[Austroturf]

I really don’t understand this argument. Yes, Shaw is terrible now and the time has come for him to go (although it won’t happen anytime soon). But Shaw is also responsible for directing several of the best seasons in program history. There’s no guarantee and I’d actually argue that it’s highly unlikely that Fangio or Roman would have been able to replicate Shaw’s early success. Shaw was the right choice at the right time for the job. The state of the program at the time was such that it accentuated his strengths and minimized his weaknesses. Over the long haul, the state of the program has changed such that his weaknesses are exposed for all to see. But our current struggles are a price I’d gladly pay 10 times out of 10 for the euphoria of the Rose Bowls we experienced.

If you are a true Shaw boo-bird you think that Harbaugh left such a treasure chest that any coach worth his salt could have accomplished what Shaw did from 2011-2015. That's BS of course, but some people have convinced themselves that it is true,

I also agree that Shaw was the right pick at the time.  He took Harbaugh's players and system and got spectacular results during his first five seasons.  The problem is that there were visible cracks in the foundation as early as the 2016 and 2017 seasons (despite our winning the North in 2017).  The trends were not good; the numbers pointed toward decline across the board.  And once rot sets in, the descent can be rapid (as we finally discovered in 2019).

Though I would assert that Wisconsin, for example, shot too early in firing Chryst this season, the administration at Stanford (and David Shaw) have let this downward process go on for far too long; and getting out of this morass will be a painful, multi-year process for any successor who takes on the turnaround project.  Shaw's ultimate failing is that he allowed the coaching staff to degrade during his tenure and never held his lieutenants accountable for their performance.

Seems to me like the inflection point was the two back to back blowout losses to Washington and Washington State in early 2016. We had won something like 14 out of our last 15 games up to then. Didn't seem to me we were ever quite the same afterward.

Damn good recollection. Makes good sense, too. In retrospect, the Pac12 North championship in 2017 was akin to the "dead-cat bounce". The end of the glory years was clearly in sight. Shaw was already coasting. Now? "Le Deluge". He had an unprecedented run and it should not be minimized. His time has passed, however. The longer he remains, the deeper the hole his successor will have to climb out of.

Yes, that 2016 blowout loss to the Huskies in Seattle felt like a sea-change: once the home of "intellectual brutality", Stanford was brutalized by the Dawgs on both sides of the line.  Burns and Chryst were running for their lives, while CMac was stymied every time he got the ball.  The first seven games of that season were a sign that the foundation for Stanford's brand of football was no longer firm, especially after that travesty of a home loss to Colorado (10-5!).  A few stand-out players, most notably Bryce Love in 2017, helped plaster over the cracks during this period; but the crumbling continued apace, and last night's game represents a logical nadir (or can it still get worse?).

[Austroturf]

I really don’t understand this argument. Yes, Shaw is terrible now and the time has come for him to go (although it won’t happen anytime soon). But Shaw is also responsible for directing several of the best seasons in program history. There’s no guarantee and I’d actually argue that it’s highly unlikely that Fangio or Roman would have been able to replicate Shaw’s early success. Shaw was the right choice at the right time for the job. The state of the program at the time was such that it accentuated his strengths and minimized his weaknesses. Over the long haul, the state of the program has changed such that his weaknesses are exposed for all to see. But our current struggles are a price I’d gladly pay 10 times out of 10 for the euphoria of the Rose Bowls we experienced.

If you are a true Shaw boo-bird you think that Harbaugh left such a treasure chest that any coach worth his salt could have accomplished what Shaw did from 2011-2015. That's BS of course, but some people have convinced themselves that it is true,

I also agree that Shaw was the right pick at the time.  He took Harbaugh's players and system and got spectacular results during his first five seasons.  The problem is that there were visible cracks in the foundation as early as the 2016 and 2017 seasons (despite our winning the North in 2017).  The trends were not good; the numbers pointed toward decline across the board.  And once rot sets in, the descent can be rapid (as we finally discovered in 2019).

Though I would assert that Wisconsin, for example, shot too early in firing Chryst this season, the administration at Stanford (and David Shaw) have let this downward process go on for far too long; and getting out of this morass will be a painful, multi-year process for any successor who takes on the turnaround project.  Shaw's ultimate failing is that he allowed the coaching staff to degrade during his tenure and never held his lieutenants accountable for their performance.

Seems to me like the inflection point was the two back to back blowout losses to Washington and Washington State in early 2016. We had won something like 14 out of our last 15 games up to then. Didn't seem to me we were ever quite the same afterward.

Damn good recollection. Makes good sense, too. In retrospect, the Pac12 North championship in 2017 was akin to the "dead-cat bounce". The end of the glory years was clearly in sight. Shaw was already coasting. Now? "Le Deluge". He had an unprecedented run and it should not be minimized. His time has passed, however. The longer he remains, the deeper the hole his successor will have to climb out of.

Yes, that 2016 blowout loss to the Huskies in Seattle felt like a sea-change: once the home of "intellectual brutality", Stanford was brutalized by the Dawgs on both sides of the line.  Burns and Chryst were running for their lives, while CMac was stymied every time he got the ball.  The first seven games of that season were a sign that the foundation for Stanford's brand of football was no longer firm, especially after that travesty of a home loss to Colorado (10-5!).  A few stand-out players, most notably Bryce Love in 2017, helped plaster over the cracks during this period; but the crumbling continued apace, and last night's game represents a logical nadir (or can it still get worse?).