The Denver Broncos need winners. David Shaw qualifies.
The Broncos added Shaw, who had a record-setting career over 12 seasons as Stanford’s head coach, as a senior personnel executive on June 20. The team announced the hire on their official website.
Shaw was an assistant coach on the Philadelphia Eagles with Denver head coach Sean Payton in 1997.
From the Broncos: “The only four-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year in conference history, Shaw served as Stanford’s head coach from 2011-22. During his tenure, Shaw led the Cardinal to 96 wins, three Pac-12 titles and a pair of Rose Bowl wins. Shaw’s Cardinal teams won at least 11 games in four separate seasons, and he stands as the winningest coach in school history.”
Shaw is the winningest head coach in Stanford history and interviewed for a pair of NFL head coaching jobs in recent years — with the Broncos in 2022 before Payton was hired and with the Los Angeles Chargers in early 2024 before Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was hired.
Shaw Comes From Coaching Family
Shaw grew up in a football coaching family. His father, Willie Shaw, was an All-American defensive back at the University of New Mexico after fighting in the Vietnam War then went on to coach in college and the NFL for 33 seasons.
Willie Shaw was the defensive coordinator at Stanford in the early 1990s and also served as defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders and served as assistant head coach for the Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings.
David Shaw was a three-sport athlete at Stanford in the early 1990s — he played wide receiver for former NFL head coaches Dennis Green and Bill Walsh and also played basketball and ran track.
Shaw began his coaching career as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Western Washington before spending nine seasons as an assistant coach in the NFL before following Harbaugh to the University of San Diego then Stanford as an offensive coordinator and taking over as head coach after Harbaugh left to coach the San Francisco 49ers.
In his first three seasons, Shaw led Stanford to three consecutive BCS bowl games. He became the first Stanford head coach in 80 years to lead the Cardinal to three Pac-12 titles in 2015 and had eight consecutive winning seasons to start his tenure at Stanford.
Shaw had three losing seasons over his final four years at Stanford, including back-to-back 3-9 campaigns in 2021 and 2022 and finished with a 96-54 overall record.
Shaw’s History of Developing NFL Talent
Shaw has a long history of developing top-level NFL talent, including quarterback Andrew Luck, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft, and 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey.
“Stanford produced 42 NFL Draft picks and six first-round selections under Shaw, including three Pac-12 Offensive Players of the Year,” the Broncos wrote in the press release to announce Shaw’s hiring. “Andrew Luck (2012, No. 1), Andrus Peat (2015, No. 13), Joshua Garnett (2016, No. 28), Solomon Thomas (2017, No. 3), Christian McCaffrey (2017, No. 8) and David DeCastro (2021, No. 24) all played under Shaw before being selected in the first round.”
