Denver Broncos hire Vance Joseph over Kyle Shanahan as next head coach

Denver Broncos general manager John Elway was expected to bring in a head-coaching candidate with Colorado ties, but it’s not the one many expected when the process began.

The Broncos hired Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph as their next head coach, to replace retiring Gary Kubiak.

The Broncos chose Joseph over Atlanta Falcons coordinator Kyle Shanahan, whose father coached Elway and the Broncos of the late 1990s to two Super Bowl titles. Joseph spent the past two days visiting the Broncos facility and canceled a scheduled interview for the vacant San Diego Chargers head-coaching position when it was clear a deal was going down in Denver on Wednesday.

The Broncos also interviewed Kansas City Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub, which gave Elway a nice swath of candidates from which to choose. But Elway picked the one with the defensive background.

Joseph, 44, steps into a great situation with a loaded Broncos defense, but his offensive coaching hires will be interesting. The Broncos struggled on offense during a 9-7 season, and the defending champions missed the postseason.

“During this process, we were very fortunate to spend time with three very qualified candidates who all could have been the next head coach of our team,” Elway said in a statement. “For us, Vance Joseph is the best fit to become the head coach of the Denver Broncos.

“Vance is very good football coach and teacher who is ready for this opportunity. His leadership qualities, his vision for building a championship team and his ability to get the most out of players are off the charts. In talking with Vance, the culture that he believes in and the culture of our organization are closely aligned and focused on one thing: Winning. He understands the high expectations this franchise has always had under Pat Bowlen, and he embraces them.

“We had the chance to get to know Vance a few years ago during his interview, and since that time, he’s only continued to have success and grow as a coach. I’m very excited to welcome Vance and his family to Denver, and I look forward to working with him on our goal of competing for World Championships.”

Shanahan has done a great job this season calling plays for the NFL’s highest-scoring offense, and his connections to Elway and Kubiak — they run basically the same Mike Shanahan-steeped offense — were thought to be huge advantages in potentially landing the job. Kyle Shanahan basically grew up around the Broncos’ facility as a prep quarterback while Elway and his father were in their primes.

But Elway sent out a tweet early this week that almost made it sound like he was moving away from Shanahan, even while praising him.

And from that point on, the momentum with Joseph grew — even as his injury-plagued unit had a disappointing finish to the season, capped with Sunday’s wild-card loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Elway is banking on a rising coach without any head-coaching experience, who has been an NFL coordinator just one season. Previous to running Miami’s defense this season, Joseph served as a defensive backs coach for the San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans (on Kubiak’s staff there) and Cincinnati Bengals over the past decade. Joseph played his college ball as a quarterback and running back at Colorado in the early 1990s, and his close relationship with Broncos director of player personnel Matt Russell — Joseph’s teammate with the Buffaloes — is believed to have played a big role in the Broncos considering him so strongly. Joseph also spent two seasons in the NFL as a cornerback, one with the New York Jets in 1995 and another with the Indianapolis Colts in 1996.