The Catalyst

By Trevor Daggers, Reporter

Following the recent implosion of the Denver Broncos, which in turn caused them to barely miss out on the playoffs; they have fired their veteran coach and replaced him with a young, fiery colt.
December 30, 2008 marked the end of Mike Shannahan’s twenty-one year career after the Broncos owner, Pat Bowlen, decided to replace him. The announcement came nearly forty-eight hours after the Denver Bronco’s missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
During the recent NFL regular season, the Denver Broncos held a four game lead over the San Diego 49ers. Starting in December, Denver went on a four game loosing streak while San Diego did just the opposite, “The Bronco’s loss could easily be considered one the largest falls from glory in history.”

During his long career, Mike Shannahan spent the last fourteen years as the Bronco’s head coach, leading them to two Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998 with star quarterback John Elway. However, following Elway’s retirement, the Denver Bronco’s have reached the playoffs four times in the past decade, yet they’ve only won one game.

During their 2005 season, the Denver Broncos went on with a 13-3 regular season record and even won a first round playoff game. Conversely however, their following three seasons were among their worst to date in which they went 9-7, 7-9, and 8-8 resulting in the termination of their head coach and a drastic turnaround for their coaching staff.

On January 12, 2009, Josh McDaniels was named the 12th head coach of the Denver Broncos franchise with a four year contract estimated to be worth about $8,000,000.00.

According to the Washington Post, McDaniels, whose impressive career has yielded him three Super Bowls, four AFC championships, six division titles and a near perfect season in 2008 with the New England Patriots, feels that despite his age he can bring glory back to the Denver Broncos, “My age has never been a factor, it’s never going to be a factor. It’s about performance. It’s about what you’re capable of getting the players to do.”

After graduating from John Carroll University as a star quarterback, McDaniels joined the Michigan State University team as a graduate assistant in 1999. Two years later, he was noticed by Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, and was signed on as a coaching assistant.

Throughout his next eight years with the Patriots he served as their offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, leading them to the league’s best overall record of 111-34. Also, McDaniels led the Patriots to three Super Bowl wins (2001 XXXVI, 2003 XXXVIII and 2004 XXXIX), and helped transform quarterback Tom Brady, into the scoring machine of the NFL.

January 13, 2009, marked yet another change in the Bronco’s coaching line-up as Mike Nolan, former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, was hired by McDaniels as the new defensive coordinator. Nolan, who served as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, New York Jets and the Baltimore Ravens was picked up by the 49ers in 2005. However, this past season he was fired for starting the team out with a 2-5 record.

Pat Bowlen realizes his new staff’s potential, “I know Josh can fix this defense, and I believe he can. (Nolan has) coached for me before, I know him, he knows us and what we’re about here.”

Born in 1976, Josh McDaniels is younger than a few of his players, however, many fans are optimistic about his coaching abilities, “He’s young, but its ok, he’s alright. He’s been with some good coaches though,” said T.J. Pollock, Fruita Monument High School junior.

Many Denver Broncos fans are excited for the change brought to their team and are willing to accept a new coach who has a history of turning teams into Super Bowl winning machines.