SAN FRANCISCO — Offensive assistant Katie Sowers will not be returning to the San Francisco 49ers in 2021 after becoming the first female coach to make it to the Super Bowl last year.
A person familiar with the situation says the 34-year-old Sowers will be leaving coach Kyle Shanahan’s staff, where she worked closely with receivers coach Wes Welker. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team hadn’t made an announcement.
Sowers was part of San Francisco’s staff that went to the Super Bowl last season and was featured in a prominent Microsoft commercial thanking her for knocking down doors for other women.
Sowers has been an offensive assistant coach with the 49ers since 2017. She is only the second woman in history to hold a full-time, NFL coaching position. Kathryn Smith became the first when she was hired as a full-time quality control coach with the Buffalo Bills in 2016.
Sowers has a master's degree in kinesiology, which helps immensely when it comes to coaching professional athletes. Kinesiology is the study of movement, and since Sowers is surrounded by movement as player rush, pass, and tackle each other to the ground, she has the ability to understand the very principles of that movement.
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