San Francisco 49ers assistant head coach and offensive line coach Chris Foerster spoke with reporters for the first time since learning he would serve as the team's interim head coach while Kyle Shanahan recovers from injuries sustained in a recent car accident.

Foerster revealed the message Shanahan delivered to him after the decision to make Foerster the team's temporary acting head coach.


"I had the one conversation, and I think what he said to me was, 'Hey, you do whatever you want. I have a lot of confidence in you. You know how we do things. You do whatever you want to do, and if you don't want to do it, delegate it to somebody else, man,'" Foerster said. "He said, 'You do what you feel is right and lead that way.' And he said, 'I trust that anything you want to do, and anything you want to delegate, delegate.'"

Foerster also explained that he did not learn he would be the interim head coach until the 49ers publicly announced Shanahan's situation.

Shanahan's accident occurred on July 14, but the 49ers did not disclose the incident until 11 days later on Saturday. That was when Foerster officially learned he would be the person temporarily leading the team.

"When did the statement come out?" Foerster asked reporters. "That's when I saw my name. That's when I saw my name. I knew that we'd all have to pick up the slack. We didn't know [how long it would take Shanahan to recover]. You just don't know. Every day, the thing could flip, and he can do more and more, so we just don't know how it's going to be.

"So, when I saw my name on it, I said, 'Oh, okay, it's going to be that.' But it was going to be the group effort. We always knew that. We were talking for days before. 'What if he couldn't do it?' [Offensive coordinator] Klay [Kubiak], Kyle, [defensive coordinator] Raheem [Morris], [special teams coordinator Brant] Boyer, and I, we were all talking about how we could fill in the blanks if needed.


"And then, yesterday, they said, 'You're going to be doing the presser.' I said, 'Well, I don't think I'm doing the pressers.' And then, well, here I am."

Foerster said he is excited for the opportunity to help the team and is prepared to embrace the additional responsibility for as long as the 49ers need him.

"I love the opportunity to help," Foerster said. "My thing, what I learned a long, long time ago, I believe leadership is you serve in leadership. You help people by serving, and servant leadership is any way I can help. Any way I can help Kyle, any way I can help the 49ers, any way I can help [GM] John Lynch, any way I can help my players, any way I can help you guys. Anything I can do to help, that's where I get a charge out of life."

Foerster also opened up about learning the severity of Shanahan's injuries, which included a broken nose, three broken ribs, a broken hand, more than 40 stitches to his face, and a severe concussion.

The longtime coach admitted the news was difficult to process because of his close relationship with Shanahan.


"The thing is, he's family to me," Foerster said, trying not to get too emotional. "This whole organization. I've known Kyle for a long time. He's one of my best friends in the world, by far ... He and his wife, Mandy, are like family to me. This organization did some things for me and pulled me in at a time in my life when nobody would really want to be with me. And Kyle, along with John and the whole York family, have stood by me, and that loyalty is never going to be forgotten.

"He's a close, close friend, and it scares the crap out of you when something like this happens to somebody so close."

As the 49ers navigate Shanahan's absence, Foerster's leadership and the team's experienced coaching staff will be relied upon to maintain continuity during training camp.

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