Not everybody was excited about John Lynch accepting the job to be the 49ers new general manager. In fact, one member of Lynch’s family was downright distraught.
Lynch mentioned a funny anecdote to Mike Silver of NFL Network after his introductory press conference Thursday, revealing that his 9-year-old daughter cried when she found out her dad would be joining the 49ers’ front office.
“I think the toughest one — I haven’t told this yet to the media — all my kids took it really well,” Lynch told Silver. “They were shocked but they took it really well. My 9-year-old started bawling, and she’s not that girl. She’s the one that was always happy. And she was crying, and I said, ‘What’s wrong Leah? Are you afraid? Is there some nervous anxiety about moving?’ And she said, ‘No daddy,’ and she was sobbing. And I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ And she said, ‘The 49ers are horrible.’ So, I said, ‘Well, I think that’s why they hired your daddy.”
Leah’s perception of her dad’s new team is pretty consistent with reality, considering the 49ers are coming off a 2-14 season, and are fresh off hiring their third head coach in three years. Lynch’s job, along with new head coach Kyle Shanahan, will be to turn that perception around, and hopefully turn his daughter’s tears into a smile when she thinks about her dad’s team in the future.
Lynch on the other hand, seemed thrilled to be joining an organization he looked up to as a young man.
“I understood what a great organization this was,” Lynch said when reflecting on why he took the job. “I had the opportunity to play for [former 49ers Hall of Fame coach] Bill Walsh at Stanford and really just was enamored with the 49ers organization and all it stood for. [Former 49ers offensive coordinator] Mike Shanahan came, before that it was [former NFL head coach] Denny Green who was very involved in the 49ers and knew the 49er way. Mike Shanahan had spent time here and we talked about the standards of performance, all those things. And, that’s what I very much believe in.”