[BostonCard]

And yet, at least one prominent poster contends that Stanfords inability to tap into the portal (or more accurately Stanfords one way portal door - out only) is not a significant issue.  I think it’s a humongous issue.

And I don’t see a solution.  As I understand it, Stanford University wide accepts a minuscule number of transfers.  Unless Admissions relaxes standards for transfers, the portal is going to continue to be a major problem.

This is not to say it can’t be overcome with tremendous recruiting and player development.  Winning is, after all, a great deodorant.  But the ability others  have that Stanford doesn’t - go fix holes through the portal - is a massive advantage.

There are 3 FCS schools that took 0 transfers - Army, Navy, Air Force.

Perhaps it is coincidental, or perhaps not, but I will note that Harbaugh’s resurrection of the program coincided with Robin Mamlet’s replacement by Dean Shaw (Mamlet left in June 2005, so Shaw’s first admission class were sophomores when Harbaugh took over.  Bear in mind that this recruiting class included Toby Gerhart and Richard Sherman.

Realistic question: how far would Harbaugh have taken Stanford if Mamlet had still been dean of admissions through, say, 2009.  How many of the players Harbaugh wanted would have not been admitted?

That’s not to take away what Harbaugh did at Stanford; he has demonstrated with the Niners me Michigan that what happened at Stanford was no fluke.  But was what happened at Stanford under Harbaugh enabled by Dean Shaw?  And, more importantly, if we got the next Harbaugh, would the improvement he could muster be stymied by structural changes to the college football landscape that Stanford is incapable or unwilling to overcome?

I’m not putting forth the argument that we ought to retain Shaw as a result. His conservative nature, responding to change slowly (for example, the early signing period) mean that he is probably not the best coach to have during this rapidly changing football environment.  Plus, he’s expensive; we might as well pay bargain basement salaries if we are ok getting bargain basement results. Then again, I want to be prepared for the next decade of Stanford football to look like the last decade of Stanford men’s basketball.  The results may not be as awful as the last two years (or four if you remove the COVID year) for the football program, but across two coaches, what we have had in basketball is abject mediocrity, with a single NCAA appearance since 2008, and more finishes in the bottom half of the PAC-12 (9) than in the top half (5, none higher than third place in the Pac-12).  And while I think we should have fired Haase already, I am not necessarily under the illusion that the next basketball coach will produce better results than the last, nor do I expect that the next football coach will be able to muster much better than a .500 record.  And yet, .500 looks downright amazing compared to what we have seen the last few years.

BC

[BostonCard]

And yet, at least one prominent poster contends that Stanfords inability to tap into the portal (or more accurately Stanfords one way portal door - out only) is not a significant issue.  I think it’s a humongous issue.

And I don’t see a solution.  As I understand it, Stanford University wide accepts a minuscule number of transfers.  Unless Admissions relaxes standards for transfers, the portal is going to continue to be a major problem.

This is not to say it can’t be overcome with tremendous recruiting and player development.  Winning is, after all, a great deodorant.  But the ability others  have that Stanford doesn’t - go fix holes through the portal - is a massive advantage.

There are 3 FCS schools that took 0 transfers - Army, Navy, Air Force.

Perhaps it is coincidental, or perhaps not, but I will note that Harbaugh’s resurrection of the program coincided with Robin Mamlet’s replacement by Dean Shaw (Mamlet left in June 2005, so Shaw’s first admission class were sophomores when Harbaugh took over.  Bear in mind that this recruiting class included Toby Gerhart and Richard Sherman.

Realistic question: how far would Harbaugh have taken Stanford if Mamlet had still been dean of admissions through, say, 2009.  How many of the players Harbaugh wanted would have not been admitted?

That’s not to take away what Harbaugh did at Stanford; he has demonstrated with the Niners me Michigan that what happened at Stanford was no fluke.  But was what happened at Stanford under Harbaugh enabled by Dean Shaw?  And, more importantly, if we got the next Harbaugh, would the improvement he could muster be stymied by structural changes to the college football landscape that Stanford is incapable or unwilling to overcome?

I’m not putting forth the argument that we ought to retain Shaw as a result. His conservative nature, responding to change slowly (for example, the early signing period) mean that he is probably not the best coach to have during this rapidly changing football environment.  Plus, he’s expensive; we might as well pay bargain basement salaries if we are ok getting bargain basement results. Then again, I want to be prepared for the next decade of Stanford football to look like the last decade of Stanford men’s basketball.  The results may not be as awful as the last two years (or four if you remove the COVID year) for the football program, but across two coaches, what we have had in basketball is abject mediocrity, with a single NCAA appearance since 2008, and more finishes in the bottom half of the PAC-12 (9) than in the top half (5, none higher than third place in the Pac-12).  And while I think we should have fired Haase already, I am not necessarily under the illusion that the next basketball coach will produce better results than the last, nor do I expect that the next football coach will be able to muster much better than a .500 record.  And yet, .500 looks downright amazing compared to what we have seen the last few years.

BC

[winflop]

I am not necessarily under the illusion that the next basketball coach will produce better results than the last, nor do I expect that the next football coach will be able to muster much better than a .500 record.  And yet, .500 looks downright amazing compared to what we have seen the last few years.


BC

With you on football but not basketball. Sadly a .500 football record would be an uptick and arguably considered good enough. I also think we need a coach from outside the Stanford bubble because of the rapidly changing environment and the desperate need for someone with very different thoughts about how to resurrect the program.

However, I don't agree about MBB. Haase has shown that you CAN recruit talent. The incoming class will be the fifth in six year to be ranked in the top 25. However, we need a coach who can bring that talent together into a team whose whole exceeds the sum of the parts. Heck I'd take a team whose whole equals the sum of the parts at this point. I think that coach exists. I also think we should bring in a coach with Stanford ties and EUTM. Maddog should be Muir's first call.

[winflop]

I am not necessarily under the illusion that the next basketball coach will produce better results than the last, nor do I expect that the next football coach will be able to muster much better than a .500 record.  And yet, .500 looks downright amazing compared to what we have seen the last few years.


BC

With you on football but not basketball. Sadly a .500 football record would be an uptick and arguably considered good enough. I also think we need a coach from outside the Stanford bubble because of the rapidly changing environment and the desperate need for someone with very different thoughts about how to resurrect the program.

However, I don't agree about MBB. Haase has shown that you CAN recruit talent. The incoming class will be the fifth in six year to be ranked in the top 25. However, we need a coach who can bring that talent together into a team whose whole exceeds the sum of the parts. Heck I'd take a team whose whole equals the sum of the parts at this point. I think that coach exists. I also think we should bring in a coach with Stanford ties and EUTM. Maddog should be Muir's first call.