Shanahan visits for first time since 2008

Mike Shanahan led the Broncos to a pair of Super Bowl championships, but since his firing in 2008, the former NFL head coach had not visited practice at the team’s facility.

A decade-plus-long absence that finally ended Saturday.

Shanahan, who posted a 138-86 record over 14 seasons coaching Denver, slowly made his way across the grass at Uchealth Training Center in between hugs and handshakes just before the Broncos entered a team scrimmage period. Shanahan was later seen chatting with team president/ceo Joe Ellis, general manager John Elway, coach Vic Fangio and others.

“I was glad to have Mike here,” Fangio said. “I invited him out for the spring work but the schedules never matched up. I think it’s good he’s here. Mike has a big part in the rich history of this franchise. He’s welcome to come here anytime he wants.”

Fangio has faced Shanahancoached teams several times throughout his long NFL assistant coaching tenure and has known him as a competitor. Only in the last five or so years, Fangio said, had the pair grown closer in friendship. Broncos’ secondround rookie offensive lineman Dalton Risner is a Colorado native who cheered on the Shannahan-led Broncos as a kid from Wiggins.

“I didn’t get a chance to shake his hand, but I saw him, which was really cool,” Risner said. “That’s who I grew up watching.”

Shanahan left the Broncos’ facility before a media interview request could be made, per the team’s public relations staff. But don’t be surprised if Shanahan makes another appearance during camp. On Aug. 17 and 18, Denver is hosting joint practices with the 49ers; whose head coach is his son, Kyle Shanahan.