The San Francisco 49ers hired Kyle Shanahan as the franchise's head coach in 2017, but the Niners nearly added a pair of Shanahans in 2015.

In an interview on The Athletic's “The TK Show” podcast on Friday, 49ers CEO Jed York admitted that in an interview with former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan, following the mutual parting of ways with Jim Harbaugh, York pitched the idea of hiring the Shanahans as a father-son duo with Kyle taking over for Mike after four years.

“Mike was clearly the most talented guy that we talked to,” York said. “But part of it, and I think his experience with Kyle in Washington was a great father-son experience, but they obviously had some issues with the media and that didn't end well for them.

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“When you talk about longevity, I was hoping for something that can have a 10, 20, 25-year coaching relationship, which was probably not going to be the case with Mike Shanahan at that point in his career. And part of the conversations was about Kyle and was Kyle somebody that you'd want to bring with you and then maybe take over in four years? Is there somebody else from your coaching tree? And that's kind of where things didn't materialize.”

York and the 49ers decided to hire defensive line coach Jim Tomsula, who failed terribly in his lone season as the team's head coach. Tomsula went 5-11 and was replaced by Chip Kelly, who was also fired after one year with the franchise.

The Niners, of course, then cleaned house and hired Kyle Shanahan just two years after floating the idea of hiring him and his father. York and the 49ers are presumably very happy with how things turned out.