Anthony Lynn, San Francisco 49ers assistant head coach/running backs coach, talks with reporters during Super Bowl LVIII Opening Night at Allegiant Stadium Monday, Feb. 5, 2024.
Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 | 2 a.m.
With the hustle and bustle going around him inside Allegiant Stadium, Anthony Lynn is a quiet presence getting a lot of attention.
He's getting approached left and right by friends whom he's known for years, asking him about his family and kids, as well as life in San Francisco.
Lynn was relaxed like his outfit of choice on Monday: a black sweater vest with pressed denim jeans and cowboy boots. There’s nothing special to it, but if he could wear boots on the sidelines coaching an NFL team, he would.
Any football coach has the aspiration to be an NFL head coach. Lynn knows his time isn’t now, and that’s understandable. He relishes his current role as the running backs coach for the San Francisco 49ers. You won’t find Lynn complaining one bit about coaching NFL MVP candidate Christian McCaffrey on a daily basis.
“You have to have patience in anything you do,” Lynn said. “When it’s your time, that’s when you know the patience will pay off.”
Super Bowl 58, taking place in Las Vegas on Sunday, is sort of a homecoming of sorts for the 55-year-old former running back.
Lynn graduated from UNLV in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies. He reached that goal while he was the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Working while going to school can be daunting in itself. Doing so while coaching an NFL team is another level of challenging.
The 49ers have practiced this week at the Fertitta Football Complex on UNLV’s campus, which makes the experience even better for Lynn.
Lynn credited the department for being very understanding and working around his schedule, considering he said he was only on campus a handful of times. But it was still a worthy experience that he still takes pride in.
“It just makes me appreciate the professors that helped me reach my ultimate goal,” Lynn said. “They were outstanding, helping me work around my schedule. Sometimes, it was even on the weekends, coming in on their off days (to help me).”
Lynn’s degree came prior to his second year with the Chargers, where they went 12-4 and reached the Divisional Round before losing to the New England Patriots. After going 21-11 in his first two years, Lynn went 12-20 and was fired after the 2020 season.
Lynn was a member of the Denver Broncos that went back-to-back in 1997 and 1998. Though he was a depth player while Hall-of-Fame running back Terrell Davis was running the show in the Mile High City, Lynn has found his calling as a coach for the last two decades, primarily spending time as a running backs coach.
That route led him to San Francisco last season after spending 2021 as the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense is designed for the running game to be the focal point, hence why San Francisco had the third-best rushing attack in the league this year.
“It’s important to be with a winning organization. That helps,” Lynn said. “I do think we learn from our failures and other opportunities, as well.”
McCaffrey is the main reason behind that. The MVP finalist said when he was traded to San Francisco from Carolina last season, there were some nerves in moving to a contender, but excitement given how the 49ers run the ball.
Having a coach like Lynn, McCaffrey said, was also a plus.
“He has such a smart mind for the game,” McCaffrey said. “There’s a reason why he was a head coach once before. He knows how to get the most out of the group and put myself and everyone else in the best spots to succeed.”
Lynn said there’s no feeling like being part of a championship-winning team. The Broncos teams in the late ‘90s were the perfect example, he said, of a team coming together at the right time to win. Denver’s two Super Bowl victories were the final two years of quarterback John Elway’s career with the goal to win for the Hall-of-Fame quarterback.
The 49ers don’t have that story, but they are trying to win their first Super Bowl since 1994. Since then, they’ve been to the Super Bowl twice and lost both times, including to these same Kansas City Chiefs in 2020.
Given his contributions to this 49ers team, this one has the potential to be sweeter.
“Just the way this team is built, the way this team is coached, it’s been a great experience for me,” Lynn said. “A place that I can come to after 22 years and still evolve. I feel selfish that I can still come in and learn a lot.”
