Former Stanford coach David Shaw joins Denver Broncos front office

Former Stanford coach David Shaw is heading back to the NFL.

The Denver Broncos announced Thursday that Shaw, 51, would be the team’s Senior Personnel Executive. It’ll be Shaw’s first NFL job in nearly 20 years after he parted ways with the Cardinal after the 2022 season.

Shaw worked with Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton when both coached for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997. Payton was the team’s quarterbacks coach that season while Shaw was a quality control coach.

After serving as the Ravens’ wide receivers coach in 2005, Shaw moved to the college ranks in 2006 when he joined Jim Harbaugh’s staff at San Diego. Shaw spent a season at USD before moving to Stanford with Harbaugh and served as the offensive coordinator for the Cardinal for four seasons.

Shaw took over as Stanford’s head coach when Harbaugh went to 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 with the school and that success made him a coach who was frequently mentioned as a candidate for NFL head coaching jobs. Shaw never jumped to the NFL from Stanford, however, and the team’s success tailed off quickly at the end of his tenure.

Stanford cratered in Shaw’s final four seasons with the team. The Cardinal went 4-8 in 2019 and was 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.