Childhood & Early Life
Kyle Shanahan was born Kyle Michael Shanahan, on December 14, 1979, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, to Mike and Peggy Shanahan. He grew up with his sister, Krystal Shanahan.
Ever since he was a kid, Kyle loved playing football. All the credit for his love toward the game goes to his father, a former player who was also the head football coach at the ‘University of Minnesota’ when Kyle was born. Kyle’s mother, Peggy, was a housewife.
After spending first few years of his life in Minnesota, Kyle and his family moved to Saratoga, California, where his father had earned a new job as an offensive coordinator coach of the ‘San Francisco 49ers.’
Kyle grew up playing football with his father. Having a professional football coach for a father helped him a great deal in developing his playing style. He attended the ‘Saratoga High School’ and was on the school’s football team.
He dropped out of high school midway, owing to his father’s new job as the head coach of ‘Denver Broncos’ in another city. The family had to move to Denver, Colorado, as a result. There, Kyle joined the ‘Cherry Creek High School’ and completed the rest of his high-school education.
Shanahan was offered a scholarship by the ‘Duke University,’ which he initially accepted. However, he later transferred to the ‘University of Texas’ in Austin. He played as a wide receiver on the ‘Texas Longhorns Football Program.’ He performed exceedingly well. However, despite being an above-average player, he expressed no considerable interest in playing in the ‘NFL,’ opting to go for a coaching career instead.
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Career
Following his graduation from the ‘Texas University,’ Kyle began his coaching career at the ‘UCLA.’ The team had just hired Karl Dorrell as the new head coach, who in turn hired Kyle to be his graduate assistant. However, his first season was not too impressive, as the college team only managed a score of 6–7 and performed abysmally in the ‘Silicon Valley Bowl.’
Kyle gave only one year to his college coaching career, and in the next season, he went straight to ‘NFL’ for his next coaching stint.
He joined the ‘NFL’ team ‘Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ as an assistant to the offensive quality control coach, under supervision of the head coach, Jon Gruden. For the next two seasons, Kyle helped the team in game planning and breaking down defenses of the opposition teams. His tenure with the team was not extremely successful, but it was not a complete disaster either.
He ended his term with the team after coaching them for 2 years. His team attained a score of 11–5, before they lost their first playoff game, during Kyle’s second year. He left the team, as he was offered a job as a first position coach with the ‘Houston Texans.’
The entire coaching staff of ‘Texas’ was replaced. Under the new head coach, Gary Kubiak, Kyle took over as a wide receivers coach in the first season in 2006. He eventually became a quarterbacks coach and an offensive coordinator for the remaining three seasons with the team. During that time, in 2006, Kyle was known as the youngest ‘NFL’ position coach.
The team was in shambles when Gary and Kyle took over. The team made slow but evident improvement in their game, and from 6–0 in 2006 to 9–7 in 2009, the team took quite some leap. However, appearing in the playoffs still remained a dream for the team.
However, the team improved significantly in the areas Kyle took over as a coach. When he was the wide receivers coach, the team’s star wide receiver Andre Johnson earned three ‘All-Pro’ designations.
In 2010, after 4 years with the ‘Texans,’ Kyle joined the ‘Washington Redskins,’ taking on as their offensive coordinator. His father, Mike Shanahan, had just been hired as the new head coach of the team.
However, the father–son duo could not do much to lift the team’s spirits, and the first two seasons were complete disasters. The team shocked the fans in the 2012 season, when they ended with a 10–6 scorecard and won the ‘NFC East.’
However, this was not enough for Kyle to hold his place on the coaching team. He was fired in 2013. In 2014, he was hired by the ‘Cleveland Browns.’ He joined as the offensive coordinator of the team, but following a dispute with the team management in 2015, Kyle resigned from his position.
In early 2015, he was hired by the ‘Atlanta Falcons’ as the new offensive coordinator. In his first season, he performed good enough to earn the ‘NFL Assistant Coach of the Year’ honor.
In 2017, he joined the ‘San Francisco 49ers’ as the new head coach and performed well enough to hold his place. He led his team to a winning streak toward the end of the regular season in 2017.
Family & Personal Life
Kyle and his wife, Mandy, have three children. They got married in July 2005.
When Kyle began his coaching career, he rejected a few early offers of working under his father as a coaching staff. He wanted to build a career separately. When he finally made a name for himself, he agreed to work with his father, coaching the ‘Washington Redskins.’
