A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Printable Version

A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Printable Version

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A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Hank 91 - 04-23-2015

Good times last night. Here are some of the interesting things I got from Shaw: (I apologize for this disjointed mess; it's off the top of my head from what I can remember.)

Evan Crower still doesn't have a landing place, but they've made calls on his behalf.

Shaw doesn't seem to be a brobdingnagian fan of the graduate transfer rule, but acknowledges that it's good for kids. I asked him if there are rules regarding the recruiting of potential graduate transfers, and he said, "Yes, but everyone's ignoring them." Stanford could refuse to release these players, but as he says, there's no point to that.

I asked which incoming freshmen might see the field, and he quickly named Trent Irwin. "We have high expectations for him." Expectations to see the field, or to make serious contributions? "Serious contributions."

He also raved about Kevin Hogan, Kyle Murphy, and Christian McCaffrey, naturally, but specifically Hogan. Someone asked him what he was most excited about as he thinks towards next season, and he said, "The quarterback." He talked about how relaxed and confident he seems, and said that it was probably good for him in the long run to be able to look and realize that he played like crap for a good stretch of 2014. He expects really big things from him.

They expect Cameron Scarlett to be ready by fall, but no word on whether or not we'll see him on the field.

On Barry Sanders: "Barry has the talent and the ability, he just has to do it. He didn't get 300 carries last year, but he got 40 or so. He has to do something with those carries." Someone asked about how his attitude has been through this, and Shaw raved about him and said he could be a senator one day.

Shaw politely declined all questions about the current recruiting class, but I asked him about my perception that there are more academic-minded kids amongst the elite of this class, and he confirmed that, mentioning that things like that are cyclical. He compared this year's group to 2012 in that regard. That class worked out pretty well for us, if you remember.

I asked how Keller Chryst was looking. "Like a freshman." Then he said what WashingtonIsMoney is always saying -- there's nothing worse for a coach than having to play a young quarterback, especially in the Stanford system.

There was lots of talk about the virtual reality headset, and Shaw said the company is doing well. They've sold systems to three other (non-Pac-12) schools and have lots of interest from NFL teams.

Predictably, there was also lots of talk about Harbaugh and Michigan. One gentleman lead into a conversation with this, "I know you've beaten Harbaugh in one recruiting battle already..." but Shaw quickly cut him off -- "Two." But who's counting, right?

At one point a group of us were recounting different memories from Stanford victories over U/S/C, reminding each other of our favorite moments. One woman remembered how unbelievably loud the Coliseum had been when Luck threw that late pick six in 2011. At this point, Shaw broke in and said, "That was probably my greatest coaching moment ever. Andrew came to me on the sidelines, and I asked him, 'You okay?' He said, 'Yeah,' and I said, 'Okay.'" Laughter all around.

He also talked about when he and Harbaugh arrived and said something interesting. He said that when word got out that he was going to Stanford, his coaching connections in the Pac-10 immediately started calling him and telling him that they were inheriting a talented team. He initially refused to believe them, but then they said, "Look at the tape. There's tons of talent there, but they have no idea what they're doing." Later I found myself sitting with Evan Moore and Marcus McCutcheon, two players for that team, and I asked them if they would've believed at the time that Stanford would eventually become what it is today, if they ever felt like they were close. They both agreed that they would've believed the team might one day play in consecutive Rose Bowls, but that they were stunned by how quickly the turnaround had happened.

Regarding the tight ends, I asked how Dalton Schultz looked. His answer: "Amazing. He's going to push the other three guys, and they know it." He said he's a beast at the line of scrimmage, so I asked about his blocking. Shaw said, "He's our best blocking tight end."

Here's on thing that surprised me a bit. As much as Shaw has gushed over Marcus Mariota over the past two seasons, when some asked about him as an NFL prospect, he said was a good prospect, but not a great one.

Also, during his speech to the crowd, he joked that when he was done he was going to line everyone up in the grass and have a kicking tryout.

Finally, the best line of the night probably came from Tara. Someone asked about missing on Katie Lou Samuelson, and she shrugged her shoulders and said simply, "If you don't want the great education, you don't like the great weather, you don't want to be close to home, there's nothing I can do for you."

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - needle - 04-23-2015

Thanks for taking the time to write that up, Hank. Much appreciated.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - CornFed - 04-23-2015

That was really a fun read, Hank.Â I appreciate your spending the time to provide the recap.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Rally - 04-23-2015

Thanks very much, Hank.Â Fun to read and so encouraging.Â

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - TheFarm07 - 04-23-2015

Thanks for the recap, but where did Coaches Shaw and VanDerveer speak at?

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Hank 91 - 04-23-2015

(04-23-2015, 04:11 PM)TheFarm07 link Wrote:Thanks for the recap, but where did Coaches Shaw and VanDerveer speak at?

This was the Orange County Coaches' Swing. It was an outdoor barbecue on a ranch outside of San Juan Capistrano. The event is organized by the Buck Cardinal Club, and although I only heard of it four years ago, apparently it's been hosted at that location for forty years or so. Bernard Muir was also there, as well as the men's soccer coach. In past years they've featured women's volleyball and men's basketball, but Shaw has always been the big draw.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - winflop - 04-23-2015

Thanks Hank sounds like a fun event.

Anybody have the balls to ask Muir about MBB?

