[Goose]

Actually this team had little talent. Slower  than mud.   Physically dominated damn near every week. Decimated by injuries.  No coaching staff is going to be able to win with that set of circumstances.  But it doesn’t matter. It’s a results oriented job.  The results have been abysmal for a few years now. And the speed/strength deficit falls on the coach.  His job to recruit and develop.   Next…..  (Note- I think Lance Anderson deserves some props.  Defense was better than we had a right to expect.  Particularly given how much they had to be on the field.  They also improved as the season progressed.

I agree. Stanford has often had (lack of) speed problems and no amount of ability to catch the ball and great size can overcome that. Our OL has just plain been bad for "several" years. I place no stock in metrics that say "No, these guys are seventh best in the PAC-12" when the line is totally unable to move anybody. It is points on the board that matter, and our offense has progressively failed that test. Interestingly, the OL has been the one place Shaw has changed coaches, several times. I would say that hasn't worked out to well, at least so far. You are what your record says you are. That's it.

Unfortunately, due to the necessary usage of "Coach Speak", we don't know what David Shaw actually thinks about the horrible performance of his team. He may know exactly what is wrong, he may know exactly how to fix it, and he isn't "allowed" to do so. However, it is IMO much more likely he has a good idea what the problems are and has tried everything he knows to fix it. The slow mesh was one example of a desperate attempt to compensate for an OL he KNEW from the beginning of practice wasn't going to be very good. That hasn't worked. It is improbable the next thing he tries will either.

I am not of the opinion that finding a new coach for Stanford Football is going to be easy. Until there is a bit more clarity on how the PAC-12 will "work out" and what place Stanford will have, if any, in that "result", getting anybody who is any good is IMO improbable. They would, by accepting the job, be showing either poor judgement or failure to understand the situation :-). However, it has to be done. I am glad I am not tasked to do it.

[Goose]

Actually this team had little talent. Slower  than mud.   Physically dominated damn near every week. Decimated by injuries.  No coaching staff is going to be able to win with that set of circumstances.  But it doesn’t matter. It’s a results oriented job.  The results have been abysmal for a few years now. And the speed/strength deficit falls on the coach.  His job to recruit and develop.   Next…..  (Note- I think Lance Anderson deserves some props.  Defense was better than we had a right to expect.  Particularly given how much they had to be on the field.  They also improved as the season progressed.

I agree. Stanford has often had (lack of) speed problems and no amount of ability to catch the ball and great size can overcome that. Our OL has just plain been bad for "several" years. I place no stock in metrics that say "No, these guys are seventh best in the PAC-12" when the line is totally unable to move anybody. It is points on the board that matter, and our offense has progressively failed that test. Interestingly, the OL has been the one place Shaw has changed coaches, several times. I would say that hasn't worked out to well, at least so far. You are what your record says you are. That's it.

Unfortunately, due to the necessary usage of "Coach Speak", we don't know what David Shaw actually thinks about the horrible performance of his team. He may know exactly what is wrong, he may know exactly how to fix it, and he isn't "allowed" to do so. However, it is IMO much more likely he has a good idea what the problems are and has tried everything he knows to fix it. The slow mesh was one example of a desperate attempt to compensate for an OL he KNEW from the beginning of practice wasn't going to be very good. That hasn't worked. It is improbable the next thing he tries will either.

I am not of the opinion that finding a new coach for Stanford Football is going to be easy. Until there is a bit more clarity on how the PAC-12 will "work out" and what place Stanford will have, if any, in that "result", getting anybody who is any good is IMO improbable. They would, by accepting the job, be showing either poor judgement or failure to understand the situation :-). However, it has to be done. I am glad I am not tasked to do it.