Mike Shanahan: Did He Coach Himself Out Of The NFL?

Mike Shanahan is out of a job as the NFL season approaches. It is not a position that the 61 year old former head coach has much experience with. Mike Shanahan has been around the NFL, beginning with the Los Angeles Raiders in the early eighties for over 40 years. Now, the coach is finding forced retirement to be a little unsettling.

Shanahan told USA Today last week that, “It’s always a little bit weird anytime you aren’t headed to camp this time of year – especially when you’ve done something for 40 years.” Of course Shanahan doesn’t want this to be the end. He wants to keep coaching if the opportunity presents itself. And by opportunity, Shanahan hopes to return to a Super Bowl contender.

“If I get back into coaching, it would have to be a situation where there was a realistic opportunity to win a Super Bowl,” and, “it would have to be with the right ownership.”

Following a rocky start in Los Angeles, Mike Shanahan took a heralded route to becoming the head coach of the Denver Broncos in the mid 1990s. Shanahan successfully ran the San Francisco 49ers offense as the offensive coordinator from 1992 to 1994. In Denver, Shanahan won back to back Super Bowls and eventually became the winningest coach in franchise history.

By 2008, the Denver Broncos realized it was time for a change and Mike Shanahan was fired. The slippery slope had begun. Shanahan was hired by Dan Snyder in 2010 to coach the Washington Redskins. Shanahan was given responsibility as vice president of football operations. What transpired over the next few seasons was high drama and not a lot of winning.

One of the major reasons for the decline of Mike Shanahan was over coaching. Shanahan gained a reputation across the league as a micro manager, who would over ride his coordinators. Just this past week, Deangelo Hall called out Mike Shanahan for calling defensive plays and ignoring defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. Hall told Comcast Sportsnet Washington, “You know, we were going through all week practicing a certain call, knowing that we were going to call it in certain situations. And there would be certain times where Mike WOULD overrule Jim. And I told Jim, I understand where you’re coming from. There are certain techniques and things that I want to do that Mike would tell me the same thing — ‘Well, you know, I kind of want you to play it like this as opposed to that.'”

As long as Mike Shanahan was winning, it seems everyone looked the other way. It turns out, the reality is that Mike Shanahan probably coached himself out of a job. At 61 and with a reputation for alienating players and owners, it doesn’t seem likely that Shanahan will be getting another shot. But of course this is the NFL. Anything is possible.

[Image via USATSI]