05-22-2013, 04:54 PM
The Coaches Roadshow in LA on Tuesday evening was many years in coming. As long as I can recall, the Coaches have skipped LA. They'll stop in Santa Barbara and Orange County, but not LA. The AD scheduled an event 6 or 7 years ago (for a Friday night in Universal City) and then cancelled because so few people showed up.
Of course the time to re-visit this practice is several months after winning a conference championship and Rose Bowl when the glow from that season is still warm and fuzzy. Good call!Â
The AD sent invitations to the Buck-Cardinal Club members but all fans were welcome. I forwarded my invitation to several die-hards who are not BCC members and they had no problem signing up for the event.
The event could not have been better planned or run. It was held at the swanky Beverly Wilshire Hotel. The A Team of coaches attended - David Shaw, Tara Vanderveer, Johnny Dawkins. A full open bar. Excellent food. Tenderloin was sliced to order and melt-in-your-mouth good. I would estimate attendance to have been ~75. At a minimum, I thought that Hank91 would be there. But I did not recognize any other Cardboarders in attendance. Most disappointing aspect of the evening - they did not bring the trophies for photo ops.
After about 30 minutes of mingling, Bernard Muir began the formal program. We watched the new video "I Am Stanford" then he turned over the podium to the coaches - Dawkins, Vanderveer and Shaw in that order. Each had prepared remarks then took questions from the audience. I was in the back and did not hear all of the questions or answers but I will share items that I consider noteworthy. I was also distracted for a time as I peered over the shoulder of an assistant AD who was tracking the final women's tennis match on his phone.Â
Johnny Dawkins
Stanford only had 1 starter in 2012-13 who had been a starter in 2011-12 (Randle). Dawkins cited this as a factor in an up-and-down season that did not meet expectations.
I noted that no one asked him about Randle's play which seemed to regress.Â
Like all of the coaches, he is looking ahead rather than back. He spent more time talking about the recruits coming in than recapping last season. Schuyler Rimmer is a big body that was missing this past year. Dawkins joked that each Stanford coach gets twins but his are not 7 feet tall like those of Montgomery or Johnson.
Stanford will have 4 scholarships available for the next recruiting class. Dawkins has needs that he wants to fill at guard, small forward and big man and then one "best-available." I think he was more specific about the roles for the recruits to fill but the details are lost in my memory fog.
Dawkins was asked about one-and-done players. He was clear that he will not recruit a player if it is almost certain that he will be gone after one year. Of course Stanford did offer Jabari Parker who will probably only play one year at Duke.Â
Dawkins sent Dwight Powell the paperwork to receive an NBA draft evaluation. Powell declined. Powell is thinking about next season for Stanford, not the NBA.
Dawkins did not indicate that he has begun interviews to replace Mark Madsen. Someone asked a question I had thought of - have you contacted Don Davey about coming out of retirement? Coach Davey is very happy and unstressed and not interested in getting back into the game although he and Dawkins do talk regularly.
Tara Vanderveer
I know that I am making an obvious comment for those who know Coach Vanderveer, but this was my first time meeting her in person and she is so impressive. A natural coach, teacher and leader. She strikes me as someone who would be a success in any field. I could easily see her as a Stanford AD if she ever wanted to move beyond coaching. You had better believe that she would hold everyone in the department accountable! She is great in front of an audience and very personable one-on-one. Also she never stops selling, either her program or the University. Her last words - come out and watch us play!
She spent very little time talking about the past season. Like Coach Dawkins, she noted the highs (beating Baylor, winning the conference) and lows (losing twice at Maples).
Before taking questions from the audience, Coach Vanderveer did talk about Toni Kokenis. I may not quote her exactly, but she said that Toni had hit her head too many times. Her Stanford basketball career is almost certainly over.
Most questions from the audience were about specific players or about recruiting. I recall Tara talking about Tess Picknell ("she's a project") and Aly Beebe (hoping that she can pull an Andy Brown and return from multiple ACL surgeries). Tara very excited about the recruits for next year. She said, "The women's team doesn't get twins, but we do recruit sisters" in reference to Karlie Samuelson joining the team next year and of course the Ogumwike sisters. Speaking of whom, Tara said that there will not be a scholarship spot for Olivia Ogumwike, who is class of 2014. I infer that Stanford is going after higher rated players with the few scholarships available.Â
David Shaw
I paid the least attention during Coach Shaw's time at the mike. One reason is that the tennis match was coming down to the wire. Another is that Coach Shaw did not say anything that we had not heard and parsed already. I'll only note a few items:
Luke Kaumatule is the starting TE. Case closed.
Barry Sanders will have a chance to carry the ball, but we will probably only see him a few times a game. Wilkerson and Gaffney will get most of the load.
For the first time ever, Stanford can line up 3 WRs who can run 4.4 - Montgomery, Young and Rector. Shaw implied that he really wants to use that speed. No one asked about Hogan's improvement throwing long which seemed to be a weaker area last year.
After Coach Shaw returned the meeting to Bernard Muir (who made it clear to call him Bernard by the way, not Mr. Muir), the AD announced to the crowd that the women's tennis team had won the national championship. Loud and long cheers. I did see a look of relief on Muir's face. We knew what he was thinking. I hope that I have the chance to celebrate another Stanford national championship with the same folks next January in Pasadena.
One final note. I spent a fair amount of time speaking with Heather Owen who is an assistant AD. Spent some time talking about the Pac 12 network and other media. A nugget from that conversation. Apparently, the Pac 12 athletic sites (gostanford.com, calbears.com, etc.) will be moving to a common host and platform under the Pac 12 umbrella. All school sites will have the same look and feel. We'll see how well that plan actually happens. It will require agreement and coordination across all 12 schools. As someone who works in IT, I know that large consolidation/migration efforts rarely go according to plan.Â
BobK - how does this match the details that you heard from other sources?