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Spiny_Norman - 04-23-2015

Great report, Hank!Â But, dang, what am I going to ask Shaw about tonight?Â You covered quite a lot.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Hank 91 - 04-23-2015

(04-23-2015, 05:00 PM)Spiny_Norman link Wrote:Great report, Hank!Â But, dang, what am I going to ask Shaw about tonight?Â You covered quite a lot.

Here's what I really wanted to ask but didn't: what goes into the thought process when deciding whether or not to redshirt a kid.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Hank 91 - 04-23-2015

Two more notes that I forgot. He talked about non-conference scheduling and what a puzzle it is when teams are scheduling ten and fifteen years out. He says he hates it. When I asked him about losing the Virginia series, he just shook his head. "I like to stay on top of most things connected to the program, but that just gives me a headache."

Also, as I mentioned, it's an extremely old crowd. At one point I saw someone across the way who actually looked young, and I wondered if it might be someone I knew. Then he turned around and it was Bernard Muir. I realize that at 45 I'm not young, but I'm still stunned that someone younger than I am is the athletic director of a major university. In fact, the combined age of Shaw and Muir is less than 90. I can't imagine you'd find that at any other D1 school.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Robbie - 04-23-2015

(04-23-2015, 06:01 PM)Hank 91 link Wrote:[quote author=Spiny_Norman link=topic=12063.msg117204#msg117204 date=1429833646]
Great report, Hank!Â But, dang, what am I going to ask Shaw about tonight?Â You covered quite a lot.

Here's what I really wanted to ask but didn't: what goes into the thought process when deciding whether or not to redshirt a kid.
[/quote]

Related, but off-topic. I remember talking to a physics graduate student who said he was getting his Ph.D. in four years - I said that was very impressive - that he must be very good. He replied that the best students actually take longer (because their advisors want to keep them around), and the worst students take longer (for obvious reasons), but the ones in the middle take less time.

I'm sure CTCard has more knowledge than I do.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Langdude - 04-23-2015

Quote:He replied that the best students actually take longer (because their advisors want to keep them around), and the worst students take longer (for obvious reasons), but the ones in the middle take less time.

Dang. I'm afraid to know which one it was for me.

-m.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - CTcard - 04-24-2015

(04-23-2015, 07:02 PM)Robbie link Wrote:Related, but off-topic. I remember talking to a physics graduate student who said he was getting his Ph.D. in four years - I said that was very impressive - that he must be very good. He replied that the best students actually take longer (because their advisors want to keep them around), and the worst students take longer (for obvious reasons), but the ones in the middle take less time.

I'm sure CTCard has more knowledge than I do.

Very few students get a physics Ph.D. in four years anymore. Though everyone wants the time period to be shorter than it really is, so folks tend to shave off time (i.e. a few weeks shorter than 5 years becomes 4, etc.)

There's probably a tendency that roughly fits what that student described to you. I would put it as: poor students take a long time for obvious reasons, good students often take on tough problems that are hard to solve and take medium amounts of time, some average students take on straightforward problems and get done faster.

Overall, time to Ph.D. degree is a poor measure of quality of the student.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - Mick - 04-24-2015

I was talking with a close observer of Michigan football who thinks Harbaugh will not have the dramatic impact he did at Stanford because UM's talent isn't actually there...it's just not a very talented team.Â Thinks Harbaugh will be lucky to go 7-5 (last year was 5-7) and pointed out that the spring game was a disaster and their QBs are really really awful.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - BobK - 04-24-2015

Like 2010 at Stanford?Â 3-3 with Luck in the Spring game then the Orange Bowl win climaxing a great season.Â

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - terry - 04-24-2015

(04-24-2015, 09:43 AM)Mick link Wrote:I was talking with a close observer of Michigan football who thinks Harbaugh will not have the dramatic impact he did at Stanford because UM's talent isn't actually there...it's just not a very talented team.Â Thinks Harbaugh will be lucky to go 7-5 (last year was 5-7) and pointed out that the spring game was a disaster and their QBs are really really awful.

Well, it took Harbaugh a while to get things going at Stanford. He went 4-8, then 5-7. Year three was the breakthrough year at 8-5.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - BobK - 04-24-2015

No Harbaugh took a team ready to quit to 4-7.Â

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - yvonne - 04-24-2015

(04-24-2015, 06:02 AM)CTcard link Wrote:[quote author=Robbie link=topic=12063.msg117219#msg117219 date=1429840966]
Related, but off-topic. I remember talking to a physics graduate student who said he was getting his Ph.D. in four years - I said that was very impressive - that he must be very good. He replied that the best students actually take longer (because their advisors want to keep them around), and the worst students take longer (for obvious reasons), but the ones in the middle take less time.

I'm sure CTCard has more knowledge than I do.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - CTcard - 04-24-2015

(04-24-2015, 11:26 AM)Yvonne link Wrote:Must students be officially registered at the school and paying tuition while they're working on the dissertation?

Actually a somewhat complicated question.

Almost every university has a residency requirement to get a PhD, i.e. they have to be registered students for enough terms. Sometimes once that requirement is satisfied, there are ways to save by not officially being registered.

The issue comes up in my field in that often the bulk of the PhD work is done at some big national facility (think Fermi Lab or SLAC). It would generally be cheaper for the advisor and student to not be a registered student (and not pay tuition, fees, and more importantly overhead on salaries) at the home institution while doing this work. That is mostly not allowed, precisely because the university loses where advisors gain.

Re: A Few Notes from Coach Shaw - stupac2 - 04-24-2015

(04-24-2015, 11:02 AM)BobK link Wrote:No Harbaugh took a team ready to quit to 4-7.

4-8.