Michael Edward Shanahan (born August 24, 1952) is an
American football head coach for the Denver Broncos
in the National Football League. He led the Broncos
to back-to-back Super Bowl victories in 1998 and
1999. He is the father of Houston Texans Offensive
Coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
Shanahan played high school football at East Leyden
High School, where he played wishbone quarterback.
He had the single-game rushing record until 1976
when it was broken by Dennis Cascio. The record is
now held by Ricky Emery. Shanahan was an undersized
quarterback at Eastern Illinois University in the
1970s before a hard hit on the practice field
ruptured one of his kidneys, nearly killing him. He
is a member of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.
With his playing career abruptly ended, Shanahan
entered coaching. After graduation, he served as an
assistant coach at Northern Arizona University and
the University of Oklahoma. He then returned to his
alma mater as offensive coordinator and helped his
school win the Division II football championship.
Shanahan also worked at the University of Florida
and the University of Minnesota, turning around both
schools and making them into offensive powerhouses,
before making the jump to the NFL.
