HOUSTON – The Texans are making a key hire, adding highly regarded former San Francisco 49ers chief of staff Nick Kray as chief of staff under new coach DeMeco Ryans, according to league sources.
Kray was named 49ers chief of staff two years ago after spending previous four seasons as administrative assistant to head coach Kyle Shanahan. He overlapped every year with Ryans, the former 49ers defensive coordinator, inside linebackers and defensive quality control coach, and played a valuable role behind the scenes assisting Shanahan, staff and players.
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Kray, called “DJ Kray,” regularly led the 49ers out of the tunnel musically with a large boom box hoisted on his shoulders to set a fun, swaggy vibe for game entrances and during practice sessions. It became an extremely popular staple for the 49ers’ players, coaches and fans. Specifically. it was the Bumpboxx variety.
Kray has an extensive operations and coaching background having worked at North Carolina State, Yale, Villanova and at Eastern Illinois, his alma mater where he coached defensive ends and was a defensive quality control coach.
At North Carolina State, Kray was the assistant director of football operations before joining the 49ers. He was director of football and team development at Ball State University.
At Villanova, he was an offensive and special teams assistant. He was a director of football operations at Yale.
Kray was a team captain at Eastern Illinois where he played defensive end and was a part of two Ohio Valley Conference championship teams and three Football Championship Subdivision playoff teams.
Cray’s father’s first cousin is former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan’s father.
Aaron Wilson is a contributor to KPRC 2 and click2houston.com