.jpg) Shanahan in 2021 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1952-08-24)August 24, 1952 (age 73) Oak Park, Illinois, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school | East Leyden(Franklin Park, Illinois) |
| College | Eastern Illinois (1970–1972) |
| Career history | |
Coaching | |
| |
Operations | |
| |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
| Head coaching record | |
| Regular season | 170–138 (.552) |
| Postseason | 8–6 (.571) |
| Career | 178–144 (.553) |
| Coaching profile atPro Football Reference | |
Michael Edward Shanahan (/ˈʃænəhæn/SHAN-ə-han; born August 24, 1952) is an Americanfootball coach, best known as thehead coach of theDenver Broncos of theNational Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he led the team to two consecutiveSuper Bowl victories inXXXII andXXXIII; along with being the first Super Bowl championships in team history, they were the seventh team to win consecutive Super Bowls in NFL history. His head coaching career spanned a total of twenty seasons and also included stints with theLos Angeles Raiders andWashington Redskins. He is the father ofSan Francisco 49ers head coachKyle Shanahan.
Shanahan played high school football atEast Leyden High School,Franklin Park, Illinois, where he played wishbonequarterback for coach Jack Leese's 1968 and 1969 Eagles teams. Shanahan held the single-game rushing record of 260 yards on 15 carries (which was set in a 32–8 win over Hinsdale South on September 20, 1969) until it was broken in 1976 by Dennis Cascio but is now held by Angel Maldonado with 312 yards on 25 carries in 2009.[citation needed] He graduated from high school in 1970.[1]
He was a quarterback atEastern Illinois University, where he joinedDelta Sigma PhiFraternity. In 1972, a piercingly hard hit on the practice field ruptured one of hiskidneys, which caused his heart to stop for thirty seconds and nearly killed him. A priest was summoned to administer thelast rites to Shanahan, a devoutRoman Catholic.[2][3]
In 1975 and 1976, Shanahan was a graduate assistant onBarry Switzer's staff at theUniversity of Oklahoma.[4] In 1977, he became the offensive backfield coach atNorthern Arizona University.[5] NAU went 9–2 and played in theNCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs. He left after one season to return to hisalma mater asoffensive coordinator.[6] He helped Eastern Illinois win theDivision II football championship. Shanahan then worked as the offensive coordinator for theUniversity of Minnesota for a single season, before accepting the same position at theUniversity of Florida under head coachCharley Pell in 1980. Shanahan stayed with the Gators through 1983.[7]
Shanahan first served as a receivers coach and later offensive coordinator for theDenver Broncos underDan Reeves from 1984 to 1987. This firmly places Mike Shanahan on theTom Landry tree of coaching, as Dan Reeves was one of Landry's greatest disciples. It was his skill as an offensive mind that garnered Shanahan the attention of maverickOakland Raiders ownerAl Davis. After Shanahan and the Raiders parted ways four games into the 1989 season, Shanahan returned to the Broncos as quarterbacks coach on October 16, 1989.[8] He was fired a couple years later by Reeves after finding himself in the middle of a growing feud between Reeves and quarterbackJohn Elway.[9]
Shanahan was hired by theLos Angeles Raiders in 1988 to replace longtime Raiders coachTom Flores. He was the Raiders' first head coach hired from outside the organization since Davis himself 23 years earlier. Shanahan (who proved very unpopular with the players) and the micromanaging Davis clashed almost immediately, and this was only exacerbated after the Raiders finished a disappointing 7–9, losing four of their last five games. Tensions increased towards the end of the season when wide receivers coach and Shanahan loyalistNick Nicolau got into a heated argument with assistant coachArt Shell (a Davis loyalist) in which Nicolau reportedly accused Shell of having a job only by virtue of his friendship with Davis. When Shell went to Davis later to ask if this was true, Davis' response was to immediately fire Nicolau. Shanahan responded by firing running backs coachJoe Scannella and offensive coordinatorTom Walsh (both Davis hires), but Davis ordered them both back to work.[10] At the end of the season, Shanahan fired defensive assistantsWillie Brown andCharlie Sumner. An enraged Davis re-hired Brown to a different position in the organization. When the Raiders began 1–3 in 1989, Shanahan himself was fired and replaced by Shell.[11][12] Shanahan's final Raiders record was 8–12 in less than two seasons, going 2–7 after a 6–5 start.[13]
In 1992, Shanahan was hired as offensive coordinator for theSan Francisco 49ers under head coachGeorge Seifert, capping his rise with a victory inSuper Bowl XXIX after the 1994 season. His years under Seifert placed him in theBill Walshcoaching tree.[14] In 1994 while coaching for the 49ers, Shanahan added to the ongoing feud between him andRaiders ownerAl Davis when he had then quarterbackElvis Grbac throw a football at Davis' head, which missed by a few inches as Davis was able to dodge it just in time; afterwards Davis responded with an obscene gesture.[15]
Shanahan's success with the 49ers earned him a head coaching spot once more, this time back in Denver with the Broncos beginning in 1995. He led the Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl championships in the 1997 and 1998 seasons, during which time the Broncos set a then-record for victories in two seasons.
