Erickson adds familiar face to coaching staff
February 19, 2003
New 49ers coach Dennis Erickson continued to fill out his coaching staff Tuesday when he hired Greg McMackin as linebackers coach and retained two members of Steve Mariucci's staff.
McMackin, 53, most recently at Texas Tech, is an Erickson guy, having been with him at the University of Miami in 1993-94 and at Seattle as the Seahawks' defensive coordinator from 1995-98. With the 49ers, McMackin's title will be associate head coach/defense.
"He's a great coach," said linebacker Jeff Ulbrich, who had McMackin as his position coach at Hawaii. "He's the kind of guy you love to play for. He cares about his players. I think all of our guys are going to enjoy having him around."
Retained from Mariucci's staff were conditioning guru Jerry Attaway and strength coach Terrell Jones. That brings to eight the number of Mariucci's assistants that Erickson has kept, including defensive coordinator Jim Mora, offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and secondary coach Brett Maxie.
To complete his staff, Erickson still needs to hire coaches for the wide receivers, running backs, defensive line and special teams. One of Erickson's assistants at Oregon State, Al Simmons, might be brought in to coach cornerbacks.
In his most recent posting as Texas Tech's defensive coordinator, McMackin had a unit that ranked No. 1 in the Big 12 in pass defense and No. 4 in total defense. The Red Raiders were among the top 25 teams nationally in total defense.
McMackin had been at Texas Tech since the 2000 season. Prior to that he coached at Arizona, San Jose State, Stanford, Miami and Hawaii in addition to his four years with the Seahawks.
The 49ers also signed two players on Tuesday, wide receiver Aaron Lockett from their practice squad and tight end Gabriel Crecion, a first-year player from UCLA.
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