From early age, Fangio knew his future

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DUNMORE, Pa. — To understand why 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio became a football coach, it’s helpful to visit his hometown, a borough of about 14,000 in the northeast corner of the Keystone State.

Fangio, 56, grew up in a two-story house on Electric Street, a quarter-mile from Dunmore High, which is where Jack Henzes greeted an out-of-town visitor in early August.

Henzes was Fangio’s high school coach. He is also the second-winningest coach in Pennsylvania high school football history (392-155-8). He is also 78 years old, still teaching health, P.E. and driver’s education, still rising at 5:30 a.m. to serve Mass, still weighing a lean and well-sculpted 158 pounds and still coaching the Dunmore Bucks, a job he has had for 43 years, starting in the middle of the Nixon administration.

In August, he lifted his shirt to reveal a scar on his chest where a surgeon inserted a defibrillator nearly 20 years ago. He has collapsed during a game four times since 1995, which inspired the question that was already begging to be asked: When will the husband of 56 years and the grandfather of 13 finally hang it up?

“Oh,” he said, cheerfully waving off the question, “I’ve still got that fire in my belly.”

Henzes is the reason Fangio, a sports-crazed teenager who refused to take piano lessons, knew his future would involve a clipboard and whistle before he even graduated high school. Long before Fangio met Jim Harbaugh, he knew all about an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.

“He was a guy (who) was so enthusiastic and passionate about football,” Fangio said. “Growing up, baseball and basketball were my favorite sports, but he was so good that football became contagious to me. I got the coaching bug then. I felt after I left Dunmore that I already could coach in high school because of all that I learned from him. That’s probably a young kid being stupid or brash, but that’s how much confidence I had because he’d been my coach.”

Vic Fangio has led top-notch defenses at multiple NFL stops. Vic Fangio has led top-notch defenses at multiple NFL stops. Photo: Brant Ward / San Francisco Chronicle Photo: Brant Ward / San Francisco Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close From early age, Fangio knew his future 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

His NFL start

Fangio’s confidence was clearly well-founded. On Sunday, the 49ers will visit New Orleans, where Fangio, then 28, landed his first NFL job in 1986 as the Saints’ outside-linebackers coach. And he’ll return to the Superdome in the midst of perhaps the most impressive season of his 30-year career in professional football.

After eight games, the 49ers have yet to field a defense that includes All-Pro linebackers Aldon Smith and NaVorro Bowman, or nose tackle Glenn Dorsey. In addition, All-Pro inside linebacker Patrick Willis has missed two games and starting cornerback Tramaine Brock has missed six starts.

Still, the Niners’ defense has maintained the high standards established after Fangio arrived in 2011. The team ranks second in the NFL in yards allowed per game and among the top two in the league in first downs allowed, plays of 10-plus yards allowed and passes of 20-plus yards surrendered.

After the defense forced four turnovers and scored a touchdown in a season-opening 28-17 win against Dallas, Harbaugh beamed: “Thanks for being great, Vic!” he said.

After the Eagles’ high-octane offense was held scoreless and failed to cross midfield in the first 55 minutes of the 49ers’ 26-21 win on Sept. 28, NFL Network analyst Brian Billick said Fangio was “the best (defensive coordinator) in the league. Hands down, no contest.”

Billick hired Fangio as the special assistant to the head coach with the Ravens in 2006 and he’s hardly the only colleague or player, past or present, to hold him in high esteem. Fangio’s acumen explains why he hasn’t had to formally interview for a job in a career that has included stops with six NFL teams, two colleges and two high schools.

What separates Fangio? The answers vary.

Former Pro Bowl cornerback Eric Davis cited Fangio’s ability to convey complex schemes in an easy-to-understand manner.

“Vic understood how to get it from the screen where we were watching film into guys’ heads in a way that everyone could understand,” said Davis, who was with Fangio in Carolina from 1996 through ’98. “You’ve got guys with different levels of learning abilities and they learn in different ways. Vic knew how to reach each guy.”

Jim Mora, 79, gave Fangio his first job in pro football — as an unpaid assistant with the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars in 1984. Fangio earned $20,000 in his second year with the Stars, but Mora and general manager Carl Peterson still occasionally handed him $100 bills to keep him afloat. When Mora was hired by the Saints in 1986, he took Fangio with him. Mora then hired him as his defensive coordinator with the Colts in 1999.

Reaching the players

Mora kept hiring Fangio partly because his X-and-O’s mastery made his straight-talking approach with players effective. In his first year in the NFL, Fangio inherited two ultra-talented outside linebackers — Rickey Jackson and Pat Swilling — who weren’t ultra-easy to reach. Mora gives Fangio credit for Jackson’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

“Vic was unusually effective coaching those guys,” Mora said. “He was very demanding, but they loved him. He could tell them whatever he wanted to tell them. Sometimes they didn’t like it, but they listened because they knew he’d come up with stuff that would make them the best players they could be.”

Given his knowledge and ability to relate with players, it’s fair to wonder why Fangio hasn’t been an NFL head coach. He hasn’t been a serious candidate since he was one of two finalists for the Chargers’ job that went to Kevin Gilbride in 1997.

It hasn’t helped Fangio that he doesn’t possess an outsize personality and is allergic to self-promotion. After the win over the Eagles this season, a member of the 49ers’ public-relations staff had to cajole Fangio to speak with reporters. Mora also said Fangio’s honest assessment of players has rankled personnel executives in the past.

