When DeMeco Ryans won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award with Houston in 2006, Kyle Shanahan was the Texans’ wide-receivers coach.

On Tuesday, Ryans left his position as the defensive coordinator on Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers coaching staff to return to Houston as the Texans’ head coach.

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“Love DeMeco,” Shanahan said on Wednesday. “One of the best coaches I’ve been around, one of the best people I’ve ever been around. Him and Jamila mean the world to us. I really wish they weren’t going. But it’s more than deserved and more than earned, and I think they made the best hire that was by far available because to me, DeMeco is going to be a great one. He already has been.”

Shanahan moved to quarterbacks coach in 2007 and offensive coordinator in 2008 before leaving Houston after the 2009 season, when Ryans was a Pro Bowler for the second time for the Texans.

In 2017, Shanahan became an NFL head coach with the 49ers, and he had a spot on his staff for Ryans as a defensive quality-control coach, the former Alabama All-American’s first step into coaching after a 10-season playing career in the NFL.

Ryans moved to inside-linebackers coach the next season and stepped up to defensive coordinator in 2021, when Robert Saleh left to become the head coach of the New York Jets.

Ryans guided the NFL’s No. 1 defense in 2022, when San Francisco yielded the fewest points and the fewest yards per game in the league during the regular season.

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Shanahan would like the change in defensive coordinators to go as smoothly as it did when Saleh left.

“I love our defensive staff. I love our defense,” Shanahan said. “Trying to get something where we don’t have to turn much over. I would love to keep our same staff, so going to talk to some guys on our staff, going to talk to some guys outside of our staff, and, hopefully, whichever way we decide to go, whether we bring in a new guy or not, that it’s someone who can work with who we have and what we’ve accomplished here because I love the scheme that we run, and I feel the foundation we have on the D-line, at linebacker, at corner, at safety, I think our players fit very well in it, too, so hoping to find someone who fits with us personality-wise and scheme-wise.”

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Shanahan is expecting some tug-of-war with Ryans as the new Texans coach assembles his staff for the 2023 season.

“I know he loves our staff,” Shanahan said, “and he knows I’m working through that, too, right now. DeMeco and I will probably be talking a lot here over the next two weeks. Just trying to do what’s best for the 49ers. I know he’s trying to do what’s best for Houston. We’re both going to do what’s best for all the families involved, too, with our No. 1 job being to do for the organizations.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.