Of course the time to re-visit this practice is several months after winning a conference championship and Rose Bowl when the glow from that season is still warm and fuzzy. Good call!Â
The AD sent invitations to the Buck-Cardinal Club members but all fans were welcome. I forwarded my invitation to several die-hards who are not BCC members and they had no problem signing up for the event.
The event could not have been better planned or run. It was held at the swanky Beverly Wilshire Hotel. The A Team of coaches attended - David Shaw, Tara Vanderveer, Johnny Dawkins. A full open bar. Excellent food. Tenderloin was sliced to order and melt-in-your-mouth good. I would estimate attendance to have been ~75. At a minimum, I thought that Hank91 would be there. But I did not recognize any other Cardboarders in attendance. Most disappointing aspect of the evening - they did not bring the trophies for photo ops.
After about 30 minutes of mingling, Bernard Muir began the formal program. We watched the new video "I Am Stanford" then he turned over the podium to the coaches - Dawkins, Vanderveer and Shaw in that order. Each had prepared remarks then took questions from the audience. I was in the back and did not hear all of the questions or answers but I will share items that I consider noteworthy. I was also distracted for a time as I peered over the shoulder of an assistant AD who was tracking the final women's tennis match on his phone.Â
Johnny Dawkins
Stanford only had 1 starter in 2012-13 who had been a starter in 2011-12 (Randle). Dawkins cited this as a factor in an up-and-down season that did not meet expectations.
I noted that no one asked him about Randle's play which seemed to regress.Â
Like all of the coaches, he is looking ahead rather than back. He spent more time talking about the recruits coming in than recapping last season. Schuyler Rimmer is a big body that was missing this past year. Dawkins joked that each Stanford coach gets twins but his are not 7 feet tall like those of Montgomery or Johnson.
Stanford will have 4 scholarships available for the next recruiting class. Dawkins has needs that he wants to fill at guard, small forward and big man and then one "best-available." I think he was more specific about the roles for the recruits to fill but the details are lost in my memory fog.
Dawkins was asked about one-and-done players. He was clear that he will not recruit a player if it is almost certain that he will be gone after one year. Of course Stanford did offer Jabari Parker who will probably only play one year at Duke.Â
Dawkins sent Dwight Powell the paperwork to receive an NBA draft evaluation. Powell declined. Powell is thinking about next season for Stanford, not the NBA.
Dawkins did not indicate that he has begun interviews to replace Mark Madsen. Someone asked a question I had thought of - have you contacted Don Davey about coming out of retirement? Coach Davey is very happy and unstressed and not interested in getting back into the game although he and Dawkins do talk regularly.
Tara Vanderveer
I know that I am making an obvious comment for those who know Coach Vanderveer, but this was my first time meeting her in person and she is so impressive. A natural coach, teacher and leader. She strikes me as someone who would be a success in any field. I could easily see her as a Stanford AD if she ever wanted to move beyond coaching. You had better believe that she would hold everyone in the department accountable! She is great in front of an audience and very personable one-on-one. Also she never stops selling, either her program or the University. Her last words - come out and watch us play!
She spent very little time talking about the past season. Like Coach Dawkins, she noted the highs (beating Baylor, winning the conference) and lows (losing twice at Maples).
Before taking questions from the audience, Coach Vanderveer did talk about Toni Kokenis. I may not quote her exactly, but she said that Toni had hit her head too many times. Her Stanford basketball career is almost certainly over.
Most questions from the audience were about specific players or about recruiting. I recall Tara talking about Tess Picknell ("she's a project") and Aly Beebe (hoping that she can pull an Andy Brown and return from multiple ACL surgeries). Tara very excited about the recruits for next year. She said, "The women's team doesn't get twins, but we do recruit sisters" in reference to Karlie Samuelson joining the team next year and of course the Ogumwike sisters. Speaking of whom, Tara said that there will not be a scholarship spot for Olivia Ogumwike, who is class of 2014. I infer that Stanford is going after higher rated players with the few scholarships available.Â
David Shaw
I paid the least attention during Coach Shaw's time at the mike. One reason is that the tennis match was coming down to the wire. Another is that Coach Shaw did not say anything that we had not heard and parsed already. I'll only note a few items:
Luke Kaumatule is the starting TE. Case closed.
Barry Sanders will have a chance to carry the ball, but we will probably only see him a few times a game. Wilkerson and Gaffney will get most of the load.
For the first time ever, Stanford can line up 3 WRs who can run 4.4 - Montgomery, Young and Rector. Shaw implied that he really wants to use that speed. No one asked about Hogan's improvement throwing long which seemed to be a weaker area last year.
After Coach Shaw returned the meeting to Bernard Muir (who made it clear to call him Bernard by the way, not Mr. Muir), the AD announced to the crowd that the women's tennis team had won the national championship. Loud and long cheers. I did see a look of relief on Muir's face. We knew what he was thinking. I hope that I have the chance to celebrate another Stanford national championship with the same folks next January in Pasadena.
One final note. I spent a fair amount of time speaking with Heather Owen who is an assistant AD. Spent some time talking about the Pac 12 network and other media. A nugget from that conversation. Apparently, the Pac 12 athletic sites (gostanford.com, calbears.com, etc.) will be moving to a common host and platform under the Pac 12 umbrella. All school sites will have the same look and feel. We'll see how well that plan actually happens. It will require agreement and coordination across all 12 schools. As someone who works in IT, I know that large consolidation/migration efforts rarely go according to plan.Â
BobK - how does this match the details that you heard from other sources?
"We have an unwritten rule around here not to do anything stupid."
-Casey Jacobsen, Feb 3, 2000
