Former San Francisco 49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman announced recently that he will be stepping away from his NFL coaching job with the Los Angeles Chargers to focus on his son’s basketball career.
His son is a high-ranked basketball player, so Bowman said that he wants to be more involved in his journey as he goes forward.
Niners fans will remember that Bowman was once an elite linebacker in San Francisco. The four-time All-Pro was a huge part of San Francisco’s defense during the Jim Harbaugh years as he and Hall of Fame linebacker Patrick Willis formed arguably the most formidable linebacker tandem in the NFL.
Bowman’s finest moment in a 49ers uniform came during the last play in the history of Candlestick Park when he returned an interception for a touchdown in an absolutely perfect send-off to a stadium that had seen so much storied history.
He also had a not-so-happy moment in Niners history when he went down with a brutal knee injury against the Seattle Seahawks in the 2014 NFC Championship game on a play that should have resulted in San Francisco getting the ball but was not reviewable due to replay rules at the time.
Bowman survived briefly into the Kyle Shanahan era, but he was released during the 2017 season. He spent the rest of the year with the Raiders and that was the end of his NFL playing career.
The Penn State product took a little time to get into coaching. He joined the University of Maryland coaching staff in 2023 as a defensive analyst which makes sense since he is a Maryland native, and then he reunited with Harbaugh as a linebackers coach from 2024 to 2025.
He even had high praise for rookie 49ers linebacker Nick Martin after a preseason game between the Niners and the Chargers prior to the 2025 regular season.
For now, though, he will put coaching to the side to focus on his son which is an admirable decision. It would be pretty cool if his son goes on to do great things in the college or professional ranks.
Maybe he will get back into coaching someday and if he does it would make a ton of sense if it was with the Niners. There may be some bitter feelings with Shanahan since Bowman was released, but maybe a future regime would bring him into the fold.
We at Niner Noise wish the best of luck to Bowman in all of his future endeavors.