[Treebound]

[quote author=washingtonismoney link=topic=17830.msg209217#msg209217 date=1509329027]
I'm not sure why everyone's so sure there's some elite bar for national championship winning success that Shaw doesn't reach. Gene Chizik has won a national championship. Les Miles has won a national championship. Mark Helfrich and Brian Kelly have reached the national championship game. Shaw is indisputably better than at least two of these coaches.

I'm not questioning whether Shaw can reach that bar. I'm questioning whether it's reasonable to criticize him for not having won one already at Stanford.

I do think there's a difference in Shaw being a NC caliber coach and Shaw being able to take Stanford to the promised land. Perhaps it's just the pessimistic Stanford fan in me, but I gotta think it's harder to take a group of kids from a narrow recruitment poll to the NC than it is to take kids that are recruited by Auburn, Oregon and ND.
[/quote]

I think there is a level of expectation at Stanford (amongst the coaches) that we can compete in ALL sports for a national championship.  Every Stanford coach I have ever met or heard speak in the last ten years is well aware of Stanford's ability to recruit a different caliber of Student athlete and the unstated pressure to win a national championship in their respective sports.  These coaches walk the halls with Tara, Coach Gould, John Tanner, Mark Marquess, etc... and they all aspire to achieve at these levels.  Shaw is no different.   

Do I think it is more challenging to win a championship in football (and hoops) - Yes, but I think we are now in the conversation and I'm grateful and hopeful that Shaw will get us there.  Shaw is a student of the game and a Stanford Man.  His decisions in this last game frustrated me heavily and I'm critical of his and the team's performance, but he's our coach and I think he's doing his best while and learning lessons as he goes.  Do I make mistakes in my job, yes, but it's what I do to learn from them that is critical for me.  I think he looks at it in the same way and I'm fine with that.  So let's learn from OSU and beat WSU and keep improving.  We still control our own destiny with regards the Pac 12 championship and hopefully Bryce can make a run at that east coast bias award as well.

[Treebound]

[quote author=washingtonismoney link=topic=17830.msg209217#msg209217 date=1509329027]
I'm not sure why everyone's so sure there's some elite bar for national championship winning success that Shaw doesn't reach. Gene Chizik has won a national championship. Les Miles has won a national championship. Mark Helfrich and Brian Kelly have reached the national championship game. Shaw is indisputably better than at least two of these coaches.

I'm not questioning whether Shaw can reach that bar. I'm questioning whether it's reasonable to criticize him for not having won one already at Stanford.

I do think there's a difference in Shaw being a NC caliber coach and Shaw being able to take Stanford to the promised land. Perhaps it's just the pessimistic Stanford fan in me, but I gotta think it's harder to take a group of kids from a narrow recruitment poll to the NC than it is to take kids that are recruited by Auburn, Oregon and ND.
[/quote]

I think there is a level of expectation at Stanford (amongst the coaches) that we can compete in ALL sports for a national championship.  Every Stanford coach I have ever met or heard speak in the last ten years is well aware of Stanford's ability to recruit a different caliber of Student athlete and the unstated pressure to win a national championship in their respective sports.  These coaches walk the halls with Tara, Coach Gould, John Tanner, Mark Marquess, etc... and they all aspire to achieve at these levels.  Shaw is no different.   

Do I think it is more challenging to win a championship in football (and hoops) - Yes, but I think we are now in the conversation and I'm grateful and hopeful that Shaw will get us there.  Shaw is a student of the game and a Stanford Man.  His decisions in this last game frustrated me heavily and I'm critical of his and the team's performance, but he's our coach and I think he's doing his best while and learning lessons as he goes.  Do I make mistakes in my job, yes, but it's what I do to learn from them that is critical for me.  I think he looks at it in the same way and I'm fine with that.  So let's learn from OSU and beat WSU and keep improving.  We still control our own destiny with regards the Pac 12 championship and hopefully Bryce can make a run at that east coast bias award as well.