Between 1996 and 1998, the Broncos set the NFL record for victories by going 46–10 over a three-year span. The1998 Broncos won their first 13 games on their way to a 14–2 mark. Shanahan, taking his cue fromWest Coast offense guru Bill Walsh, was well known for scripting the first 15 offensive plays of the game, and helped the 1998 Broncos set an NFL record for first quarter points scored in a season. In 2005, he passedDan Reeves as the winningest coach in franchise history.[16]
Shanahan is known for an offense featuringzone running plays andplay-action passes. He has often found unheraldedrunning backs from later rounds of the annualNFL Draft and then turned them into league-leading rushers behind small-but-powerful offensive lines. Examples of this phenomenon areTerrell Davis,Mike Anderson,Olandis Gary,Clinton Portis,Reuben Droughns andTatum Bell, all of whom have had at least one 1,000-yard season in a Denver uniform during Shanahan's tenure.[17]
In 1999, with the assistance of writerAdam Schefter, Shanahan pennedThink Like a Champion, a motivational book about leadership; it was published byHarperCollins.[18] In 2006, he cooperated withStefan Fatsis's endeavor to spend a year as a Broncos place-kicker, and much of the resulting bookA Few Seconds of Panic (2008) covers Shanahan's coaching from the player's point of view.
After Elway's retirement and Davis' career-ending injuries, Shanahan went six years without a playoff win (including three seasons when the Broncos failed to qualify for the postseason),[19] a drought which caused criticism from fans. The playoff drought ended during the 2005–06 postseason when the Broncos defeated the two-time defendingSuper Bowl championNew England Patriots in theAFC Divisional Round of the playoffs atInvesco Field at Mile High.[20] The victory, however, would be Shanahan's last playoff win as a head coach.[19]
Shanahan was fired after the2008 NFL season following a collapse that caused the Broncos to miss the playoffs for a third consecutive year.[21] Although the Broncos held an 8–5 record by Week 14 and would have won theAFC West with one more victory, the team lost their remaining three games and the 8–8San Diego Chargers won the division on a tiebreaker.[22]
In the early part of the 2009 season, it was reported that the Washington Redskins were interested in naming Shanahan their head coach, replacingJim Zorn. Although this was reported by several media outlets, the Redskins' vice president of football operations,Vinny Cerrato, stated that a coaching change would not be considered until the end of the season.[23] On November 18, 2009, ESPN'sAdam Schefter reported that the Buffalo Bills had contacted Shanahan about their head coaching vacancy after the team parted ways with former coachDick Jauron.[24]
On January 5, 2010, Shanahan was formally introduced as the Redskins' 24th full-time head coach. As part of the deal, he was also named vice president of football operations, with the final say on football matters. He was one of several coaches who also had the title or powers of general manager, along withNew England'sBill Belichick and others.[25] Shanahan was signed to a five-year, $35 million contract.[26] Several months earlier,Bruce Allen was named the team's general manager. Shanahan and Allen split the duties held by a general manager, with Shanahan having the final say.[27] This model is similar to how Belichick andScott Pioli worked during their eight years in New England.
Shanahan's son,Kyle Shanahan, became the offensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins on January 20, 2010.[28]
Shanahan had a combined 11–21 record in his first two seasons as Redskins coach, followed by a 3–6 start to the 2012 season, but ended the year with a seven-game winning streak on the way to the team's firstNFC East title and home playoff game since the 1999 season. During this season Shanahan also continued his trend of developing unheralded draft picks into 1000-yard rushers, with the 6th-rounderAlfred Morris. The Redskins lost in the Wild Card round of the 2012 NFL Playoffs to theSeattle Seahawks by a score of 24–14, during which his quarterbackRobert Griffin III sustained a tear of his LCL and a damaged ACL to his previously injured knee.[29] Shanahan came under criticism for his handling of the injury, both in bringing Griffin back to play after the initial injury on December 9 and keeping him in the game against the Seahawks after reinjuring the knee.[29] While there were reports in December 2012 that the Redskins were considering negotiating a contract extension with Shanahan in the 2013 offseason, this did not happen and there were later reports that Shanahan had considered resigning after the end of the year.[30][31]
Griffin underwent reconstructive surgery of his knee on January 9 and returned as the starter for the beginning of the 2013 season, though Shanahan held him out of the preseason to protect him from further injury.[32][33][34] The team continued to struggle in 2013. With the final three games of the regular season, Shanahan decided to make Griffin inactive for the rest of the season because Shanahan thought it was best for both Griffin's and the Redskins' future.
