[Goose]

Importantly, the first investigation started before he coached his first game on the Farm. He should have been Mike Priced. . . .

Indeed. This fact puts the main mistake of not doing so squarely on Muir. The ensuing  bad reflection on Stanford is totally at Muir's doorstep. It was  absolutely certain this situation could not be kept quiet indefinitely. Firing TT immediately was justifiable and would not bring opprobrium upon Stanford. Yes, Muir might have had to admit he hired the wrong guy, but he was at least correcting the mistake very early on. If that course of action is not adopted then the only alternative was to go public at that time, describe the problem and the "solution", namely a performance program. That at least was defensible. Trying to keep it all quiet ensured the day was coming that Stanford could be blamed for retaining a "equal opportunity a**hole" and suppressing the evidence. It was just a matter of when.

[Goose]

Importantly, the first investigation started before he coached his first game on the Farm. He should have been Mike Priced. . . .

Indeed. This fact puts the main mistake of not doing so squarely on Muir. The ensuing  bad reflection on Stanford is totally at Muir's doorstep. It was  absolutely certain this situation could not be kept quiet indefinitely. Firing TT immediately was justifiable and would not bring opprobrium upon Stanford. Yes, Muir might have had to admit he hired the wrong guy, but he was at least correcting the mistake very early on. If that course of action is not adopted then the only alternative was to go public at that time, describe the problem and the "solution", namely a performance program. That at least was defensible. Trying to keep it all quiet ensured the day was coming that Stanford could be blamed for retaining a "equal opportunity a**hole" and suppressing the evidence. It was just a matter of when.