The San Francisco 49ers and owner Jed York are wasting no time interviewing potential candidates to fill the recently vacated shoes of Jim Harbaugh, and the most recent high-profile interviewee is a familiar name to longtime Niners fans and football fans in general: Mike Shanahan.

Shanahan was spotted in town over the weekend — one eager fan snapped his photo at Chevy's in SoMa, as CBS 5 shows us — and NFL.com reports that Shanahan, 62, was in fact here interviewing with the 49ers for the head coach job.

Shanahan worked for the 49ers from 1992 to 1994 as offensive coordinator, coaching the team to their 1995 Super Bowl win. He then landed the job as head coach of the Denver Broncos, setting an NFL record for wins of 46-10 in a three-year span between 1996 and 1998 and leading the team to two consecutive Super Bowl victories in '97 and '98. Most recently he served as head coach for the Washington Redskins and had a much more lackluster record, getting fired after the 2013 season when the team finished with a 3-13 record.

York has made it known that he wants a "teacher" as the next head coach, according to NinersNation, and he also wants someone who will be around for the next decade. With that latter criteria in mind, the team is also said to be interviewing Shanahan's son, Kyle Shanahan, who's currently offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns.

With Shanahan's name on the list and more guys heading to SF for interviews this week, as SBNation reports, the shortlist for the 49ers head coaching gig looks like this, as of now, via Twitter rumors, etc.:

  • Rex Ryan, the recently fired head coach of the New York Jets.
  • Teryl Austin, defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions.
  • Adam Gase, offensive coordinator for the Broncos, who the Denver Post reports just hired a high-powered agent to help him land a head coaching job, and who just interviewed with the 49ers on Friday.
  • Gary Kubiak, current offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens and former coach of the Houston Texans.
  • Todd Bowles, defensive coordinator for the Cardinals.
  • Dan Quinn, defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks.
  • Josh McDaniels, current offensive coordinator for the Patriots.
  • Jim L. Mora, current head coach at UCLA.
  • Current 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
  • Current 49ers defensive line coach Jim Tomsula.
  • Kyle Shanahan
  • Mike Shanahan