When Brian Griese agreed to join the 49ers’ coaching staff for the 2022 season, he gave head coach Kyle Shanahan a three-year commitment.
Griese’s profile as the team’s quarterbacks coach rose in those three years, especially for elevating Brock Purdy from Mr. Irrelevant status to franchise QB, and his performance even landed him on the Jets’ head coaching candidates list this offseason.
Yet, in a stunner, Griese turned down an interview offer from the Jets and then walked away from his role in San Francisco.
Ultimately, family triumphed over football.
“When he committed, kind of an outside-the-box thing that Kyle had always thought of Griese, man, he’d be a great coach and he approached him,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “I think Griese was in a different world and he had given it some thought on the front end and at the time he gave us a three-year commitment. He’s a very principled guy … family and certain other things. I don’t want to speak for Brian, but other things were pulling at him and respect that he made a tough decision but one he thought was best for him and his family.”
The football vs. family debate is one Griese had battled during his time with the 49ers, with the former 11-year NFL quarterback debating whether to call it quits after the 2022 season.
Griese’s family resided in Denver at that time, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
“It’s not the easiest thing in the world to be away from them,” Griese told the outlet in June 2023.
Griese ultimately made good on those three years, but he’s now taking a break, while it remains to be seen if it’s temporary or for good.
Lynch did not shut down the idea of a reunion in the future, should Griese want to get back into the coaching ranks.
That the Jets had him on their list showed Griese’s status as a rising assistant, which possibly could have led to a coordinator role in the near future.
Mick Lombardi will replace Griese for the upcoming season after serving as a senior offensive assistant.
“We had good conversations. It’s all good,” Lynch said. “It was just a family decision that he made.”
If Griese is done with coaching, it’s possible he could look into commentating again after serving as an analyst for “Monday Night Football” for the 2020 and ’21 seasons.
A third-round pick of the Broncos in 1998, Griese won a Super Bowl that season and also played for the Dolphins, Buccaneers and Bears in his career.