Detroit Lions Hire Former Stanford HC David Shaw

Jason Burke | Jan 31, 2025

Nov 5, 2022; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw before the game against the Washington State Cougars at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions are bringing in former Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw to be the team's new passing game coordinator, as first reported by NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero. Shaw took over the Stanford gig from Jim Harbaugh in 2011 and remained with the program through 2022.

Shaw immediately had success and landed the Stanford program in eight straight Bowl games, on top of the two that Harbaugh led the program to before his departure for the San Francisco 49ers job.

Yet, as NIL deals and the transfer portal began to take hold in college athletics, the Cardinal began to slip under Shaw's leadership and has still yet to recover. In the final two years under Shaw, the Cardinal went 3-9 each season and finished a combined 3-15 in the Pac-12.

After taking a year completely off from coaching football, instead taking a job with NFL Network, Shaw made his way to the NFL as a senior personnel executive with the Denver Broncos, which is also where new Detroit Lions offensive coordinator John Morton spent the 2024 season.

It's also funny that former Lions OC Ben Johnson, who is now the head coach of the Chicago Bears, was interviewing Shaw for Chicago's OC position, but Shaw is instead joining Johnson's former team.

Shaw interviewed for the head coaching role with both the Bears and New Orleans Saints before landing with the Lions.

According to NFL.com, it's looking as though "Shaw will replace Tanner Engstand, who served as Lions passing game coordinator in 2023 and 2024, but has emerged as the favorite for the Jets offensive coordinator job, per Pelissero."

With Detroit holding a 27-7 record the past two regular seasons, it was fully expected that a run would be made on their coaching staff. Now the question will be whether the new additions to the staff can maintain the same level of excellence that Detroit has shown the past three seasons under Dan Campbell.