Kyle Michael Shanahan (born December 14, 1979) is an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
coach who is the
head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...
of the
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL). He came to prominence as the
offensive coordinator for the
Atlanta Falcons, whose offense in 2016 led the league in points scored and helped the team reach
Super Bowl LI
Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New ...
. Shanahan became the head coach of the 49ers the following season, who he has led to three playoff runs, two division titles, two
NFC Championship Games, and a
Super Bowl appearance in
Super Bowl LIV
Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football Conferenc ...
.
Early life
Shanahan was born in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, while his father
Mike Shanahan
Michael Edward Shanahan (born August 24, 1952) is a former American football coach, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he le ...
coached at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
. He attended
Saratoga High School in
Saratoga, California
Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California. Located in Silicon Valley, in the southern Bay Area, its population was 31,051 at the 2020 census. Saratoga is an affluent residential community, known for its wineries, restaurants, and attra ...
in 1994, while his father worked as offensive coordinator for the
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
. He later attended
Cherry Creek High School
Cherry Creek High School (commonly Cherry Creek, Creek, or CCHS) is the oldest of seven high schools in the Cherry Creek School District in the Denver metropolitan area. It is located in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and is one of the largest high s ...
in
Greenwood Village, Colorado
The City of Greenwood Village is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 15,691 at the 2020 United States Census. Greenwood Village is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Met ...
, while his father served as head coach of the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
. Shanahan accepted a scholarship offer by
Carl Franks
Carl Franks (born December 1, 1960) is an American football coach and former player. He currently serves as the running backs coach at Bethune–Cookman University. Franks served as the head football coach at Duke University from 1999 to 2003, co ...
of
Duke University, but chose to transfer as
redshirt
Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi
* Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after ...
freshman to the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
. Shanahan played
wide receiver on a
Longhorn team that featured future college coach
Major Applewhite
Major Lee Applewhite (born July 26, 1978) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the South Alabama Jaguars. He served as head coach at the University of Houston from ...
as well as future NFL players
Roy Williams,
Cedric Benson
Cedric Myron Benson (December 28, 1982 – August 17, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns and was recognized as a co ...
,
Bo Scaife
Oliver Edward "Bo" Scaife, III (born January 6, 1981) is a former American football tight end. He was originally drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Texas.
Early years
Scaife a ...
,
Mike Williams,
Quentin Jammer
Quentin Tremaine Jammer (born June 19, 1979) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Texas, and earned All-American honors ...
, and
Chris Simms. Shanahan caught 14 passes for 127 yards in his career for the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
.
Coaching career
College career
Soon after he graduated from Texas in 2003, Shanahan became
graduate assistant
A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...
to
Karl Dorrell
Karl James Dorrell (born December 18, 1963) is an American football coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of Colorado. Dorrell most notably served as the head football coach of the University of California, Los Angeles (UC ...
at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Shanahan was hired as assistant coach for offensive
quality control under head coach
Jon Gruden with the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...
. Gruden had held a similar position with the
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
in 1990, at about the same age that Shanahan had in 2004.
Houston Texans
In 2006, Shanahan was hired by
Gary Kubiak
Gary Wayne Kubiak (born August 15, 1961) is a former American football coach and quarterback. He served as head coach for the NFL's Houston Texans from 2006 to 2013 and the Denver Broncos from 2015 to 2016 before stepping down from the position ...
to serve as
wide receivers coach for the Houston Texans. Kubiak had previously served as
offensive coordinator under Mike Shanahan with the Broncos. At the time, Kyle Shanahan was the youngest position coach in the NFL. A season later, Shanahan received another promotion to become the Texans
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
coach. In 2007, he had also been offered to become offensive coordinator at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
, where former Broncos assistant
Tim Brewster
Tim Brewster (born October 13, 1960) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the tight ends coach for the University of Colorado. He also served as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for the North Carolina ...
just became head coach. Shanahan declined, citing his decision to be an NFL coach. Shanahan was immediately dealt as the frontrunner for the vacant offensive coordinator position after
Mike Sherman
Michael Francis Sherman (born December 19, 1954) is an American gridiron football coach and former player who most recently was the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was the head coach of the Green B ...
had left the Texans to take over as head coach at
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
.
On January 11, 2008, Shanahan was officially promoted, becoming the youngest coordinator in the NFL, being more than three years younger than
Josh McDaniels
Joshua Thomas McDaniels (born April 22, 1976) is an American football
head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career in 2001 with the New England Patriots, where he served as the offensive coo ...
of the
New England Patriots.
Washington Redskins
In 2010, Shanahan left the Texans to join his father,
Mike Shanahan
Michael Edward Shanahan (born August 24, 1952) is a former American football coach, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he le ...
, with the
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
. The Washington Redskins’ performance during his tenure led some to question whether Shanahan's hiring was an example of unearned nepotism. In 2012, Shanahan was fined $25,000 for insulting the replacement officials and confronting one after a loss to the
Cincinnati Bengals. On December 30, 2013, Kyle, along with his father and some of the coaching staff, were fired from the Washington Redskins.