For his part, Fangio doesn’t regret his candor and insists he’ll be fine if the stars never align.

“It wouldn’t be an empty feeling at all,” he said. “Because what I’ve been able to do with my background is more than I could have asked for or dreamed of.”

Indeed, Fangio’s background differs from many NFL coaches’. He didn’t play football after high school, didn’t have a football-coaching father — his late dad, Vic Sr., had a tailor shop in Scranton — and his climb up the ladder wasn’t assisted by influential contacts.

He was solely responsible for his first big break, which was a job as a graduate assistant at North Carolina when he was 25. Before Tar Heels defensive coordinator Denny Marcin arrived in Scranton for a speaking engagement, Fangio wrote him a letter and asked if they could meet. They ended up connecting in a hotel elevator and Marcin, who later became an NFL assistant, still teases Fangio about begging for a job.

“I went back after that and told our coach, Dick Crum, 'Boy, this guy is sharp,’” Marcin said. “It was clear right away Vic Fangio had the football smarts.”

Fangio also had Henzes, who gave him his first job and whose emphasis on discipline, fundamentals and physicality remains the bedrock of Fangio’s coaching.

Career begins

Fangio was so eager to begin his 9-to-5 job that he began assisting at Dunmore before he graduated from East Stroudsburg University, which required him to make a 45-minute daily drive to practice. Shortly after Fangio graduated, Henzes promoted his linebackers coach to defensive coordinator.

“We weren’t very good when he coached here, but teams that should have beaten us by 40 points were beating us 10-6,” Henzes said. “His placement of people and knowing what to call at certain times was amazing.”

Henzes encouraged Fangio to pursue bigger dreams and the roles have reversed in their teacher-pupil relationship since Fangio left Dunmore. Over the past 33 years, Henzes often has contacted Fangio — he calls him “Victor” — before the Bucks meet an imposing opponent. In the left-hand drawer of the metal desk in his office, Henzes keeps the faxes filled with notes and diagrams Fangio has sent in return.

“I’ll say, “Victor, I don’t think we match up this week. What should we do?’” Henzes said. “He’ll say, 'Let me work on it and I’ll get back to you.’”

Fangio sees Henzes about twice a year when he returns to Dunmore to visit his mom, who still lives on Electric Street. At 87, Alice Fangio still mows her lawn, shovels snow and jokes that she shares something in common with the town’s football coach, whose Bucks are 10-1 after a first-round playoff win Friday.

“The work?” she said. “Oh, that’s the Polish in both of us.”

It’s also in her son, who inherited his mom’s work gene and appears to have the same fire in his belly as the high school coach who inspired him.

“I don’t see an end in sight,” Fangio said. “I don’t see myself doing it when I’m 75 like some of these guys, but you never know. I’ve talked to some of those guys and they say you just keep going.”

Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch

Sunday’s game

Who: 49ers at Saints

When: 10 a.m.

TV:Channel: 2Channel: 40

Radio: 680, 107.7

Fangio’s journey

Vic Fangio has made 11 stops in his coaching career, but there are common themes among his job titles and the men for whom he’s worked.

Years Position Team/School Head coach 2011-current Defensive coordinator 49ers Jim Harbaugh 2010 Defensive coordinator Stanford Jim Harbaugh 2009 Asst. to head coach/LBs Ravens John Harbaugh 2006-08 Asst. to head coach Ravens Brian Billick/John Harbaugh 2002-05 Defensive coordinator Texans Dom Capers 1999-2001 Defensive coordinator Colts Jim Mora 1995-98 Defensive coordinator Panthers Dom Capers 1986-94 Linebackers Saints Jim Mora 1984-85 Defensive assistant Stars (USFL) Jim Mora 1983 Graduate assistant North Carolina Dick Crum 1982 Defensive coordinator Milford Academy (Ct.) HS Vince Sinagra 1979-81 Def. coordinator/LBs Dunmore (Pa.) HS Jack Henzes

49ers (4-4) at Saints (4-4)

Where: New Orleans When: 10 a.m. TV/Radio:Channel: 2Channel: 40/680, 107.7

Spotlight on: LT Joe Staley: The most decorated member of an offensive line that has allowed 14 sacks in two games will face a rugged assignment: OLB Junior Galette, who was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday for his two-sack performance that included a forced fumble in a win over the Panthers on Oct. 30. The speed rusher has a team-high six sacks. The 49ers’ front five will have to communicate in the din of the Superdome, and the game will mark the first time rookie center Marcus Martin has played indoors. “I’m going to have a really good week of practice, especially with all the attention coming on us the last couple of weeks,” Staley said. “Eyes are going to be on us and me. We’re ready for the challenge.”

Injury notes: 49ers — LBs Patrick Willis (toe) and Dan Skuta (ankle) are questionable after not practicing during the week and are unlikely to play. Saints — RB Mark Ingram is questionable but will play. Ex-49ers C Jonathan Goodwin (knee) is questionable, and his status is in doubt.

Big 3

Saints QB Drew Brees has been sacked 8.8 percent of the time he has been pressured, the third-lowest mark in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. Niners QB Colin Kaepernick has been sacked 24.3 percent of time he has been pressured, the fourth-highest figure in the league.

The Saints have won 11 straight regular-season home games, a franchise record. They have won 20 straight, including a postseason win, with Sean Payton as their head coach.

The 49ers’ offense has one fourth-quarter touchdown: a pass from QB Blaine Gabbert to Bruce Ellington with 49ers trailing 42-10 at Denver on Oct. 19.