Long before Kyle Shanahan earned a reputation as one of the NFL’s best coaches, his father Mike Shanahan was revolutionizing the game with innovative offensive schemes. Mike Shanahan is best known for his 14-year run as the head coach of the Denver Broncos. He won the Super Bowl twice with the Broncos and, including the seven years he spent as a coach and coordinator in Denver, he was a member of the organization for 21 years.
Shanahan overlapped with Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway for the last four years of the legendary passer’s career. Despite Elway’s many accomplishments during his 16 years in the NFL, including becoming the greatest Broncos player of all time, he had failed to win a championship. That is, until Shanahan took over as head coach and the pair led the Broncos to back-to-back titles.
Now, Elway is making the case for his former coach to join him in the NFL Hall of Fame. When asked why Shanahan deserves to be enshrined in Canton, the former Broncos great highlighted the coach’s incredible impact on modern offenses.
“When you look at the game today and you look at the influence that Mike Shanahan had and look at what he did to that offense, what he did with it formationally, how to figure out what defenses were doing before the ball was snapped… And the different things he did with the run game, with the zone game. And how he advanced that system, I think is huge. Because, everybody’s doing it,” Elway explained via Adam Schefter on X.
“You look at Mike’s coaching tree, I think [it’s] unparalleled… I just think his ability to offensively scheme people up is tremendous. Plus, having him as a quarterback coach and the way that he handles players… So, Mike is somebody that I wholeheartedly believe deserves to be in that Hall of Fame and I hope it’s this year,” Elway added.
Mike Shanahan and John Elway won back-to-back titles with the Broncos
While most of his career was dedicated to the Broncos, Shanahan spent six years as the head coach of the Raiders and the Washington franchise. In all, he retired with a 170-138 record. Including the playoffs, Shanahan has an overall record of 178-144 in the NFL.
Of course, Shanahan is best known for his time running the Broncos where he won the Super Bowl in 1997 and 1998. Only seven coaches have ever won back-to-back championships and he’s the only eligible coach that isn’t in the Hall of Fame, according to Aric DiLalla of the Broncos’ team site.
Additionally, just nine coaches have ever recorded 175 career wins and multiple Super Bowl titles. Of those nine, Shanahan and Tom Coughlin are the only coaches not enshrined in Canton, per DiLalla.
While Kyle Shanahan is still looking for his first championship, despite reaching the Super Bowl three times, Mike Shanahan believes 49ers’ quarterback Brock Purdy can help get him over the top. Until then, Mike will remain the superior coach in the family.
The 2025 Hall of Fame class will be announced at the NFL Honors in New Orleans the night before Super Bowl LIX. The group will be enshrined in Canton in August.
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