There is no prouder moment for a father than when a son follows in his footsteps. Kyle Shanahan gained his love for football from his father, Mike. That love propelled Kyle to want to be a coach, like Mike, and now Kyle is one of the great football minds in the NFL.

Kyle has an accomplished coaching career, but there is one more box that he needs to check off. Shanahan has led the San Francisco 49ers to four playoff runs, three division titles, four NFC Championship Games, and two Super Bowl appearances since becoming their head coach.

He was also the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons in the infamous New England Patriots comeback game in Super Bowl LI. Regardless of the outcome of Super Bowl LVIII, Kyle Shanahan's father will be proud of his son's success.

Kyle became a graduate assistant at UCLA in 2003. He spent one year coaching in college before beginning his NFL career with Jon Gruden in Tampa Bay. Kyle was the offensive quality-control coach from 2004 to 2005.

In 2006, Gary Kubiak brought Kyle in to be the wide receivers coach for the Houston Texans. Kubiak was the offensive coordinator under Mike Shanahan in Denver.

Kyle became the youngest position coach in the NFL. On January 11, 2008, Kubiak promoted Kyle to be the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL.

In 2010, Kyle left the Texans to join his father in Washington. After four disappointing seasons, Kyle, Mike, and the other coaches were fired.

Kyle spent one season as OC with the Cleveland Browns before taking over Atlanta's offense. Kyle won Coordinator of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year in his second season with the Falcons, resulting in his first head coaching opportunity with the 49ers.

Who is Mike Shanahan? 

Much has been made of the Shanahan coaching tree. Gary Kubiak, Anthony Lunn, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, and Mike McDaniel are some former assistants to Mike, who became head coaches in the NFL.

Kliff Kingsbury was a former player who became a head coach, while John Lynch is a former player who now serves as general manager of the 49ers. Kyle has had Robert Saleh, Mike McDaniel, and DeMeco Ryans all go on to become head coaches.

The Shanahans are becoming one of the great football families, and it all began with Mike.

Mike Shanahan's early life

Mike played high school football in Illinois in the late 1960s. He went on to become a quarterback at Eastern Illinois University, but in 1972 had a career-altering injury.

A vicious hit in practice ruptured one of his kidneys, which caused his heart to stop for 30 seconds. A priest was even summoned to administer the last rites to Shanahan. However, he made it through the scare but would never play again.

Mike still loved football, so he served as an assistant coach at Northern Arizona and Oklahoma after graduation. He returned to Eastern Illinois as their offensive coordinator and won an NCAA Division II National Championship. Shanahan worked as the offensive coordinator for the University of Minnesota for a season before heading to the University of Florida for four seasons.

Mike Shanahan's NFL career begins

Mike was a receivers coach and later offensive coordinator from 1984 to 1987 for the Denver Broncos. His offensive mind brought attention from Al Davis, and the longtime owner brought Shanahan in as head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders in 1988.

Mike went 8-12 during his time with the Raiders, highlighted by a growing feud with Davis and disdain from the players. Shanahan returned to the Broncos for a few seasons until the 49ers hired him as offensive coordinator in 1992.

Mike experienced a lot of success with San Francisco, capping it off with a Super Bowl in the 1994 season. Mike was allowed to return to the Broncos for a third time in 1995 as their head coach.

It took a season to get going in his second stint as a head coach, but Shanahan went 46-10 between 1996 and 1998. The team won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998, and in 2005, he passed Dan Reeves as the winningest coach in franchise history. Mike was fired after the 2008 season, failing to make the playoffs after beginning the season 8-5.

Mike Shanahan heads to Washington

The Washington Redskins had an interest in naming Mike their head coach partway through the 2009 season. However, they opted to wait until after the season, signing Mike to a five-year, $35 million contract. This was when Mike brought in Kyle to be his offensive coordinator.

Mike led Washington to an 11-21 record in his first two seasons but ended his third season on a seven-game winning streak to win the team's first NFC East championship since 1999. Washington was never the same after Robert Griffin III's knee injury in the 2012 playoffs, going 3-13 in the following season, which cost Mike his job.

This was the last time Mike would see the sidelines as a coach. He interviewed for several jobs in 2015 but wasn't given the position. His name was floated around in the late 2010s as a potential replacement for failing coaches, but nothing ever materialized.

We will surely see him celebrating alongside his son if Kyle finally wins his elusive Super Bowl. Until then, that is all we know about Kyle Shanahan's father, Mike Shanahan.