The Denver Broncos are in need of winners, and David Shaw fits the bill.
On June 20, the Broncos announced the addition of Shaw, who enjoyed a record-setting 12-season tenure as Stanford’s head coach, as a senior personnel executive. This announcement was made on their official website.
Shaw and Denver head coach Sean Payton previously worked together as assistant coaches for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997.
According to the Broncos: “Shaw, the only four-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year in conference history, led Stanford as head coach from 2011-22. During this period, Shaw’s teams secured 96 victories, three Pac-12 titles, and two Rose Bowl wins. His teams recorded at least 11 wins in four different seasons, making him the winningest coach in Stanford history.”
Shaw, who interviewed for NFL head coaching positions with the Broncos in 2022 and the Los Angeles Chargers in early 2024, is the most successful head coach in Stanford’s history.
Coming from a coaching family, Shaw’s father, Willie Shaw, was an All-American defensive back at the University of New Mexico and coached in college and the NFL for 33 years. Willie served as the defensive coordinator at Stanford and for teams like the St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, and Minnesota Vikings.
David Shaw, a three-sport athlete at Stanford in the early 1990s, played wide receiver under former NFL head coaches Dennis Green and Bill Walsh, and also participated in basketball and track. He started his coaching career as an assistant at NCAA Division II Western Washington, followed by nine years in the NFL, before moving to the University of San Diego and then Stanford as an offensive coordinator, eventually taking over as head coach after Jim Harbaugh left for the San Francisco 49ers.
In his first three seasons as head coach, Shaw led Stanford to three consecutive BCS bowl games. He became the first Stanford head coach in 80 years to win three Pac-12 titles by 2015 and achieved eight consecutive winning seasons. Despite finishing with a 96-54 overall record, Shaw faced challenges in his final years, including three losing seasons in his last four years at Stanford.
Shaw is renowned for developing 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. Under Shaw’s leadership, Stanford produced 42 NFL Draft picks and six first-round selections: 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).
