Following a 3-13 season with the Redskins, Mike Shanahan was replaced as head coach by Jay Gruden, but while the 61-year-old won’t be coaching an NFL team this year, that doesn’t mean he’s leaning toward full-time retirement. As he tells Jarrett Bell of USA Today, Shanahan still has plenty of interest in returning to the sidelines if the conditions are right.
“If I get back into coaching, it would have to be a situation where there was a realistic opportunity to win a Super Bowl,” Shanahan said. He went on to add that “it would have to be with the right ownership.” Both of Shanahan’s conditions are notable, since they represent a departure from his last job in Washington, where he undertook a rebuilding project under one of the most hands-on owners in the league, in Dan Snyder.
Although a handful of head coaching positions open up at the end of each season, Super Bowl contenders generally aren’t eager to overhaul their staffs unless the team drastically underperformed in the regular season or playoffs, so it will be interesting to see if any such opportunities arise for Shanahan in 2015. For now, the former Broncos and Redskins coach turned down an opportunity to work for FOX and has been spending time traveling with his wife. He admits though, that it feels odd not to be employed by an NFL team at the moment.
“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,” Shanahan said.