Richard Hightower (born September 15, 1980) is an American football coach currently serving as

special teams coordinator A special teams coordinator (STC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's special teams unit. Generally, the special teams coordinator, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator represent the second level of a t ...

of the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL).

Early life

His father, Richard, Sr. was a diesel mechanic and his mother Carolyn, was a medical tech at a blood bank. He played quarterback in middle school and in high school moved to defensive back and wide receiver because his coaches thought he was too short to play quarterback.

College football career

Hightower went to the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

on an academic scholarship and played college football as a walk-on wide receiver/special teams player, but he played on the kick coverage team. There he met fellow walk-on

Kyle Shanahan Kyle Michael Shanahan (born December 14, 1979) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta ...

. He played in every game in his sophomore and junior years. As a senior in 2002, after years of being a walk on, in front of the entire team, coach

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American former college football coach. Brown most recently coached at the University of North Carolina, where he had two stints, first from 1988 until 1997, and again from 2019 until his firing ...

awarded Hightower, Shananhan and fellow special teams standout Michael Ungar with scholarships. He did not see much playing time, but in 2001 he did recover a fumble against Texas Tech. Following his senior season, then-head coach Mack Brown and his staff voted Hightower the D. Harold Byrd Leadership Award winner. After graduating with a marketing degree in 2003, Hightower worked for, Link Staffing. He also worked as a marketing intern for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

for eight months before finding a full-time marketing job.

Coaching career

In 2006, Hightower joined the

as a coaching assistant under head coach

Gary Kubiak Gary Wayne Kubiak (born August 15, 1961) is an American former professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played as a quarterback for the Denver Broncos before coaching, serving as head coach for the Houst ...

. He later became a special teams assistant. He went the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 2009 to coach wide receivers under assistant

Tim Brewster Tim Brewster (born October 13, 1960) is an American football coach and former player. He is the tight ends coach for Charlotte. He also served as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for the North Carolina Tar Heels football program. ...

. Hightower returned to the NFL in 2010 as an offensive quality control coach for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

, joining his friend and former teammate,

, who worked under his father,

Mike Shanahan Michael Edward Shanahan ( ; born August 24, 1952) is an American football coach, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he led th ...

, as the team's offensive coordinator. He would eventually become the team's assistant special teams and defensive backs coach by 2013. Hightower, along with most of Washington's coaching staff was fired following the 2013 season. He followed Kyle Shanahan to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

, where he worked as an offensive quality control coach. Hightower bounced between the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

and

between 2015 and 2016 as an assistant special teams coach. On February 17, 2017 he reunited with Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers as the team's special teams coordinator. He stayed in San Francisco for five years, helping them make the playoffs twice including a trip to

Super Bowl LIV Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 NFL season, 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2019 Kansas City Chiefs season, Kansas City ...

. He returned to the Chicago on February 6, 2022 as the special teams coordinator. In 2023, Hightower was the head coach of the East team in the 2024 East-West Shrine game, which was won by the West. In 2024, the Bears fired head coach

Matt Eberflus Matt Eberflus ( ; born May 17, 1970) is an American professional football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head coach for the Chicago Bears of the National Football L ...

midway through the season. Hightower was the only coordinator retained by the Bears following the hiring of Ben Johnson.

References

External links

San Francisco 49ers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hightower, Richard 1980 births Living people San Francisco 49ers coaches Texas Longhorns football players Chicago Bears coaches Players of American football from Houston Houston Texans coaches Washington Redskins coaches African-American coaches of American football 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American people Coaches of American football from Texas NFL special teams coordinators