The Denver Broncos introduced former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their new head coach yesterday, in front of a packed house at the team’s practice facility.

Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, who fired longtime coach Mike Shanahan after an 8-8 season, seems to have found Shanahan version 2.0 in McDaniels — the 32-year-old offensive whiz.

Shanahan also was regarded as an offensive guru when Bowlen hired him in 1995 and delivered two Super Bowl titles to the Mile High city.

Wearing an orange tie to reflect his new allegiance, McDaniels thanked his wife, parents, and Patriots owner Robert Kraft in his opening remarks, then gave a thank you to Bill Belichick, the man who gave him his start in the NFL, “for providing me my foundation in this league and mentoring me for eight years. I’ve formed a special bond with him that will last long after I’m done coaching in this game and my appreciation for what he’s done for me can’t be expressed just in words.”

Bowlen interviewed seven candidates , but only McDaniels had a second interview. He agreed to a four-year contract with Denver on Sunday night.

McDaniels also sat down with Cleveland owner Randy Lerner, and the Rams had requested to speak with him as well. Last year, after New England had the most prolific offensive season in NFL history, McDaniels turned down a chance to interview with Atlanta.

But McDaniels acknowledged that he had been preparing over the last year to be a head coach.

“I feel the timing is right,” he said. “When the job came open, certainly it was something I had to look at very seriously — it’s a great place with a great history and a great tradition. The culture is about winning — you don’t have to create it.”

A graduate of John Carroll University, also the alma mater of Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, McDaniels has the blessing of Belichick. New England released a statement, in which Belichick praised his former assistant.

“Josh McDaniels is one of the finest people and brightest, most talented coaches I have ever worked with,” he said. “Josh is a very well-rounded coach whose outstanding body of work speaks for itself.”

New England must now find a new offensive coordinator: the in-house candidates would appear to be receivers coach and former Brown standout Bill O’Brien and tight ends coach Pete Mangurian, who ran the Falcons offense in 2003.

Football is in McDaniels’ blood. He was raised in Canton, Ohio, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and his father Thom is a high school coaching legend in the area.

Josh McDaniels got his start as a graduate assistant at Michigan State in 1999, where the head coach was former Belichick assistant Nick Saban. Two years later, he joined the Pats as a personnel assistant. Before long, he was working as a defensive coaching assistant.

In 2004 McDaniels moved to quarterbacks coach, charged with guiding Tom Brady, just eight months younger than he, and the rest of New England’s signal-callers.

McDaniels became the Pats’ offensive coordinator in 2006, though he did much of the play-calling in the ’05 season. He likely cemented his credentials this year, when without Brady and with Matt Cassel under center, the Patriots finished as the fifth-ranked offense in the league.

Despite being the youngest active head coach and third-youngest head coach in NFL history, McDaniels is not worried about how he’ll be received.

“My age has never been a factor, and it never will be a factor. It’s about performance…It’s about doing your job to the best of your ability and that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.