By Sam Fisher on January 27, 2014

Stanford hired San Francisco 49ers defensive assistant Pete Hansen as inside linebackers coach Monday morning. Hansen will replace David Kotulski, who left the Cardinal last week to become Derek Mason’s defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt.

Hansen joined the 49ers shortly after head coach Jim Harbaugh left Stanford to become head coach of the 49ers. Hansen had worked for Harbaugh and later defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in two seasons at Stanford as a defensive assistant.

“Pete comes to us at a young age but with a tremendous wealth of knowledge,” said Cardinal head coach David Shaw. “In the last three years, he’s worked with one of the best defenses in the NFL and worked with some of the best linebackers in the NFL. His perspective and energy will help our front seven.”

Hansen is a Palo Alto High School alumnus. Pete’s dad, Earl, recently retired as head coach of Palo Alto High School’s football team, where he coached Pete, Jim Harbaugh and current Cardinal verbal commit Keller Chryst. Hansen worked as an assistant to his dad for four seasons after playing professional football and basketball in Europe.

Hansen was a two-sport varsity athlete at Arizona. On the gridiron, Hansen was a standout on special teams, earning second-team All-Pac-10 recognition. As an assistant, he has spent most of his time on the defensive side of the ball, where he will look to bring lessons learned from Fangio back to the Farm.

Stanford still has one full-time defensive assistant coaching spot to fill, with the departures of Mason and Kotulski to Vanderbilt and the addition of Hansen. Due to the expertise of new defensive coordinator Lance Anderson coaching outside linebackers, that assistant will probably be a secondary coach. Mason worked with the secondary while he was the Cardinal’s defensive coordinator.