10-08-2020, 07:38 AM
I've been a Stanford football fan for nearly five decades, since the Ralston Rose Bowls. I've attended Stanford games every season since the Ralston Rose Bowl years, and I'll continue to do so, whatever the outcome. I've enjoyed every season, though I have to admit that I didn't enjoy Teevens or Harris very much at all. For a variety of reasons, I enjoyed the different coaching styles of Walsh, Green, and yes, even Willingham. For a long time, I thought that the Willingham era was going to be the best we could do, and his teams beat Cal every year, went to four bowls in seven seasons, and a Rose Bowl. Given Stanford's recruiting limitations, I thought that was the best we could ever do. And as we suffered through Harris and Teevens, I merely hoped Stanford football would survive as a D1A/FBS division team.
Then the scales fell from my eyes, so to speak, when Harbaugh arrived. I don't think any of us thought he'd create a juggernaut. He'd had a succesful NFL career, did very well at San Diego, but had no substantive D1 head coaching experience. He brought EUTM, which was a great thing, but I don't think any of us knew what to expect. I thought that, if he could recruit at USD, he surely could recruit to Stanford, and he did. And to be candid, I think we all knew he was batsxxt crazy, but I think we all hoped it would be in a good way. And he was 12-1 in his final year with a 40-12 Orange Bowl over VaTech.
Then Shaw took over and extended the success in ways that we didn't expect. I don't think any of us expected eight consecutive bowls with three Rose Bowls in four years with a 5-3 bowl record, and the three losses were by 2, 3 and 4 points. We've all been ecstatic since.
At the same time, Shaw has (at least) three unfortunate tendencies. He turtles, his offenses are predictable, and he's not recruiting well. Let this little factoid sink in:
Buddy Teevens had better records (4-7) in two of his three seasons than Shaw did last year (4-8).
I think we're all worried about direction. I know I am. I predicted 2-5 because I don't expect any better. I really, really hope I'm wrong.
Then the scales fell from my eyes, so to speak, when Harbaugh arrived. I don't think any of us thought he'd create a juggernaut. He'd had a succesful NFL career, did very well at San Diego, but had no substantive D1 head coaching experience. He brought EUTM, which was a great thing, but I don't think any of us knew what to expect. I thought that, if he could recruit at USD, he surely could recruit to Stanford, and he did. And to be candid, I think we all knew he was batsxxt crazy, but I think we all hoped it would be in a good way. And he was 12-1 in his final year with a 40-12 Orange Bowl over VaTech.
Then Shaw took over and extended the success in ways that we didn't expect. I don't think any of us expected eight consecutive bowls with three Rose Bowls in four years with a 5-3 bowl record, and the three losses were by 2, 3 and 4 points. We've all been ecstatic since.
At the same time, Shaw has (at least) three unfortunate tendencies. He turtles, his offenses are predictable, and he's not recruiting well. Let this little factoid sink in:
Buddy Teevens had better records (4-7) in two of his three seasons than Shaw did last year (4-8).
I think we're all worried about direction. I know I am. I predicted 2-5 because I don't expect any better. I really, really hope I'm wrong.
Audaces fortuna iuvat