[Goose]

The responsibility of the coach is to field a "winning" team composed of student-athletes that are a credit to the university. This year, he failed to do that, because it wasn't a winning team (defined in either a narrow or broad sense). That is on the team and on the coach(s). The coach also must present at least a reasonable public persona, i.e. not Sark. This is all that can be expected of a coach. He can't make the fan's care. In so far as that is anybody's job, it is the AD's job.

There are plenty of "dumb" things that the PAC-12 and Stanford have done that reduce fan interest. However, the basic fact is that Stanford has never had an SEC style following that lived and died for the football team. Back "in the day" we had our traditions and customs, just as we do today. However, those were never created by the coach, or the AD, or any official University program. They evolved from the team, the student body, and the fan base. For example, even if you could have a bonfire before Big Game, who today would actually go? It just isn't the "thing to do". Unfortunately, fan interest and student interest in sports is on the wane. It may come back, it may not. No amount of advertising or gimmicks or music between plays is going to change that, IMHO. For certain, the coach isn't going to change that either.

[Goose]

The responsibility of the coach is to field a "winning" team composed of student-athletes that are a credit to the university. This year, he failed to do that, because it wasn't a winning team (defined in either a narrow or broad sense). That is on the team and on the coach(s). The coach also must present at least a reasonable public persona, i.e. not Sark. This is all that can be expected of a coach. He can't make the fan's care. In so far as that is anybody's job, it is the AD's job.

There are plenty of "dumb" things that the PAC-12 and Stanford have done that reduce fan interest. However, the basic fact is that Stanford has never had an SEC style following that lived and died for the football team. Back "in the day" we had our traditions and customs, just as we do today. However, those were never created by the coach, or the AD, or any official University program. They evolved from the team, the student body, and the fan base. For example, even if you could have a bonfire before Big Game, who today would actually go? It just isn't the "thing to do". Unfortunately, fan interest and student interest in sports is on the wane. It may come back, it may not. No amount of advertising or gimmicks or music between plays is going to change that, IMHO. For certain, the coach isn't going to change that either.