The San Francisco 49ers Thursday announced that Jeff Ferguson has been promoted to Director of Football Operations & Sports Medicine. Having served as the team's head athletic trainer since 2006, Ferguson will now oversee the 49ers' strength and conditioning, team logistics, equipment and video operations departments.
"Over the past five seasons, Jeff has proven to all of us at the 49ers that he is a highly capable administrator," said 49ers General Manager Trent Baalke. "He has a wealth of knowledge having worked in both professional and collegiate athletics, as well as the private medical sector. Jeff has always done an exceptional job of caring for our players and coaches, and has a way of bringing the people around him together for a common goal. In his new role, that is ultimately what he is charged with."
For the last five seasons, Ferguson has overseen the team's rehabilitation procedures, injury records, training room and daily athletic training duties. He joined the 49ers after serving as the manager of athletic team development with BREG, an orthopedic company based out of Vista, CA. From June of 2005 until March of 2006, Ferguson specialized in sports medicine bracing for BREG.
In an unrelated move, the 49ers fired executive vice president of football administration Lal Heneghan, *CSNBayArea.com* reported Wednesday.
Heneghan spent five seasons with the Niners overseeing all the team's legal affairs and all aspects of daily football administration.
The team said the move is part of a plan to "restructure and reorganize duties." The NFL's unsettled labor situation, which has forced some employees to take pay cuts during the lockout, was not cited as the reason for the front office shake up.
Prior to joining the Niners, Heneghan was general counsel and vice president of football operations for the Cleveland Browns from 1998 to 2004. Heneghan also spent seven years supervising the daily operation and interpretation of the NFL salary cap as the director of labor relations for the NFL Management Council.
