Surprise college football candidate interviews for Broncos head coaching job

The Denver Broncos reportedly interviewed former Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw for their open head coaching job.

The college football coaching name most often linked to the Broncos’ head coaching position has Jim Harbaugh. What if they hired a different former Stanford head coach instead?

That possibility opened up with the news that the Broncos just met with David Shaw, Harbaugh’s successor at Stanford who resigned at the end of the Cardinal’s 2022 season.

Adam Schefter and a host of others reported and confirmed the news of the job interview.

Former Stanford HC David Shaw interviewed today with the Denver Broncos about their head coaching job, sources tell ESPN. Shaw spent nine years in the NFL, from 1997-2005, with the Eagles, Raiders and Ravens, and is interested in returning to the pro game.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 12, 2023

Broncos ownership has ties to Stanford and David Shaw

Shaw took over for Harbaugh at Stanford in 2011 after serving as his offensive coordinator in Palo Alto.

The links between the Cardinal and Denver are clear. Team CEO Greg Penner has an MBA from Stanford. His wife and co-owner, Carrie Walton Penner, also has a masters from the university. Condoleezza Rice, who is part of the ownership group, is the director of Stanford’s Hoover Institution.

Shaw was unbelievably successful at Stanford early in his tenure. He won three Pac-12 championships and was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year four times. His 2015 squad finished at No. 3 in the polls.

However, he failed to win more than four games in any of the last four years.

He does have NFL experience. He did was a quality control analyst for the Eagles in 1997 and did the same job for the Raiders from 1998 to 200. In 2001, Oakland hired him as their QBs coach. He served as the Ravens quarterback coach from 2002 to 2004, coaching wide receivers instead in 2005.

It would be a bit of a surprise for Denver to land on Shaw as their pick for head coach but stranger things have happened.

If the plan is still to pursue Harbaugh as a top target, perhaps this interview could have served as some due diligence for an offensive coordinator gig.