How Kyle Shanahan went from shadowing his father and working for 6 different franchises to becoming the mastermind behind the San Francisco 49ers juggernaut

Meet Kyle Shanahan, the mastermind behind this season's San Francisco 49ers.

The 40-year-old third-year head coach is one of the younger head coaches in the NFL.

But he has spent his entire life preparing to take the helm in the pros.

He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where his father, Mike, was beginning to make a name for himself as the head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Throughout Kyle's childhood, Mike climbed the coaching ladder.

And by the time Kyle reached high school, his dad had spent time as both the Oakland Raiders' head coach and the San Francisco 49ers' offensive coordinator.

Mike eventually took over the helm for the Denver Broncos and, two years later, led them to back-to-back Super Bowl victories.

Kyle, meanwhile, accepted a scholarship to play wide receiver for the Duke Blue Devils before transferring to the University of Texas during his redshirt freshman season. He finished his career with 127 yards on 14 receptions.

After graduation, Shanahan spent some time at UCLA as a graduate assistant before landing a gig under Jon Gruden as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' assistant coach for offensive quality control.

In 2006, Gary Kubiak, who had been Mike's offensive coordinator in Denver, hired Kyle as the wide receivers coach for his Houston Texans, making him the youngest position coach in the NFL at the time.

Source: ESPN

He quickly worked his way up the chain of command. First, he was promoted to quarterbacks coach. Then, one year later, he became the team's offensive coordinator.

He left Houston to join his father in Washington as offensive coordinator but only lasted three seasons before the entire staff got fired.

But a few months later, the Cleveland Browns picked up the offensive mastermind to take over as offensive coordinator.

But things were not going well for him in Ohio, so he created a list of 32 reasons why the team should let him out of his contract.

Read more: 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan once made a 32-point presentation on why the Browns should let him out of a job, and it changed his career

It worked, and Shanahan took his talents to Atlanta, joining the Falcons just 10 days after resigning from the Browns.

The offense he designed for Matt Ryan and company was the most prolific in the league and helped them earn a spot in Super Bowl LI.

He earned NFL assistant coach of the year honors for his efforts and was hired as the San Francisco 49ers head coach just one day after Super Bowl LI.

But his tenure at the helm got off to a rocky start. The 49ers lost their first nine games during the 2017 season.

San Francisco managed to bounce back later in the year, winning six of its final seven games and bringing former New England Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo into the fold.

The team endured a backslide the following season, winning just four games and losing Garoppolo early in the year with an ACL tear.

But his first-string QB returned in time for the 2019 season, and the 49ers soared from there.

San Francisco went 13-3 during the regular season and beat the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs to win the NFC Championship.

Now, at just 40 years old, he's 60 minutes away from becoming the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl ring since a 36-year-old Mike Tomlin won with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009.

Now read up on Eastern Illinois, the little-known FCS program where Jimmy Garoppolo, Tony Romo, Sean Payton, and Mike Shanahan developed into big-name NFL stars:

Little-known Eastern Illinois University produced some of the most impressive minds and arms in the NFL — including Jimmy Garoppolo — thanks to a unique combination of luck and skill