Opportunity with Lions connects David Shaw to his past, ambitions put on hold, and best friend

Allen Park — David Shaw’s football life has been circles within circles.

The latest loop has brought him back to Detroit, where he spent a chunk of his youth. While his father, Willie, coached the Lions’ defensive backs from 1985-88, David starred as a receiver for Rochester Adams High School.

“Just as a kid, going to Oakland University (for Lions training camp), shagging balls and watching (former running back) James Jones, and following around (former wide receiver) Pete Mandley and those guys, it was just such a great time for me just to be around the NFL,” Shaw said. “It was my dad’s first NFL job, so to be there for training camp, to meet a lot of the players, and be there for the Monday Night Football game against the ‘85 Bears, that was an exciting time for me.”

Shaw parlayed his success at Rochester Adams into an opportunity at Stanford, where he played for legendary coach Bill Walsh. But it wasn’t long after Shaw exhausted his eligibility that he followed his father into coaching.

After a couple of seasons as an assistant at D-II Western Washington University, Shaw earned his first NFL job as a quality control coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997, working under offensive coordinator Jon Gruden.

A year later, Shaw followed Gruden to Oakland, where he connected with another young coach and former college receiver, John Morton. It would be the beginning of a lifelong friendship and one of the biggest reasons Shaw has joined the Lions coaching staff, where he’ll serve as Morton's right-hand man and head up the passing game for the Lions’ first-year offensive coordinator.

“He’s my best friend,” Morton said. “There’s gotta be one guy in this business that you trust, because it’s hard to trust guys in this business. He’s been the one. We grew up together, we’ve always been friends for the longest time, so we targeted him right away. And we were very fortunate to get him.”

If you met them separately, you might be surprised to learn they’re so tight.

“We present very, very differently,” Shaw said. “We are flip sides of the same coin. Super competitive, Gruden-trained, geared at truly how we can dissect this defense and use our assets to do that. We have a very, very similar mind in attacking defenses, and what we see in the game. While we present very differently, since the first day we have met, our personalities have meshed.”

With the Raiders, under Gruden, Morton and Shaw spent four years together, cutting their teeth. Shaw wound up coaching the quarterbacks before departing when Gruden was traded to Tampa Bay. Morton stayed on staff for a few additional years, eventually becoming the team's tight ends coach.

The two intersected again in 2006 when Shaw replaced Morton as the passing game coordinator and receivers coach under Jim Harbaugh at the University of San Diego. Like Morton, Shaw intended for it to be a one-year pitstop before returning to the NFL, but the one opportunity he couldn’t pass up presented itself.

“We won a national championship, we played really well, broke a bunch of records, and I was on my way back (to the NFL),” Shaw said. “Coach Harbaugh was up for a lot of different jobs from San Diego, and he kept saying, ‘Hey, I got a chance here, chance there.’ I said, ‘Jim, I told you, I’m going back. I’m done. I’m going back to the NFL. This was great, but I’m going back.’ And he said, ‘I have a chance to interview with Stanford.’ And I said, ‘Well, hold on a second. If you get that one, I’ll go with you, but no other ones.’ He got that one.”

In one of those full-circle moments, Shaw was back at his alma mater, serving as the offensive coordinator. And four years later, when Harbaugh made the jump back to the NFL, Shaw stayed, leading the Cardinal for another dozen years, breaking the school record for wins, and earning the conference’s Coach of the Year award four times.

While at Stanford, the NFL came calling. Constantly. Shaw estimates he received interest for an average of three head coaching opportunities each offseason. He didn’t entertain a single one. Running a pro-style system at Stanford, he was always studying the league. Regardless, he was committed to where his feet were planted, pushing aside his previous desire to coach professionally.

“I'm a coach's kid, so growing up in this thing, I have a lot of little principles,” Shaw said. “No. 1, when you have a job, get the most out of that job, not peeking over the fence. There are a lot of great things out there, and that's great. I had a great job and I wanted to get the most out of it. That was the thing for me. I always wanted to go back to the NFL, but so much of it is about timing. I loved what I was doing. I loved where I was doing it. I loved who I was doing it with. ...I wanted to finish that run, knowing that whatever was next was going to be next.

“The other principle I have is, not taking a job thinking about getting another job,” Shaw continued. “I don't think of this profession as stepping stones to other things. When I was going to take a job, I'm taking that job. So, I'm not taking this job to see if I can build enough equity to get a head-coaching job. I took this job to take this job. I want to be here.”

Shaw resigned from Stanford in 2022 after back-to-back 3-9 seasons. When he made the decision, he noted, “It's time.” After a year away from football, he joined the Denver Broncos last year, not in a coaching capacity, but as a senior personnel advisor. There, he had the opportunity to work with Morton for the first time since their time with the Raiders more than two decades earlier.

Shaw recently drove around Rochester, soaking in a little nostalgia. There's time for that now, before the grind begins in earnest. He’s recharged and ready to go into battle with his friend with one goal in mind.

“We’re not resting on our laurels,” Shaw said. “We’re trying to push the envelope. We’re trying to grow, we’re trying to push ourselves, push the players to be better, and that’s the goal every year is to be better, to go farther, and take our best shot at winning that trophy.”