Coaches And Staff

With over 15 years of NFL experience under his belt with championship caliber teams, Scot McCloughan enters his third season as the General Manager of the 49ers. Prior to assuming his role in 2008, he served the previous three years as the team’s Vice President of Player Personnel.

“Scot McCloughan is just the man we need guiding the personnel decisions of this franchise,” said team President Jed York. “He’s a cool customer who handles pressure situations well. His pedigree is that of a true football man. Scot has been an integral part of championship teams in the past, and we are confident that he will be a part of another one here with the 49ers in the near future.”

As the man in charge of the 49ers roster, McCloughan not only decides which players come and go through the doors of the team’s practice facility, but he also oversees the management of the team’s salary cap and player contracts. While working hand-in-hand with Head Coach Mike Singletary, McCloughan translates the needs of the 49ers coaching staff into a plan of attack for building the roster.

Under his direction in 2009, the 49ers netted arguably the most explosive player in the NFL Draft in WR Michael Crabtree with the 10th overall pick. McCloughan later engineered a draft-day trade providing the 49ers a second first-round draft pick in the 2010 draft from the Carolina Panthers, in return for the team’s second and fourth round picks in 2009, 43rd and 111th overall, respectively.

Upon his arrival in San Francisco from his former post as the Director of College Scouting for the Seattle Seahawks, McCloughan had just over two months to devise a plan for the 2005 free agency period and the NFL Draft. Along with his tireless routine of preparation, McCloughan possesses an acute memory. It served him well heading into his first draft in San Francisco, where he had to put together a draft board based on the needs of a team he barely knew.

In 2005, 10 of the team’s 11 draft picks made the roster, including one of the best third-round finds in recent years, RB Frank Gore. Gore went on to be selected a starter on the NFC’s Pro Bowl squad the following year.

In 2006, McCloughan also led a strong draft campaign, making a trade with Denver to acquire a second pick in the first round. It enabled the 49ers to tag TE Vernon Davis with the sixth overall pick and LB Manny Lawson with the 22nd overall selection. Both 2007 first round picks played an immediate role, with LB Patrick Willis earning Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the year honors and a Pro Bowl berth, while T Joe Staley started all 16 games at right tackle without missing a snap. Willis followed up his standout rookie season with his second straight Pro Bowl and Staley once again started every game of the 2008 season, this time at left tackle.

Heading the 49ers personnel department enabled him to return to the Bay Area, where his football roots began. The year McCloughan was born in San Leandro, CA was his father Kent’s final year playing in the NFL. Kent was a standout cornerback for the Oakland Raiders from 1965-70, and was part of the 1967 Super Bowl II squad. Immediately after his final season, Kent began scouting for the Raiders, discovering talented collegiate players around the country from the family’s new home in Loveland, CO.

Respected NFL executive Ron Wolf was a member of the scouting department in Oakland at the time and brought Kent on board to bolster the department. Young Scot joined his father for film sessions at the house and even traveled as his dad’s sidekick on trips around the area. He watched, learned and took notes.

Football was life in the McCloughan household, and the environment quickly ceded Scot into a standout on the football team as a running back, safety and return man. He was also a star baseball player, earning a scholarship to play at Wichita State, where he contributed in two collegiate World Series as a designated hitter and third-baseman.

McCloughan went on to play minor league baseball for three years in the Toronto Blue Jays organization before football beckoned him once again. It was then that Wolf re-entered the picture, this time, recruiting Kent’s son to join his scouting staff in Green Bay in 1994.

McCloughan went on to comb the Midlands region for college talent for three years before he took over a slot in the Southeast territory. During that span, he was part of two Packers’ Super Bowl teams, including the 1996 championship squad who defeated New England in Super Bowl XXXI. In just five short years, he made an impressive name for himself and Seattle hired him as their Director of College Scouting.

“He’s very good at what he does and has a tremendous desire to improve,” Wolf said. “He has an exceptional eye for talent.”

Some of his early picks, like St. Louis G Adam Timmerman, Green Bay’s seventh-round selection out of South Dakota State in 1995, turned out to be hidden gems. Timmerman went on to post a Pro Bowl career.

In Seattle, McCloughan’s efforts came to fruition when the Seahawks won the NFC Championship in 2005 and made a trip to Super Bowl XL in Detroit to play the Pittsburgh Steelers. On that roster, 25 of the 28 draft picks on McCloughan’s draft scroll were still on the team when he left his post to join the 49ers in 2005.

“I think Scot is one of the bright young talents in this League. I fought like crazy to keep him here,” Seattle Head Coach Mike Holmgren said at the time of McCloughan’s departure.

The McCloughan scouting pedigree likewise matriculated to his older brother, David, who shares Scot’s innate ability to unearth football talent. He also came to San Francisco in 2005 and serves as the 49ers Director of College Scouting.

McCloughan and his wife, Kelli, have a son, Caden, and twin girls, Adison and Avery. The family resides in Los Gatos, CA.