Denver Broncos Reportedly Interview Former Stanford Coach David Shaw: 'Interested In Returning To The Pro Game'

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While both Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh have recently been linked to the head coaching vacancy with the Denver Broncos, a somewhat surprising candidate emerged on Wednesday with David Shaw reportedly interviewing for the job.

Adam Schefter reported on Wednesday night that Shaw was interviewed earlier in the day, noting that the former Stanford head coach "is interested in returning to the pro game." Shaw spent eight seasons in the NFL as an assistant coach from 1997 to 2005.

While Shaw's résumé doesn't necessarily stack up to Payton's - who won a Super Bowl as a head coach - or Harbaugh's - who led an NFL team to the Super Bowl - the former college coach was incredibly successful at Stanford.

Shaw maintained Stanford to be a Pac-12 powerhouse after Harbaugh left for the NFL following the 2010 season. The Cardinal went 11-2 in Shaw's first year as head coach and won at least 11 games in four of his first five seasons at the helm.

David Shaw has reportedly interviewed for the Broncos head coaching job. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Like most other private universities on the West Coast, Stanford athletics took a nosedive when the pandemic hit in 2020 and hasn't recovered since. Shaw went 10-20 in his last three seasons at Stanford but was playing at an extreme disadvantage thanks to liberal leadership and well below-average NIL funds compared to the majority of other Power Five programs.

He resigned from Stanford a day after the conclusion of the 2022 regular season and did so with a 96-54 overall record.

Shaw, who has proven he can build a program, could be the type of coach the Broncos and specifically, Russell Wilson needs moving forward. He seems to be a coach who needs buy-in into a specific culture and system, and right now the Broncos don't appear to have buy-in on anything.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.