49ers General Manager John Lynch said last week that he wants to build stronger relationships with the team’s former players, but one longtime member of the organization is on his way out.
Tom Rathman played fullback for eight seasons in the 1980s and 1990s and has had two stints as an assistant coach with the team, including the last eight years as the team’s running backs coach. Bobby Turner joined head coach Kyle Shanahan in the move from Atlanta to fill that position, although Shanahan said he hoped to find a way to keep Rathman around.
Rathman said Sunday that he will be moving on, however.
“I’m not going to be back,” Rathman said, via Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area. “I feel like it’s the best for everybody if I just parted and let those guys do their thing and take me out of the equation so that nobody’s uncomfortable. I’m looking to coach running backs and that’s what I want to do. I’m just going to wait for the next opportunity and go for it when it happens.”
Rathman said there were “no hard feelings” about his departure and that he knows it may be late in the game to land a job for the 2017 season, which may mean a year off before he’s able to resume his coaching career.