The architect of San Francisco's offense in the 49ers' 1994 World Championship season, Shanahan not only can boast of three titles in the six years, but he is one of only 11 coaches ever to win Super Bowls with two different clubs.

Shanahan received a scholarship to Eastern Illinois University, where he played quarterback and lost a kidney in a spring game of his junior year, which began his coaching career a year earlier than was intended. Shanahan also received his bachelor's and master's degrees at EIU.

He began his coaching career at Oklahoma in 1975-76, serving as an assistant coach for the Sooners, and they won the national championship in his first year on their staff (1975). Shanahan was Northern Arizona's backfield coach in 1977 at the age of 24, and the Lumberjacks averaged a school-record 391.1 yards that season.

A year later, Shanahan returned to Eastern Illinois as offensive coordinator and helped guide his alma mater to the Division II title. The year before Shanahan's arrival the team was 1-10. In 1979 he served as offensive coordinator at Minnesota, where he implemented the run-and-shoot offense, with the result being that the Gophers set 40 school offensive records.

Mike moved on to Florida the following year, inheriting the second poorest offense in Division I football, as well as a team record of 0-10-1. In Mike's four years the team broke many offensive school records and went to four straight bowl games. During his stint at the college coaching level, his teams had a combined record of 77-29-3.

Recognized as one of the most dynamic offensive minds in the game, Shanahan thus was an assistant coach in college at age 21, an offensive coordinator at the Division I level by 25 and at the NFL level at 32 in his first Denver stint.