11-01-2012, 01:55 PM
Although the offense has frustrated us all, and the disparity of this team's offense vs defense is almost shocking, I still have a lot of faith and regard for Shaw. I recall during the short time between Harbaugh's announced departure and the naming of Shaw as new HC that Shaw was said to be very popular among the players. At the time that didn't make much of an impression. But I think it could be a big deal. Stanford needs an HC who is much more than just a very good offensive coordinator. I think T.edford for example has always just been a really good offensive coordinator without many of the other attributes of a good or great head coach. Shaw is apparently appealing to recruits, players are motivated to play for him, and he's devoted to installing a system and choosing players with certain attributes which I'm sure are not limited to just physical attributes. It'll be interesting to say the least how this QB situation evolves. Seems to me the jury is still out but so far I have a hard time concluding he's mucked it up, although there clearly is something lacking in the offensive output so far.
One more thing, I don't hear people giving Shaw credit for getting virtually the same results with the '11 team that the '10 team had. And although many key players came back, lots of important guys were lost from the defense (Fua, Skov, Sherman not to mention of few other key seniors), *and* R. Whalen and Baldwin. Even three new O-line starters. Sure Harbaugh deserves some credit, and so does Luck, but so does Shaw.
One more thing, I don't hear people giving Shaw credit for getting virtually the same results with the '11 team that the '10 team had. And although many key players came back, lots of important guys were lost from the defense (Fua, Skov, Sherman not to mention of few other key seniors), *and* R. Whalen and Baldwin. Even three new O-line starters. Sure Harbaugh deserves some credit, and so does Luck, but so does Shaw.