Kyle Shanahan is widely regarded as one of the NFL’s top head coaches. His coaching career began in 2004 as an offensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he quickly climbed the ranks. He has been the San Francisco 49ers’ head coach since 2017, guiding them to four NFC Championship Game appearances and two Super Bowls.
With Shanahan emerging as one of the NFL’s best coaches and offensive minds, there’s a lot more interest in his personal life, including his marriage. Here’s everything you need to know about his wife, Mandy Shanahan.
Who Is Kyle Shanahan’s Wife, Mandy Shanahan?
Kyle and Mandy are actually high-school sweethearts. They started dating while they were both students at Cherry Creek High School, just outside of Denver, in the late 1990s. At the time, Kyle’s father, Mike, was the Denver Broncos’ head coach.
Since Kyle was one year older and they went to different colleges, they ended up taking a break. Mandy attended the University of Colorado, where she majored in English literature. Kyle attended Duke University, where he played wide receiver, and then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin.
Around that time, Mandy’s mother, Nancy O’Donnell, was tragically diagnosed with Stage 4 gallbladder cancer when she went in for a gallstone removal. Nancy, described as a “vibrant and healthy eighth-grade teacher,” passed away just a few months later. This was an extremely difficult time for Mandy, who was an undergrad student in her early twenties.
She credited Kyle’s weekend visits for helping her to get through that trying time.
“He completely stunned me,” Mandy told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2017. “Kyle, hands down, got me through that. After going through that with him, I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. What was so alarming to me, being that young and going through something that devastating, I realized it’s not going to be the last sad thing that I go through.”
By 2005, the couple was married, so they will celebrate their 20th anniversary next year. They have had three children: two daughters, Lexi and Stella, and a son, Carter.
The matriarch of the family, Mandy has largely stayed out of the public eye. Most quotes attributed to her are about her husband. Nonetheless, even in those remarks, you can glean a strong sense of the kind of wife, mother, and all-around person she is.
“You hear that he’s hard to reach, or he’s arrogant,” she said. “Kyle’s been one of the most sensitive people I’ve ever been around, in a good way.
“He’s so in tune with people’s emotions and how people feel, and that’s what makes him such a gifted father and supporting husband.”