After serving as Stanford’s offensive coordinator for four seasons under 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw was appointed head football coach on January 13, 2011. Through his third season as the Cardinal head coach, Shaw holds a remarkable 28-4 career record. Stanford is ranked 5th in the latest AP poll.
Shaw guided the Cardinal to a 12-2 record in 2012 and its first Pac-12 Championship in 13 years. The campaign culminated with Stanford’s first Rose Bowl victory in over 40 years, a 20-14 win over Wisconsin in the 2013 edition of The Granddaddy of Them All. Shaw is the first African American coach to win a Rose Bowl game.
The Rose Bowl berth marked the third consecutive BCS bowl for Stanford, a feat claimed by just seven other schools. Shaw is one of four individuals to lead a team to back-to-back BCS bowls in their first two seasons as a college head coach. Shaw was named the 2012 Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year, becoming the second coach to earn the honor outright in consecutive seasons since the award’s inception in 1975.
In 2012, Stanford earned the AFCA’s Academic Achievement Award after leading the country with a 100 percent Graduation Success Rate for its graduated class that year, becoming the first program ever to win both the award and a BCS bowl game in the same season.
A four-year letterwinner at Stanford from 1991-94 as a receiver, Shaw was a member of Stanford’s 1991 Aloha Bowl team coached by Dennis Green that finished the season with an 8-4 mark and was the third-highest scoring team in school history. He was also on the Cardinal team which went 10-3 and won the 1993 Blockbuster Bowl under the direction of head coach Bill Walsh. He also competed in a varsity track meet and a varsity basketball game while at Stanford before graduating in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
Shaw’s father, Willie, had two separate coaching stints at Stanford (1974-76, 1989-91) during his 33-year coaching career, which also included time with the Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams.
Stanford announced in April of 2013 that its defensive coordinator position had been endowed by a generous gift from an anonymous donor, named in honor of Willie Shaw.
Born in San Diego, Calif., Shaw and his wife Kori are the parents of three children — Keegan, Carter and Gavin.