[Mick]

I don't think there was ever a question of Rittman's recruiting and coaching abilities.

The issue was the fact that he skirted NCAA rules (and was caught).

https://www.latimes.com/sports/more/la-s...story.html

The findings were severe enough that Rittman was given a one-year show cause penalty.

BC

For me, the softball fiasco was the first sign that Muir was shockingly bad at his job. In short, five Stanford softball parents demanded a meeting with Muir in which he was essentially blindsided. The meeting was initiated in part by Oregon softball coach, Mike White, whose daughter had been on the team and left because of a medical hardship...and lost her scholarship.
The parents intentionally bypassed Coach Rittman, and Muir saw fit to exclude him from the meeting or any communications about the team. An NCAA Athletic Director who allows parents to bypass a coach and exclude him from a meeting involving his players and refuses to tell the coach about it and conducts an investigation using a not-really-independent law firm that depends heavily on Stanford University revenue which does not interview key players, as those players stated?? Any of those five would be awful, but all together? Indicates he doesn't know what he is doing, that he's easily intimidated, that he doesn't back his coach. There are so many better ways to handle the situation than he did. Meet with the coach. Inform the coach. Conduct a meeting with all sides. BTW, the parents at the meeting claimed they had backing from the entire team...which they didn't. Muir ran it like a scared kid.

These links are from the Stanford Daily, the SF Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News, and they tell the story:

https://www.stanforddaily.com/2015/05/28...esignation
https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/05/27/o...its-knees/
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Coac...325754.php

Here were the five outcomes of that fiasco:

1) He clearly indicated to all of the other coaches that he'll go behind their back and won't support them.
2) He reached out to coaches of the top dozen softball schools, and they just laaaaaughed. "You treat and fire John like you did and you want me? I don't think so.
3) He was forced to hire Buddy Teevens an overmatched coach from Dartmouth.
4) He gave all the other softball coaches superb ammunition to compete for recruits.
5) A number of starting players quit and a number of recruits opted to go elsewhere.

[Mick]

I don't think there was ever a question of Rittman's recruiting and coaching abilities.

The issue was the fact that he skirted NCAA rules (and was caught).

https://www.latimes.com/sports/more/la-s...story.html

The findings were severe enough that Rittman was given a one-year show cause penalty.

BC

For me, the softball fiasco was the first sign that Muir was shockingly bad at his job. In short, five Stanford softball parents demanded a meeting with Muir in which he was essentially blindsided. The meeting was initiated in part by Oregon softball coach, Mike White, whose daughter had been on the team and left because of a medical hardship...and lost her scholarship.
The parents intentionally bypassed Coach Rittman, and Muir saw fit to exclude him from the meeting or any communications about the team. An NCAA Athletic Director who allows parents to bypass a coach and exclude him from a meeting involving his players and refuses to tell the coach about it and conducts an investigation using a not-really-independent law firm that depends heavily on Stanford University revenue which does not interview key players, as those players stated?? Any of those five would be awful, but all together? Indicates he doesn't know what he is doing, that he's easily intimidated, that he doesn't back his coach. There are so many better ways to handle the situation than he did. Meet with the coach. Inform the coach. Conduct a meeting with all sides. BTW, the parents at the meeting claimed they had backing from the entire team...which they didn't. Muir ran it like a scared kid.

These links are from the Stanford Daily, the SF Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News, and they tell the story:

https://www.stanforddaily.com/2015/05/28...esignation
https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/05/27/o...its-knees/
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Coac...325754.php

Here were the five outcomes of that fiasco:

1) He clearly indicated to all of the other coaches that he'll go behind their back and won't support them.
2) He reached out to coaches of the top dozen softball schools, and they just laaaaaughed. "You treat and fire John like you did and you want me? I don't think so.
3) He was forced to hire Buddy Teevens an overmatched coach from Dartmouth.
4) He gave all the other softball coaches superb ammunition to compete for recruits.
5) A number of starting players quit and a number of recruits opted to go elsewhere.