[msqueri]

I’d be thrilled by this if it were a permanent hire. As an interim I think it’s better than a lot of alternatives but leaves a lot of questions. It also concerns me that we are bringing in an absolute pro but in such a way that seems like it may forfeit some of the biggest advantages of bringing on a former NFL head coach - trading off his name for recruiting, leveraging his network for a high quality staff, taking advantage of the experience of having organized a big boy football operation, etc. In each case we get some of that but attenuated in each case. In other words, if you told me we were bringing in Frank Reich I’d be thrilled but having him preside over Taylor’s staff and be a short-timer makes it less sweet. I’d rather he be permanent and cleaned house. But maybe that’s coming, just in stages (get through spring and then reshuffle a bit, get through the fall and then reshuffle some more).

It occurs to me that “interim” could also be a political move by Luck to circumvent the Stanford bureaucracy. Interim avoids the time and gate keepers of the “committee” process Stanford always insists on. If Reich has some success and looks like he’s turning us around it is simpler to remove the interim tag than to hope he’s the one the committee settles on in the first place.

I hope that is the case and that he gets to operate like a real coach and not just a caretaker. In particular I do not want to see too much staff continuity. Our staff has not covered itself in glory and, even more importantly/fundamentally, if we are going to have a coach the caliber of Reich I really don’t want him saddled with coaches the caliber of what we attracted in MTL/Muir/Taylor times. I hope Reich and Luck swaps out a healthy number of our assistants for what they view to be upgrades. It doesn't all need to happen now but, ideally, Reich becomes a permanent coach and by January has his stamp on the program.

In the big picture we seem serious and that is the most important thing.

[msqueri]

I’d be thrilled by this if it were a permanent hire. As an interim I think it’s better than a lot of alternatives but leaves a lot of questions. It also concerns me that we are bringing in an absolute pro but in such a way that seems like it may forfeit some of the biggest advantages of bringing on a former NFL head coach - trading off his name for recruiting, leveraging his network for a high quality staff, taking advantage of the experience of having organized a big boy football operation, etc. In each case we get some of that but attenuated in each case. In other words, if you told me we were bringing in Frank Reich I’d be thrilled but having him preside over Taylor’s staff and be a short-timer makes it less sweet. I’d rather he be permanent and cleaned house. But maybe that’s coming, just in stages (get through spring and then reshuffle a bit, get through the fall and then reshuffle some more).

It occurs to me that “interim” could also be a political move by Luck to circumvent the Stanford bureaucracy. Interim avoids the time and gate keepers of the “committee” process Stanford always insists on. If Reich has some success and looks like he’s turning us around it is simpler to remove the interim tag than to hope he’s the one the committee settles on in the first place.

I hope that is the case and that he gets to operate like a real coach and not just a caretaker. In particular I do not want to see too much staff continuity. Our staff has not covered itself in glory and, even more importantly/fundamentally, if we are going to have a coach the caliber of Reich I really don’t want him saddled with coaches the caliber of what we attracted in MTL/Muir/Taylor times. I hope Reich and Luck swaps out a healthy number of our assistants for what they view to be upgrades. It doesn't all need to happen now but, ideally, Reich becomes a permanent coach and by January has his stamp on the program.

In the big picture we seem serious and that is the most important thing.