Among the many stops during Mike Shanahan’s coaching career include a four-year stint at the University of Florida from 1980-83 as the team’s offensive coordinator. 49ers coach Kyle Shanhan was born just months before his dad took the job, in December 1979.
By the time Kyle could crawl around, he was a regular around the program for the team’s practices, as dad would bring him on the field and in the locker room.
Peggy Shanahan, wife to Mike and mom to Kyle, recently shared some funny stories about the Niners coach during a recent episode of the “Your Mom” podcast, hosted by Christian McCaffrey’s mom, Lisa, and longtime Pac-12 Network host/reporter Ashley Adamson.
Turns out that little Kyle almost got lost one time after his dad got absorbed by practice.
“One time, (Mike) forgot that Kyle was walking with him and someone found Kyle wandering in the stands at two years old,” Peggy Shanahan said. “Luckily, somebody realized who it was and they got him back to Mike. Oh my gosh, that was the last time that happened.”
That wasn’t the only harrowing thing to happen to Kyle Shanahan in his youth, as he once got impaled by a short fence in his front yard while trying to hop over it to take his dog for a walk.
“We had a black lab called Magic,” Peggy said. “Kyle was taking him outside and he decided to jump the wrought-iron fence instead of opening the gate, because he decided to do that, with the little spurs on the top, the points. He caught it and got pulled down on top of it. He was stuck. He got himself off (the fence). … Luckily, it barely missed an artery. But, it was a week he was supposed to go to the University of Texas for the preseason.”
A friend helped drive Kyle to the nearby hospital and he needed surgery. Despite missing just one game in his senior season with the Longhorns, Shanahan didn’t latch on as a player. The following year, he started his coaching career with a one-year gig at UCLA, before entering the NFL as a quality control coach for Jon Gruden with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004.
“Things work out,” Peggy said.
Kyle worked in the NFL for six seasons before joining his dad’s staff with Washington in 2010. Peggy Shanahan refuted the idea that Kyle benefitted from nepotism from the family name and Mike’s long NFL career.
“It’s not really just his dad,” Peggy said. “He watched a lot and learned a lot, but he learned defense from Monte Kiffin for Tampa Bay. He was there for three years. Then he went to Houston and he was there, coordinated there. That’s a normal thing for people to say.”
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