The Indiana Hoosiers had a magical first season under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti. They suffered only one loss in the regular season (at Ohio State), but still went 11-1 and secured a spot in the College Football Playoff. Cignetti, of course, came to Bloomington after a standout stint with the James Madison Dukes and brought much of his coaching staff with him, including co-offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and Tino Sunseri.

Make no mistake, Indiana performed well in just about every way under Cignetti during the 2024 season. But the offense, with Ohio Bobcats transfer Kurtis Rourke under center, was absolutely electric, with weapons all over the field. Additionally, Shanahan received deserved and tremendous recognition for his game design and the way he calls a game.

But when it comes to football, the name Shanahan naturally brings to mind the Shanahan tree in the NFL, namely current San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and his father, Mike Shanahan, the longtime coach of the Denver Broncos. However, this fact left college football fans wondering if the Indiana OC has any connection to the NFL Shanahan tree.

Although both Mike Shanahan and Kyle Shanahan are excellent coaches, they do not share a common family, just the same last name. Of course, this is pretty confusing considering he shares the same name as Kyle’s father, but that’s just a coincidence that could be pretty confusing if you didn’t know that the Indiana coordinator isn’t related at all.

Kyle Shanahan is the only son of legendary NFL head coach Mike. So when you hear from other Shanahans around football.

However, Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan has been involved in the game of football for most of his life. The 34-year-old Pennsylvania native played five seasons of college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers from 2008 to 2012 before briefly moving to the NFL, where he was on the practice squad for just one year. He returned to Pitt the following year, this time as a volunteer and then as an assistant on the football team’s coaching staff.

However, it was in 2015 when he met with Cignetti for the first time. He joined Coach Cig’s staff at IUPUI before soon following Elon and then James Madison. Shanahan was promoted to offensive coordinator in his third season with the Dukes in 2021 and then, as previously mentioned, joined Cignetti on the Indiana Hoosiers prior to the 2024 season.