Kyle Shanahan

Kyle Michael Shanahan (born December 14, 1979) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL).

He attended Saratoga High School in Saratoga, California, in 1994, while his father worked as offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.

He later attended Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, Colorado, while his father served as head coach of the Denver Broncos.

Shanahan accepted a scholarship offer by Carl Franks of Duke University, but chose to transfer as a redshirt freshman to the University of Texas at Austin where he started out as a walk-on.

Shanahan played wide receiver on a Longhorn team that featured future college coach Major Applewhite, future NFL assistant coach Richard Hightower (who worked with him in San Francisco) as well as future NFL players Roy Williams, Cedric Benson, Bo Scaife, Mike Williams, Quentin Jammer, and Chris Simms.

Shanahan caught 14 passes for 127 yards in his career for the University of Texas at Austin.

I studied every potential Xs and Os play and issue possible.

I spent my whole life working on that.

My goal was that any question a player could have about anything on the field, I'd be able to answer it.

Soon after he graduated from Texas in 2003, Shanahan became graduate assistant to Karl Dorrell at UCLA.

Shanahan was hired as assistant coach for offensive quality control under head coach Jon Gruden with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004.

In 2006, Shanahan was hired by Gary Kubiak 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 coach.

In 2007, he had also been offered to become offensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota, where former Broncos assistant Tim Brewster just became head coach.

Shanahan declined, citing his decision to be an NFL coach.

Shanahan was immediately considered the frontrunner for the vacant offensive coordinator position after Mike Sherman had left the Texans to take over as head coach at Texas A&M University.

On January 11, 2008, Shanahan was officially promoted, becoming the youngest coordinator in the NFL, being more than three years younger than Josh McDaniels of the New England Patriots.

In 2010, Shanahan left the Texans to join his father, Mike Shanahan, with the Washington Redskins.

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 Redskins.

On February 1, 2014, it was reported by media outlets that Shanahan was hired as offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns.

Prior to his hiring by the Browns, Shanahan interviewed for the vacant offensive coordinator jobs held by the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens.

On January 8, 2015, Shanahan resigned from his offensive coordinator position due to friction with head coach Mike Pettine and possibly how the front office was run.

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 and earned an 11–5 record, a division title, and a Super Bowl LI berth against the New England Patriots.

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.

Shanahan became the head coach of the 49ers the following season, whom he has led to three division titles, four postseason appearances, four NFC Championship Game appearances, and two Super Bowl appearances (LIV and LVIII).

Shanahan was born in Minneapolis, while his father, Mike Shanahan, coached at the University of Minnesota.

Shanahan was named the NFL Assistant Coach of the Year for the 2016 season.

He was also named Coordinator of the Year by Sporting News and Assistant Coach of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America.

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, a decision considered by many to have contributed to the Falcons losing their 25 point lead, as they dropped the game in overtime by a score of 34–28.

On February 6, 2017, one day after the Super Bowl, Shanahan was officially hired as the next head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, signing a six-year deal.

Shanahan won his first preseason game 27–17 against the Kansas City Chiefs on August 11, 2017.

However, the 49ers began the season with nine consecutive losses.

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, the 49ers pulled out a 15–14 victory over the Chicago Bears, which marked the first start for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo as a 49er.