Cleveland Browns
On February 1, 2014, it was reported by media outlets that Shanahan was hired as offensive coordinator for the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
. Prior to his hiring by the Browns, Shanahan interviewed for the vacant offensive coordinator jobs held by the
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...
and
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...
. On January 8, 2015, Shanahan resigned from his offensive coordinator position due to friction with head coach
Mike Pettine
Michael Mark Pettine (born September 25, 1966) is an American football coach who currently is an assistant head coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 2014 to 2015, an ...
and possibly how the front office was run.
Atlanta Falcons
![Kyle Shanahan July 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Kyle_Shanahan_July_2016.jpg)
On January 18, 2015, the
Atlanta Falcons hired Shanahan as their new offensive coordinator. After going 8–8 in
2015, the Falcons' offense under Shanahan was the highest-scoring offense in the league in
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
and earned an 11–5 record, a division title, and a
Super Bowl LI
Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New ...
berth against the
New England Patriots. Shanahan was named the
NFL Assistant Coach of the Year for the 2016 season.
During Super Bowl LI, the Falcons held a 28–3 lead over the Patriots, in part thanks to Shanahan's play-calling and the Falcons' execution of those plays. However, Shanahan was criticized for being too aggressive by not using a ball-control running attack late in the game which resulted in the Falcons losing by a score of 34–28 in overtime.
San Francisco 49ers
On February 6, 2017, one day after the Super Bowl, Shanahan was officially hired as the next head coach of the
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
, signing a six-year deal.
2017 season
Shanahan won his first preseason game 27–17 against the
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division.
The ...
on August 11, 2017. However, the 49ers had begun the season 0–9.
On November 12, 2017, Shanahan won his first regular-season game against the
New York Giants by a score of 31–21. Three weeks later, he led the 49ers to a 15–14 victory over the
Chicago Bears, which marked the first start for quarterback
Jimmy Garoppolo
James Richard Garoppolo (born November 2, 1991), nicknamed Jimmy G, is an American football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Eastern Illinois, where he set the school r ...
as a 49er. On December 31, 2017, the last day of the 2017 NFL regular season, Shanahan and the 49ers defeated the
Los Angeles Rams 34–13, ending the season on a five-game win streak and winning six out of the last seven games.
2018 season
The 49ers managed to win only four games in 2018. The team was impacted by an early season-ending torn ACL to starting quarterback Garoppolo. Garoppolo's injury was immediately viewed as ruining the 49ers hopes for the season, despite Shanahan's optimistic outlook on Garoppolo's replacement,
C. J. Beathard
Casey Jarrett "C. J." Beathard ( ; born November 16, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Iowa and was drafted in the third round of the 201 ...
.
2019 season
![Kyle Shanahan 2019](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Kyle_Shanahan_2019.jpg)
The 49ers won their first eight games of the 2019 season, making Shanahan only the third coach, along with
Tom Landry
Thomas Wade Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American professional football player and coach. He was the first head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL), a position he held for 29 seasons. Dur ...
and
Marvin Lewis to begin 8–0 after an earlier 0–8 season start.
[ The 49ers finished the regular season with a 13–3 record, winning the ]NFC West
The National Football Conference - Western Division or NFC West is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It currently has four members: the Arizona Cardinals, the Los Ang ...
division title and securing the #1 seed which gave the team home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The 49ers defeated the Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...
27–10 in the Divisional Round and advanced to the NFC Championship Game, where they beat the Green Bay Packers 37–20 and advanced to Super Bowl LIV
Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football Conferenc ...
, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division.
The ...
31–20.
2020 season
On June 15, 2020, the 49ers signed Shanahan to a new six-year contract extension through the 2025 season. Shanahan was fined $100,000 by the NFL for not properly wearing a face mask, as required for coaches during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, during a Week 2 game in the 2020 NFL season on September 21, 2020. The 49ers suffered multiple injuries to key starters throughout the season and missed the playoffs, finishing the season with a 6–10 record.
2021 season
Shanahan was fined $50,000 by the NFL on July 1, 2021, for violating practice rules during organized team activities. After starting the season 3–5, the 49ers won seven of their last nine games to finish 10–7 and enter the postseason as a wild card team. The 49ers defeated the Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...
23–17 in the Wild Card Round and defeated the Green Bay Packers 13–10 in the Divisional Round, before losing 20–17 in the NFC Championship Game to the Los Angeles Rams.
Head coaching record
Personal life
Shanahan and his wife have three children.
References
External links
San Francisco 49ers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanahan, Kyle
1979 births
Living people
American football wide receivers
American Roman Catholics
Atlanta Falcons coaches
Cleveland Browns coaches
Houston Texans coaches
National Football League offensive coordinators
San Francisco 49ers head coaches
Sports coaches from Minneapolis
Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches
Texas Longhorns football players
UCLA Bruins football coaches
Players of American football from Minneapolis