shanahan was asked about his time working with McVay, and he took the time to reflect.
“Sean was awesome,” Shanahan said. “I remember my dad and I interviewing him and he killed it. My dad was more impressed with it. I thought he was doing a Jon Gruden impersonation the whole time. But obviously, I’m just joking. I was impressed too, but I had the same job that Sean had for Gruden. So, what I did for Jon for two years, I think after me was [Green Bay Packers defensive assistant] Nate Hackett, and then after Nate I think was Sean. So, we both had the same background, so it was cool to watch and interview him, know where he was coming from, and then he was unbelievable with the stuff.
“The pictures always have the most access to the coordinator, the guy who you spend the most time with and stuff. But, he didn’t last long there. I remember our tight end coach, [Miami Dolphins assistant head coach/tight ends coach] Jon Embree got the head coach job at Colorado. I think it was like by Week 14 that I lost my picture drawer and we made him the tight end coach.”
Since the two became head coaches, they have faced off 18 times, with San Francisco winning 11 of those meetings, including their Week 5, Thursday night matchup 26-23 in overtime. Despite those intense battles over the years, it’s clear that both men have respect and admiration for each other.
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