Redskins ownerDaniel Snyder fired Shanahan on December 30, 2013.[35] The team finished 3–13 in the 2013 season, and was in last place in the NFC East division three of Shanahan's four seasons.
Shanahan has not held a coaching position since his dismissal from the Washington Redskins in 2013. In 2015, he was interviewed by theBuffalo Bills[36] andChicago Bears[37] for their vacant head coaching spots, as well as theOakland Raiders,[38] whom he previously coached from 1988 to 1989, when the club was based in Los Angeles. Shanahan was also interviewed for the vacant head coaching spot by theSan Francisco 49ers in 2015, whom Shanahan previously served as their offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach from 1992 to 1994 and was part of the1994 team that wonSuper Bowl XXIX. Coincidentally, the 49ers would hire his son,Kyle Shanahan as their head coach 2 years later.[39] In 2016, Shanahan was nearly hired as the head coach of theMiami Dolphins[40] before they hired Chicago Bears offensive coordinatorAdam Gase for the vacant spot on January 9, 2016. On August 17, 2019, it was revealed that theDenver Broncos, whom Shanahan previously coached from 1995 to 2008, nearly re-hired him as head coach in 2018 before their decision to retainVance Joseph on January 1, 2018.[41]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| LAR | 1988 | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 3rd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| LAR | 1989 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | Fired | – | – | – | – |
| LAR Total | 8 | 12 | 0 | .400 | - | - | - | |||
| DEN | 1995 | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 3rd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| DEN | 1996 | 13 | 3 | 0 | .813 | 1st in AFC West | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toJacksonville Jaguars inAFC Divisional Game |
| DEN | 1997 | 12 | 4 | 0 | .750 | 2nd in AFC West | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | Super Bowl XXXII Champions |
| DEN | 1998 | 14 | 2 | 0 | .875 | 1st in AFC West | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | Super Bowl XXXIII Champions |
| DEN | 1999 | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 5th in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| DEN | 2000 | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 2nd in AFC West | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toBaltimore Ravens inAFC wild card game |
| DEN | 2001 | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 3rd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| DEN | 2002 | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 2nd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| DEN | 2003 | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 2nd in AFC West | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toIndianapolis Colts inAFC Wild Card Game |
| DEN | 2004 | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 2nd in AFC West | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toIndianapolis Colts inAFC Wild Card Game |
| DEN | 2005 | 13 | 3 | 0 | .813 | 1st in AFC West | 1 | 1 | .500 | Lost toPittsburgh Steelers inAFC Championship Game |
| DEN | 2006 | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 3rd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| DEN | 2007 | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 2nd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| DEN | 2008 | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 2nd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| DEN Total | 138 | 86 | 0 | .616 | 8 | 5 | .615 | |||
| WAS | 2010 | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 4th in NFC East | – | – | – | – |
| WAS | 2011 | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 | 4th in NFC East | – | – | – | – |
| WAS | 2012 | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 1st in NFC East | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toSeattle Seahawks inNFC Wild Card Game |
| WAS | 2013 | 3 | 13 | 0 | .188 | 4th in NFC East | – | – | – | – |
| WAS Total | 24 | 40 | 0 | .375 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |||
| Total[42] | 170 | 138 | 0 | .552 | 8 | 6 | .571 | |||
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Shanahan has worked under six head coaches:[45]
Sixteen of Shanahan's assistant coaches became head coaches in the NFL or NCAA:
Three of Shanahan's former players became head coaches in the NFL or NCAA:
Five of Shanahan's executives/former players became general managers in the NFL:
Shanahan is a Catholic.[2][50][51] He and his wife, Peggy, have two children — a son,Kyle, the currentSan Francisco 49ers' head coach, and a daughter, Krystal.[52] Shanahan is also a brother in theDelta Sigma Phi fraternity.
In May 2008, Shanahan attended the wedding ofGeorge W. Bush's daughterJenna Bush, who was the former college roommate of Shanahan's daughter.[53][54]
In July 2016, Shanahan hosted a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidateDonald Trump inLoveland, Colorado.[55] In October 2016, Shanahan introduced Trump at a campaign rally inDenver.[56][57]
In October 2021, Shanahan sold his mansion inCherry Hills Village, Colorado (near Denver) for a record $15.7 million.[58][59]
| International | |
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| National | |
