Michigan Coaching Search: Rece Davis suggests David Shaw as candidate for Wolverines

Several names have come up over the past two days as consideration for the open head coaching job at Michigan. ESPN’s Rece Davis, though, suggested one that has yet to be said as far as someone who could be an option up in Ann Arbor.

Taking to social media this afternoon, Davis mentioned David Shaw, the former head coach at Stanford, for the Wolverines’ job. He could become a viable option, depending on how this search goes, after getting the endorsement here by Davis.

If I were in Warde Manuel and Michigan’s position, I’d have David Shaw very high on my list.

— Rece Davis (@ReceDavis) December 12, 2025

“If I were in Warde Manuel and Michigan’s position, I’d have David Shaw very high on my list,” Davis posted.

Shaw had been out of football altogether since he resigned at Stanford in 2022. He then returned to the sport last year in the NFL as a senior personnel executive with the Denver Broncos, and, in following OC John Morton, is now a passing game coordinator with the Detroit Lions.

In over 12 years with the Cardinal, Shaw led them to a record of 96-54 (.640). That includes a mark of 82-26 (.759) over his first eight years at Stanford from 2011 to 2018, with a bowl berth in every season to open his tenure. Stanford won eight-plus games in each of those seasons, 10-plus games in five of those, and earned rankings at some point in each of those years in the Top 15 of the AP Poll.

However, the final third of his tenure there is what led to Shaw’s eventual resignation. Stanford went 14-28 (.333) over his last four seasons as head coach from 2019 to 2022, with only one winning campaign in that time during the pandemic-shortened season when they played just six games in 2020.

Now, pending how this situation goes for the maize & blue since their firing of Sherrone Moore on Wednesday, Michigan could be left to consider an option like Shaw. That’s with much of the coaching carousel having already played out to this point.

So, based on what they may be looking for in this search, the Wolverines could do worse, even if only in the short-term, than a former college head coach with his past successes. Shaw is currently coaching at the professional level, just about an hour or so west of Ann Arbor.

This process still has plenty to work through, with further news to come in the next week or so. However, of all the suggestions so far, Davis provided maybe the least-discussed one so far in Shaw.