Eastern alum Mike Shanahan agreed Tuesday night to a contract with the Washington Redskins, making him the team’s new head coach and vice president of football operations. The Redskins and Shanahan came to a five year agreement that will pay the two-time Super Bowl winning coach $7 million each year.

Shanahan, a 1975 Eastern graduate, has a career 154-103 record in 16 NFL seasons – 14 of which were as the head coach of the Denver Broncos, who fired him after the 2008 season.

The Eastern graduate will be taking the reins the Redskins, who finished this season with the fourth worst record in the league at 4-12, but the poor record is something that Shanahan has seen many times before in his coaching career.

Shanahan held two, one-year, coaching jobs before returning to his alma mater. In the 1977 season, Eastern finished its football season with a 1-10 record. The year Shanahan came in as the offensive coordinator, 1978, the Panthers won a Division II title.

In 1980, Shanahan landed at the University of Florida. The Gators had been 0-10-1 the year before with the second worst offense in the nation. Shanahan stayed for four years, as the Gators went to four bowl games and set numerous offensive school records.

Shanahan’s career was on the fast track, after he had coached at five different schools at the college level. At the age of 32, he accepted his first job with the Denver Broncos of the NFL. Four years later, he had a head coaching job with the Los Angeles Raiders (now Oakland). His stint as head coach would last 20 games, before he was fired with an 8-12 record.

Shanahan wouldn’t have another head coaching job until 1995 when the Denver Broncos came calling. In his third year, the Broncos won the Super Bowl, in 1997. The next season, Denver would repeat as champs.

The Broncos made it to the playoffs seven times under Shanahan with the last time being in 2005. His career postseason record is 8-5.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Shanahan would be conducting interviews with the current coaching staff in Washington, in order to decide who he wants to keep on board; although, it is rumored that his son, Kyle, will be leaving his position as the offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans so that he can join his father’s staff.

According to the Post, one of Shanahan’s main priorities will be finding a replacement for Jason Campbell at quarterback. The Redskins have the fourth overall pick in April’s NFL draft.

Shanahan is familiar with the position. He played quarterback at East Leyden High School in Franklin Park, Ill. At the high school he was voted athlete of the year and was named the most valuable player in both football and track.

Eastern brought him to Charleston on scholarship, but lost him in his junior season when he lost a kidney while playing in the spring game. He graduated with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944 or admcnamee@eiu.edu.