Former Stanford coach David Shaw returns to the NFL.
The Denver Broncos announced Thursday that Shaw, 51, would be the team’s senior personnel executive. It will be Shaw’s first NFL job in nearly 20 years after he parted ways with the Cardinal following the 2022 season.
Shaw worked with Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton when they both coached for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997. Payton was the team’s quarterbacks coach that season, while Shaw was the quality control coach.
After serving as the Ravens’ wide receivers coach in 2005, Shaw transitioned to the college ranks in 2006 when he joined Jim Harbaugh’s staff in San Diego. Shaw spent one season at USD before moving to Stanford under Harbaugh and served as the Cardinal’s offensive coordinator for four seasons.
Shaw took over as Stanford’s head coach when Harbaugh left for the San Francisco 49ers and quickly continued the run of success Stanford had under Harbaugh. The Cardinal went 34-7 in Shaw’s first three seasons with the team, as Andrew Luck was the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL draft.
Overall, Stanford posted winning seasons in each of Shaw’s first eight years at the school and that success made him a coach who was frequently mentioned as a candidate for NFL head coaching jobs. However, Shaw never jumped to the NFL from Stanford and the team’s success quickly declined toward the end of his tenure.
Stanford tanked in Shaw’s final four seasons with the team. The Cardinal went 4-8 in 2019 and 3-9 in both 2021 and 2022 after posting a 4-2 record in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The lack of success in Shaw’s final two seasons with the team led to his resignation shortly after the 2022 season ended with a loss to BYU.