The San Diego Chargers on Thursday hired veteran NFL coach Mike Nolan to be their linebackers coach.

Nolan, most recently the defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, replaces Joe Barry, who became the defensive coordinator in Washington.

Nolan, 55, has 28 years of NFL coaching experience — including four as coach of the San Francisco 49ers and 17 as a defensive coordinator.

Nolan and Chargers coach Mike McCoy worked together in Denver in 2009.

“Mike is a tremendous coach with a wealth of experience and he’ll be a great addition to our coaching staff,” McCoy said. “I’ve known him for many years, having coached both with him and against him, and it’s great to have him here with us with the Chargers.”

Nolan began his coaching career at his alma mater, Oregon, in 1981 and also coached at Stanford (1982-83), Rice (1984-85) and LSU (1986) before moving to the NFL in 1987.

He coached the Broncos’ linebackers and special teams from 1987 to 1992 under Dan Reeves and then followed Reeves to the New York Giants in 1993, when he became the youngest defensive coordinator in the NFL at age 33.

He also has coached with Washington (1997-99), the New York Jets (2000) and the Baltimore Ravens (2001-04).

He became the 49ers’ coach in 2005, following in his father’s footsteps (Dick Nolan coached them from 1968 to 1975). But he never had a winning record and was fired after a 2-5 start in 2008.

He landed in Denver in 2009 as Josh McDaniels’ defensive coordinator and then headed to Miami the next year to run the Dolphins’ defense. He joined the Falcons under Mike Smith in 2012, but Smith was recently fired, leaving Nolan to join his ninth NFL team.