What happens off the field this off-season will determine what happens on the field next season. And, as I suspect most of us agree, incremental adjustments won't cut it. The fix calls for a major overhaul.
But the inconvenient truth is that implementation of the very shakeup needed right now seems antithetical to David Shaw's apparent reluctance to see anything outside his blinkered view. I'm not convinced he sees a fundamental problem.
I salute Shaw for unprecedented accomplishments as head coach during the first half of his Stanford tenure. In my view he delivered a near miraculous return on what he inherited in 2011. Counter to what many have said, it was anything but auto-pilot coaching. Honestly, I did NOT expect such spectacular results when he was hired and I'm not sure anyone else did, either. We have all seen that given great talent, great assistants, a great recruiting system and a nationally-renowned S&C program, Shaw proved that he can win at a championship level.
Fast-forward to the obvious in 2019: a program in decline by virtue of concurrent declines in areas that propelled his success in the first five years, 1) player talent and development, 2) team health, and 3) assistant coaching. It's apparent that Stanford no longer recruits the caliber (or the number) of athletes it did during the Harbaugh and early-Shaw era. Obviously, Stanford no longer employs as many first-rate assistants as it did during those years, ones capable of developing the athletes it signs. And, perhaps worst of all, an obvious and alarming rate of injuries coincides with clearly diminished S&C leadership. These declines occured on Shaw's watch. They are his problems to fix.
What this coach does to return to "Early-Shaw" success will start becoming apparent in 2020. Results on the field will be conspicuous, either way.
But the inconvenient truth is that implementation of the very shakeup needed right now seems antithetical to David Shaw's apparent reluctance to see anything outside his blinkered view. I'm not convinced he sees a fundamental problem.
I salute Shaw for unprecedented accomplishments as head coach during the first half of his Stanford tenure. In my view he delivered a near miraculous return on what he inherited in 2011. Counter to what many have said, it was anything but auto-pilot coaching. Honestly, I did NOT expect such spectacular results when he was hired and I'm not sure anyone else did, either. We have all seen that given great talent, great assistants, a great recruiting system and a nationally-renowned S&C program, Shaw proved that he can win at a championship level.
Fast-forward to the obvious in 2019: a program in decline by virtue of concurrent declines in areas that propelled his success in the first five years, 1) player talent and development, 2) team health, and 3) assistant coaching. It's apparent that Stanford no longer recruits the caliber (or the number) of athletes it did during the Harbaugh and early-Shaw era. Obviously, Stanford no longer employs as many first-rate assistants as it did during those years, ones capable of developing the athletes it signs. And, perhaps worst of all, an obvious and alarming rate of injuries coincides with clearly diminished S&C leadership. These declines occured on Shaw's watch. They are his problems to fix.
What this coach does to return to "Early-Shaw" success will start becoming apparent in 2020. Results on the field will be conspicuous, either way.
Life is too short to waste on crap football.