[2006alum]

I don't agree Harbaugh inherited a better situation than Taylor.

In the most literal sense, Harbaugh inherited a team that was 1-11, dead last in the conference, and Sagarin #104 whereas Taylor inherited a team that was 3-9, nowhere even close to the worst team in the conference (significantly better than Colorado last year), and Sagarin #87. At the very least we reached lower levels at the end of Harris than we had under Shaw.

In terms of player inheritance, Harbaugh inherited one player who had been all-conference as a non-specialist special teams player (Osaisai) compared to Taylor inheriting an all-conference tight end (Yurosek) and kicker (Karty); Harbaugh inherited 9 players who had been 4-star recruits  (QB TC Ostrander, WR Mark Bradford, OL Allen Smith, OL Alex Fletcher, OL Matt Kopa, DL Erik Lorig, DL Ekom Udofia, OLB James McGillicuddy, ILB Will Powers) whereas Taylor inherited 14 players who had been 4-star recruits (RB EJ Smith, WR John Humphreys, OL Levi Rogers, OL Connor McLaughlin, OL Fisher Anderson, OL Lucas Heyer, TE Sam Roush, DL Aaron Armitage, LB Tristan Sinclair, OLB David Bailey, OLB Ernest Cooper, OLB Teva Tafiti, OLB Wilfredo Aybar, DB JShawn Frausto-Ramos); and Taylor certainly inherited more top 1000 recruits (very regrettable changes in the 247 database make this very difficult to check but when I last checked the 2004-2007 classes had 39 top 1000 recruits while the 2020-2023 classes had 59 top 1000 recruits).

Harbaugh also faced the #10 schedule in America in 2007. We'll have to see what Taylor faces but I'd be surprised if it's that high given that Taylor gets to face Hawaii, Sacramento State, Colorado, Cal, and Arizona State, gets to try to build momentum with a ludicrously easy first half of the schedule, gets a very favorable home/road split by getting three of most winnable games (Sacramento State, Arizona, and Cal) at home and a fourth (Colorado) after a bye when the opponent is situated for a classic trap game sandwiched in between road games against tougher foes, and gets to skip playing the two-time reigning conference champion entirely. Compare that to Harbaugh playing in a Pac-10 whose worst team was Sagarin #55.

I don't want to minimize the challenge Taylor faces, which is immense, but people keep unfavorably comparing it to what Harbaugh faced and that does a disservice to the enormity of Harbaugh's success. Our roster and culture were in a really bad shape in 2007 too, we were further removed from significant success, we were coming off a much worse season, and we were facing a much harder schedule. You can make a lot of excuses for Taylor but that he faces an easier situation than Harbaugh is not one of them.

I will be giddy if Taylor goes 6-6 (that would presumably really be 7-6 or 6-7) but it wouldn't quite blow my mind. The ability to effectuate a quick turnaround in Stanford's football culture, confidence, and resilience may be easier than it was for Harbaugh. We have more talent than we did back then and have an easier path to developing some momentum and confidence. That's not what I'm predicting, which is a 3-5 win season where one has to look at more granular and/or subjective things than wins for signs of improvement.

+1. The major difference is the wider environment they were/are operating in: the combo of the transfer portal + NIL/collectives puts Stanford in a much worse position for recruiting and (especially) retaining players, as everyone has noted by the abundance of outbound transfers of players with eligibility remaining. While Harbaugh inherited a program in worse shape, Taylor is going to be swimming upstream against much stronger currents.

[2006alum]

I don't agree Harbaugh inherited a better situation than Taylor.

In the most literal sense, Harbaugh inherited a team that was 1-11, dead last in the conference, and Sagarin #104 whereas Taylor inherited a team that was 3-9, nowhere even close to the worst team in the conference (significantly better than Colorado last year), and Sagarin #87. At the very least we reached lower levels at the end of Harris than we had under Shaw.

In terms of player inheritance, Harbaugh inherited one player who had been all-conference as a non-specialist special teams player (Osaisai) compared to Taylor inheriting an all-conference tight end (Yurosek) and kicker (Karty); Harbaugh inherited 9 players who had been 4-star recruits  (QB TC Ostrander, WR Mark Bradford, OL Allen Smith, OL Alex Fletcher, OL Matt Kopa, DL Erik Lorig, DL Ekom Udofia, OLB James McGillicuddy, ILB Will Powers) whereas Taylor inherited 14 players who had been 4-star recruits (RB EJ Smith, WR John Humphreys, OL Levi Rogers, OL Connor McLaughlin, OL Fisher Anderson, OL Lucas Heyer, TE Sam Roush, DL Aaron Armitage, LB Tristan Sinclair, OLB David Bailey, OLB Ernest Cooper, OLB Teva Tafiti, OLB Wilfredo Aybar, DB JShawn Frausto-Ramos); and Taylor certainly inherited more top 1000 recruits (very regrettable changes in the 247 database make this very difficult to check but when I last checked the 2004-2007 classes had 39 top 1000 recruits while the 2020-2023 classes had 59 top 1000 recruits).

Harbaugh also faced the #10 schedule in America in 2007. We'll have to see what Taylor faces but I'd be surprised if it's that high given that Taylor gets to face Hawaii, Sacramento State, Colorado, Cal, and Arizona State, gets to try to build momentum with a ludicrously easy first half of the schedule, gets a very favorable home/road split by getting three of most winnable games (Sacramento State, Arizona, and Cal) at home and a fourth (Colorado) after a bye when the opponent is situated for a classic trap game sandwiched in between road games against tougher foes, and gets to skip playing the two-time reigning conference champion entirely. Compare that to Harbaugh playing in a Pac-10 whose worst team was Sagarin #55.

I don't want to minimize the challenge Taylor faces, which is immense, but people keep unfavorably comparing it to what Harbaugh faced and that does a disservice to the enormity of Harbaugh's success. Our roster and culture were in a really bad shape in 2007 too, we were further removed from significant success, we were coming off a much worse season, and we were facing a much harder schedule. You can make a lot of excuses for Taylor but that he faces an easier situation than Harbaugh is not one of them.

I will be giddy if Taylor goes 6-6 (that would presumably really be 7-6 or 6-7) but it wouldn't quite blow my mind. The ability to effectuate a quick turnaround in Stanford's football culture, confidence, and resilience may be easier than it was for Harbaugh. We have more talent than we did back then and have an easier path to developing some momentum and confidence. That's not what I'm predicting, which is a 3-5 win season where one has to look at more granular and/or subjective things than wins for signs of improvement.

+1. The major difference is the wider environment they were/are operating in: the combo of the transfer portal + NIL/collectives puts Stanford in a much worse position for recruiting and (especially) retaining players, as everyone has noted by the abundance of outbound transfers of players with eligibility remaining. While Harbaugh inherited a program in worse shape, Taylor is going to be swimming upstream against much stronger currents.