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By Ellis Williams
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Troy Aikman knows where he would start a coaching search if he ever got the chance to run an NFL team. He would call San Francisco about Kyle Shanahan.
The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback named the coach of the 49ers (7-1) during his Thursday appearance on The Musers on Dallas radio station The Ticket. Aikman was answering questions about his own front-office ambitions, not announcing a job or a move by the Cowboys.
“How much is it going to take to get Kyle Shanahan?” Aikman said, in remarks reported by Awful Announcing. “Because I think he's that good.”
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Aikman praised San Francisco's discipline and physical play, along with the way its best players enforce standards in the locker room. His choice was not new. He had also singled out Shanahan as a coach he would want to hire in 2022.
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There is no vacancy in San Francisco. Shanahan, hired in February 2017, received a multiyear extension in September, NFL Network reported. Aikman's answer concerned what he would ask for in a hypothetical search, not an agreement to bring Shanahan elsewhere.
Shanahan's team is coming off a 38-17 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders and visits Dallas on Sunday. The matchup gives the Cowboys a close look at the team Aikman admires, with San Francisco having lost only once through its first eight games.
The 49ers went 12-5 last season and beat Philadelphia in the wild-card round. Those 12 regular-season victories brought Shanahan's career total to 82, third among coaches in franchise history. San Francisco won six of its final seven regular-season games to get there.
His offense led the NFL on third down in 2025, converting 49.8% of its chances. The 49ers also finished fifth in passing yards per game and 10th in scoring, averaging 25.7 points. They produced those numbers while splitting starts between quarterbacks Brock Purdy and Mac Jones.
Purdy started nine games and threw 20 touchdown passes. Jones started the other eight, helping San Francisco win five of them while completing 69.6% of his passes. Running back Christian McCaffrey contributed 2,126 yards from scrimmage and 17 total touchdowns.
Aikman's own experience includes three Super Bowl championships in 12 seasons with Dallas. The 2006 Hall of Fame inductee threw for 32,942 yards and 165 touchdowns before retiring after the 2000 season. He earned Super Bowl XXVII MVP honors with four touchdown passes in a 52-17 victory over Buffalo. Dallas selected him first overall in the 1989 draft, and he made six Pro Bowls.
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