There have been 19 head coaches in the history of theSan Francisco 49ers professionalfootball franchise. The San Francisco 49ers franchise was formed in 1946 as a charter member of theAll-America Football Conference (AAFC) before joining theNational Football League (NFL) in 1950 after the AAFC merger with the NFL.Buck Shaw became the first head coach of the 49ers in 1946, serving for nine seasons—four in the AAFC and five in the NFL.^[1] He coached a number of futureCollege andPro Football Hall of Famers, such asFrankie Albert,Joe Perry,Leo Nomellini,Y. A. Tittle,Bob St. Clair andHugh McElhenny.^[2]

In terms of tenure,Bill Walsh has coached more games (152) and more complete seasons (10) than any other head coach in 49ers franchise history. He led the 49ers to playoff appearances in seven seasons, three of which led to theSuper Bowl championship, in1981,1984 and1988.^[3]Jerry Rice,Joe Montana,Charles Haley,Ronnie Lott,Johnny Davis,Roger Craig,Fred Dean andSteve Young are among the players Walsh has coached in his career.^[a][4][5][6]

Four 49ers coaches—Dick Nolan, Bill Walsh,George Seifert, andJim Harbaugh—have been namedcoach of the year by at least one major news organization.^[7] Walsh,Jack Christiansen andMike Singletary are the only 49ers coaches currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.Walsh was selected for his coaching contributions. Singletary and Christiansen were voted into the Hall of Fame primarily for their defensive play. Four times in 49ers history has there been an "interim" head coach. Three games into the 1963 season, coachRed Hickey resigned and was replaced by Jack Christiansen. Christiansen coached the 49ers to a 2–9 record in the remainder of the season^[8] and came back to coach the team for four more years. In 1978,Pete McCulley was fired after coaching the 49ers to a 1–8 record.^[9] He was replaced byoffensive coordinatorFred O'Connor, who was himself fired after leading the 49ers to one win in their final seven games.^[10] After a 2–5 start to the 2008 season,Mike Nolan was fired and replaced byMike Singletary,^[11] who finished the season 5–4 and became the official head coach following that season. After a 5–10 start to the 2010 season, Mike Singletary was fired and replaced byJim Tomsula for the final 49ers game of the 2010 season.^[12]Stanford University head coachJim Harbaugh succeeded Tomsula as head coach in January 2011,^[13] and led the franchise to the NFC Championship Game, where the 49ers lost in overtime to theNew York Giants.^[14] The following season, the 49ers reachedSuper Bowl XLVII, where they faced off against theBaltimore Ravens, coached by Jim's older brotherJohn Harbaugh. The 49ers trailed by as many as 22 points during the game, but ultimately lost 34–31 to the Ravens; the 49ers losing a Super Bowl for the first time.

Note: Statistics updated through Week 9 of the2025 NFL season.

#	Image	Name	Term	Regular season					Playoffs			Awards	Reference
				GC	W	L	T	Win%[b]	GC	W	L
1		Buck Shaw	1946–1954	114	71	39	4	.640	2	1	1		[1]
2		Red Strader	1955	12	4	8	0	.333	—	—	—		[15]
3		Frankie Albert*	1956–1958*	36	19	16	1	.542	1	0	1		[16]
4		Red Hickey*	1959–1963*[c]	55	27	27	1	.500	—	—	—		[17]
5		Jack Christiansen ‡*	1963–1967*[c]	67	26	38	3	.410	—	—	—		[18]
6		Dick Nolan	1968–1975	112	54	53	5	.504	5	2	3	1970 Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year[7]	[19]
7		Monte Clark	1976	14	8	6	0	.571	—	—	—		[20]
8		Ken Meyer*	1977*	14	5	9	0	.357	—	—	—		[21]
9		Pete McCulley*	1978[d]*	9	1	8	0	.111	—	—	—		[22]
10		Fred O'Connor*	1978[d]*	7	1	6	0	.143	—	—	—		[23]
11		Bill Walsh †*	1979–1988*	152	92	59	1	.609	14	10	4	1981 Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year 1981 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year 1981 Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year 1981 UPI NFL Coach of the Year 1984 UPI NFL Coach of the Year[7]	[24]
12		George Seifert	1989–1996	128	98	30	0	.766	15	10	5	1989 Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year 1990 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year 1994 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year[7]	[25]
13		Steve Mariucci	1997–2002	96	57	39	0	.594	7	3	4		[26]
14		Dennis Erickson	2003–2004	32	9	23	0	.281	—	—	—		[27]
15		Mike Nolan*	2005–2008*[e]	55	18	37	0	.327	—	—	—		[28]
16		Mike Singletary ‡*	2008–2010*[e][f]	40	18	22	0	.450	—	—	—		[29]
17		Jim Tomsula*	2010*[f]	1	1	0	0	1.000	—	—	—		[30]
18		Jim Harbaugh	2011–2014	64	44	19	1	.695	8	5	3	2011 Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year 2011 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year	[31]
–		Jim Tomsula*	2015*	16	5	11	0	.313	—	—	—		[30]
19		Chip Kelly	2016	16	2	14	0	.125	—	—	—		[32]
20		Kyle Shanahan	2017–present*	141	76	65	0	.539	12	8	4	2019 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year	[33]

• ^aJoe Montana,Fred Dean,Steve Young andRonnie Lott are all Hall of Fame players who were coached byBill Walsh at some point during their career.Charles Haley, who is now a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was selected to fivePro Bowls in his 14-year career.^[34]Roger Craig, coached by Walsh from 1983 to 1988, was a four-time Pro Bowl selection.^[35] Another one of Walsh's players,wide receiverJerry Rice, who played from 1985 to 2004, holds NFL records in receptions, receiving yards, touchdown receptions, all-purpose yards and total touchdowns.^[36][37][38]
• ^b Thewinning percentage is calculated using the formula: ${\displaystyle \frac{Wins+\frac{1}{2}Ties}{Games}}$
• ^c On September 30, 1963, three games into the season, coachRed Hickey resigned and was replaced byJack Christiansen. Christiansen coached the 49ers to two wins in the 11 remaining games in the season. He coached the 49ers for another four seasons.^[8]
• ^d Midway through the 1978 season, head coachPete McCulley was fired after leading the 49ers to a 1–8 record.^[9] He was replaced by hisoffensive coordinatorFred O'Connor, who was himself fired after coaching the 49ers to a 1–6 record during the remainder of the season.^[10]
• ^e Midway through the 2008 season,Mike Nolan was fired after leading the 49ers to a 2–5 record. He was replaced by his assistant head coach of defense,Mike Singletary.
• ^f Before the final game of the 2010 season,Mike Singletary was fired after leading the 49ers to a 5–10 record. He was replaced by his defensive line coach,Jim Tomsula. Following the season, Tomsula returned to his defensive line coaching position andJim Harbaugh was hired as the new head coach.

• San Francisco 49ers head coaches
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