This is about how I came to write a column about a Texas Longhorn junior walk-on wide receiver named Kyle Shanahan in 2001.
At the time, he was 21.
He was forthcoming about his coaching aspirations, and viewed now, his comments were eerily foreshadowing.
I had spent much of that summer in Texas and Arkansas, doing face-to-face interviews and research for Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming, which would be released in December 2002.
I had a fall week circled on the calendar for a final, supplemental trip to Texas — when the Colorado Buffaloes met the Longhorns, led by Chris Simms and Cedric Benson, on October 20.
I went down to Austin early in the week and met with Darrell Royal and James Street to connect dots and finish up.
On game day in Austin, I stayed on the Longhorns’ side, writing about their reaction to the 41-7 romp over the Buffaloes. I put in some ancillary interview requests, too, for a Monday column on Coloradans playing for the Longhorns. As the main podium part of the news conference wrapped up, that Texas wide receiver — who had played at Cherry Creek High School in the Denver area — was waiting for me in the back of the room.
Kyle Shanahan had developed into a valuable backup for the Mack Brown-coached Longhorns, and he caught three passes against the Buffs.
“I’ve got a bunch of friends on CU, and it was fun to get the ball there,” Kyle told me.
It was clear that Kyle considered the Longhorns’ program his coaching laboratory and that he hoped to follow his father, Mike, into coaching. At the time, Mike was in his seventh season as the Broncos’ head coach, and Denver had won the Super Bowls following the 1997 and ’98 seasons.
Kyle transferred to Texas from Duke after playing two seasons for the Blue Devils on scholarship.
“I went there excited, and I thought I could play there right away,” Shanahan recalled. “And I did play right away. But I realized football was important to me, and I shouldn’t be at a place that made me not happy. We didn’t really have that edge. We weren’t used to winning and we kind of acted like losers.”
A Shanahan accepting losing? It wasn’t going to happen. So after catching 13 passes in two seasons for Duke — his sophomore season lasted three games before he suffered a hamstring injury — Kyle transferred.
By 2001, Shanahan’s role as a backup in the Longhorns’ deep receiving corps was significant enough to warrant a scholarship, but it wasn’t much of an issue.
“I’m playing, and there are a lot of people who really need them,” Shanahan told me. “I’m happy with my situation.”
Shanahan settled on Texas in part because he had met Mack Brown when he coached at North Carolina (the first time), and Kyle and his father decided the Brown staff in effect would be good professors.
Kyle was adamant he was a player first, a coach-in-training second, but added that the Longhorns experience was helping him, “see things from another angle. I know not everything in coaching is good, but I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else but football. It has become such a part of my life.”
Shanahan also was insistent that he would begin as a graduate assistant on the college level. “It does help having my dad, but I definitely want to take the long path and make sure I pay my dues,” he said.
Two years later, Shanahan started out as a graduate assistant at UCLA under Karl Dorrell.
Yet even in 2001, he didn’t hide his ambition.
When asked about “the record I dream of breaking” for the Texas media guide, Kyle wrote: “Most Super Bowl victories by an NFL head coach.”
He goes after No. 1 on Sunday at Super Bowl LIV.
Shanahan’s coaching path:
- 2003: UCLA, graduate assistant
- 2004-05: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, offensive quality control
- 2006-09: Houston Texans, wide receivers, QBs, offensive coordinator
- 2010-13: Washington Redskins, offensive coordinator
- 2014: Cleveland Browns, offensive coordinator
- 2015-16: Atlanta Falcons, offensive coordinator
- 2017 – current: San Francisco 49ers, head coach
About Terry: Terry Frei is the author of seven books. His novels are Olympic Affair and The Witch’s Season, and among his five non-fiction works are Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming; Third Down and a War to Go; and ’77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age. Information is available on his web site, terryfrei.com. His woodypaige.com archive can be found here.
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