[81alum]

In answer to your question, I think the answer is no--if I understand the question. (No, we are not like SC that can sustain high levels of recruiting even when coached by a "monkey.")  If we replaced David Shaw with the wrong kind of coach, our recruiting would plummet. 

Our recruiting depends upon convincing elite scholar/athletes that they can have it both ways at Stanford--that they do not have to choose between academics and football.  No amount of success in football--several national championships in a row--would create the same kind of recruiting power it would at factories like SC, given the unique admissions requirements here.  More football success can't attract better recruits beyond a certain point, since there is already a very limited pool who can make it through admissions, and we may be coming close to maximizing our attraction within that pool. 

There are very, very few potential coaches who could possibly be better at making the scholar/athlete case than David Shaw--an alum of the program himself, still youthful, articulate.  And more important than all those symbols is the fact that he really believes in the academic mission of the university.  Sounding sincere is a lot easier when you actually are sincere. 

I think for the long run Shaw is a better recruiter for Stanford than Harbaugh could be.  He is a better recruiter than Walsh I could be.  The only way Stanford could sustain this level of recruiting without Shaw would be to find someone a lot like Shaw.  How many youthful alums of our football program, who could serve as role model to our young men,  and who have coached in the NFL, are there floating around out there?  Oh, and once you find one, make sure he actually knows how to coach, too, and then verify that he would be happy with the salary that we can pay.  Perhaps we can find another, but it will be difficult, and hence my reluctance to subscribe to the notion that Stanford can ever become a Football U where the tradition of the program breeds future success indefinitely.

However, I think we have a very special situation right now and should enjoy it while it lasts.  And of course we must try to find someone to sustain it when the time comes.

[81alum]

In answer to your question, I think the answer is no--if I understand the question. (No, we are not like SC that can sustain high levels of recruiting even when coached by a "monkey.")  If we replaced David Shaw with the wrong kind of coach, our recruiting would plummet. 

Our recruiting depends upon convincing elite scholar/athletes that they can have it both ways at Stanford--that they do not have to choose between academics and football.  No amount of success in football--several national championships in a row--would create the same kind of recruiting power it would at factories like SC, given the unique admissions requirements here.  More football success can't attract better recruits beyond a certain point, since there is already a very limited pool who can make it through admissions, and we may be coming close to maximizing our attraction within that pool. 

There are very, very few potential coaches who could possibly be better at making the scholar/athlete case than David Shaw--an alum of the program himself, still youthful, articulate.  And more important than all those symbols is the fact that he really believes in the academic mission of the university.  Sounding sincere is a lot easier when you actually are sincere. 

I think for the long run Shaw is a better recruiter for Stanford than Harbaugh could be.  He is a better recruiter than Walsh I could be.  The only way Stanford could sustain this level of recruiting without Shaw would be to find someone a lot like Shaw.  How many youthful alums of our football program, who could serve as role model to our young men,  and who have coached in the NFL, are there floating around out there?  Oh, and once you find one, make sure he actually knows how to coach, too, and then verify that he would be happy with the salary that we can pay.  Perhaps we can find another, but it will be difficult, and hence my reluctance to subscribe to the notion that Stanford can ever become a Football U where the tradition of the program breeds future success indefinitely.

However, I think we have a very special situation right now and should enjoy it while it lasts.  And of course we must try to find someone to sustain it when the time comes.