[cardcrimson]

I believe Shaw has commented on several occasions that it's not his job to motivate. (if I'm wrong, oh well, I'm going with what I've read here)

Fine if he wants to delegate that to the players, but it is his responsibility to recruit those that can inspire their teammates. Katie Meyer's fire was infectious. She got knocked down, got fired up, and crushed it.

Where's that fire on the football team? Does Shaw recruit that type of player, that type of leader (granted presumptuous of me to assume Katie's a leader when I've no connection to the women's soccer team)?

I don't know what my fellow west coaster's point was, but here is my thinking:

There is a reasonable possibility that we revert towards a less extreme injury situation next year, and that it is somewhat better than this year (important caveats about who else enters the portal, and what our injury situation, especially at defensive line, is).  I think we will be a ways from being a contender.

Longer term I'm a bit more bullish given the freshman class and our incoming recruiting class.  If we can plug some holes on the defense in what's left of the 2020 class and 2021 class, we can get back to winning ~8 games a year.  And that's where I sit longer term.  I think Shaw can sustain a 6 - 10 win team with occasional ups and downs around that.  I think we will be in the conversation for a conference title; I don't think we will win it at the same clip as Shaw did his first five years.  There will be room for improvement, and we will debate that ad nauseum on this board.

BC

I don't know what West Coaster's point was either. So why do you believe Shaw so successful his first five years and why do you believe he will not be able to match that going forward? Has the landscape of college football shifted that much that Stanford football has been put at a unique disadvantage relative to this first five years, or was he just an ~8 win coach riding what Harbaugh built?

[cardcrimson]

I believe Shaw has commented on several occasions that it's not his job to motivate. (if I'm wrong, oh well, I'm going with what I've read here)

Fine if he wants to delegate that to the players, but it is his responsibility to recruit those that can inspire their teammates. Katie Meyer's fire was infectious. She got knocked down, got fired up, and crushed it.

Where's that fire on the football team? Does Shaw recruit that type of player, that type of leader (granted presumptuous of me to assume Katie's a leader when I've no connection to the women's soccer team)?

I don't know what my fellow west coaster's point was, but here is my thinking:

There is a reasonable possibility that we revert towards a less extreme injury situation next year, and that it is somewhat better than this year (important caveats about who else enters the portal, and what our injury situation, especially at defensive line, is).  I think we will be a ways from being a contender.

Longer term I'm a bit more bullish given the freshman class and our incoming recruiting class.  If we can plug some holes on the defense in what's left of the 2020 class and 2021 class, we can get back to winning ~8 games a year.  And that's where I sit longer term.  I think Shaw can sustain a 6 - 10 win team with occasional ups and downs around that.  I think we will be in the conversation for a conference title; I don't think we will win it at the same clip as Shaw did his first five years.  There will be room for improvement, and we will debate that ad nauseum on this board.

BC

I don't know what West Coaster's point was either. So why do you believe Shaw so successful his first five years and why do you believe he will not be able to match that going forward? Has the landscape of college football shifted that much that Stanford football has been put at a unique disadvantage relative to this first five years, or was he just an ~8 win coach riding what Harbaugh built?