[CardinalSagehen]

And I think that Shaw is the only one who can realistically have that conversation...a new coach wouldn't have the power base to legitimize that conversation and would be brought in to say "sure, we can compete with these oppressive academic boundaries strangling us..."

As a longtime Shawpologist that would very much like to agree, I disagree.

Either Shaw has finally accepted, more than a year after everyone else, that we need the transfer portal (yet another miscalculation to add to the list), or he has been incapable of getting anything done until now.  As you say, it's not even clear how much he has achieved because he's still going to negotiate the admission of certain student-athletes, and we don't know how that will work out.

We find ourselves more than a year behind all other serious contenders in this crazy rat race. It is highly improbable that the transfer portal turns out to be a net-positive for us this off-season. It's really just a stop-gap to make up for some of the losses that we are likely to experience.

One option is to bring in an up-and-coming coordinator from a school that has already been doing the portal and NIL successfully.  How about we try that?  That person might have more credibility and more experience on the matter than Shaw. In addition to managing the admissions process, the coach is actually going to have to be good at identifying and attracting the athletes. Does Shaw and his insular staff even know the going rate for a 300-pound game-wrecking DL or an elite QB?

I don't think Harbaugh flinched as much as Shaw does when someone told him we had to do something the "Stanford Way." The football coach's job, within reason, is to advocate for a successful football team.  It's other people's jobs to push back on the football coach and create a healthy balance.
 
To be clear, I wouldn't prioritize only NIL/transfer knowledge as the selection criterion for a new coach - it's just one of many areas where a fresh approach and fresh eyes are needed.  It's a fallacy to think we just need a few tweaks.  We need a complete rebuild.  The man who built the castle and oversaw its decay should not be the one to knock it down and rebuild.

[CardinalSagehen]

And I think that Shaw is the only one who can realistically have that conversation...a new coach wouldn't have the power base to legitimize that conversation and would be brought in to say "sure, we can compete with these oppressive academic boundaries strangling us..."

As a longtime Shawpologist that would very much like to agree, I disagree.

Either Shaw has finally accepted, more than a year after everyone else, that we need the transfer portal (yet another miscalculation to add to the list), or he has been incapable of getting anything done until now.  As you say, it's not even clear how much he has achieved because he's still going to negotiate the admission of certain student-athletes, and we don't know how that will work out.

We find ourselves more than a year behind all other serious contenders in this crazy rat race. It is highly improbable that the transfer portal turns out to be a net-positive for us this off-season. It's really just a stop-gap to make up for some of the losses that we are likely to experience.

One option is to bring in an up-and-coming coordinator from a school that has already been doing the portal and NIL successfully.  How about we try that?  That person might have more credibility and more experience on the matter than Shaw. In addition to managing the admissions process, the coach is actually going to have to be good at identifying and attracting the athletes. Does Shaw and his insular staff even know the going rate for a 300-pound game-wrecking DL or an elite QB?

I don't think Harbaugh flinched as much as Shaw does when someone told him we had to do something the "Stanford Way." The football coach's job, within reason, is to advocate for a successful football team.  It's other people's jobs to push back on the football coach and create a healthy balance.
 
To be clear, I wouldn't prioritize only NIL/transfer knowledge as the selection criterion for a new coach - it's just one of many areas where a fresh approach and fresh eyes are needed.  It's a fallacy to think we just need a few tweaks.  We need a complete rebuild.  The man who built the castle and oversaw its decay should not be the one to knock it down and rebuild.