Performance of Mr. Donahoe - Printable Version
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Performance of Mr. Donahoe - Mick - 09-06-2026
Wednesday will be the one year anniversary of the hiring of John Donahoe. How do you feel about his performance?
My own take:
- Bradford Freeman gave $50 million to football shortly after Donahoe arrived, including support for institutional NIL and five additional scholarships. Stanford added or expanded relationships with Carvana, Robinhood, Waymo, Ramp, Zillow, Zoom and others; Fortinet signed another multi-year deal just last week. Donahoe brought in Tyler Jones as Deputy AD/COO to oversee revenue, marketing, branding, fan experience, digital strategy and operations, and Larissa Fontaine to oversee Olympic sports/student-athlete success. Stanford finished No. 2 nationally in the 2025–26 Directors' Cup, behind Texas, and extended its streak of winning an NCAA team championship to 50 consecutive years. Stanford won five national team championships in 2025–26, including NCAA titles in men's gymnastics and women's golf. That's impressive, although obviously Donahoe cannot reasonably take credit for programs built years before he arrived. Men's basketball went 20–13, giving Kyle Smith consecutive 20-win seasons. Women's basketball improved to 21–14 but missed the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Stanford improved from three wins to 4–8 in 2025, reclaimed the Axe by beating Cal 31–10, and had its first winning home record since 2018. This year Stanford opened 1–1 — beating Hawaii 37–27, then getting hammered 45–6 by No. 7 Miami on September 4.
Mr. Donahoe's take: John Donahoe - Stanford Cardinal - Official Athletics Website
It's hard to see whether he has raised more than Muir.
You can select more than one option. I would put Donahoe's performance after a year between an A and a B...though closer to a B. Call it a B+.
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - BobK - 09-06-2026
Stanford Women’s Volleyball has a new practice facility in the Ford building. Complete with Tetaflex flooring. At the Chalk talk Hambly thanked Donahue
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - 82lsju - 09-06-2026
(09-06-2026, 07:55 PM)Mick Wrote: Wednesday will be the one year anniversary of the hiring of John Donahoe. How do you feel about his performance?
My own take:
- Bradford Freeman gave $50 million to football shortly after Donahoe arrived, including support for institutional NIL and five additional scholarships. Stanford added or expanded relationships with Carvana, Robinhood, Waymo, Ramp, Zillow, Zoom and others; Fortinet signed another multi-year deal just last week. Donahoe brought in Tyler Jones as Deputy AD/COO to oversee revenue, marketing, branding, fan experience, digital strategy and operations, and Larissa Fontaine to oversee Olympic sports/student-athlete success. Stanford finished No. 2 nationally in the 2025–26 Directors' Cup, behind Texas, and extended its streak of winning an NCAA team championship to 50 consecutive years. Stanford won five national team championships in 2025–26, including NCAA titles in men's gymnastics and women's golf. That's impressive, although obviously Donahoe cannot reasonably take credit for programs built years before he arrived. Men's basketball went 20–13, giving Kyle Smith consecutive 20-win seasons. Women's basketball improved to 21–14 but missed the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Stanford improved from three wins to 4–8 in 2025, reclaimed the Axe by beating Cal 31–10, and had its first winning home record since 2018. This year Stanford opened 1–1 — beating Hawaii 37–27, then getting hammered 45–6 by No. 7 Miami on September 4.
It's hard to see whether he has raised more than Muir.
You can select more than one option. I would put Donahoe's performance after a year between an A and a B...though closer to a B. Call it a B+.
hard to tell without knowing what was already in process. I would think the Freeman $50m was already going to happen. How many of the other deals were already in process is unknown (and how much money they actually brought in is also unknown). His impact on any actual team performance is probably minimal. Given the lack of transparency on AD financials compared to 2-3 years ago (at least what was in the AD annual reports) it is pretty much impossible to see if there has been any material progress to getting to the big issue we talk about of self funding the AD, of course some of that has been helped by the "Olympic Sports" that have stepped up, but in the big picture of the AD financials that is small change.....
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - KartyFan - 09-06-2026
I voted too early to tell. Would have liked to see the WBB situation handled better. But it does seem like he is modernizing our department and trying to adapt to our new world without letting go of everything that makes us Stanford.
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - Card10Fan - 09-06-2026
I vote C fine. Better than Muir who was pretty bad. The women’s basketball situation was not handled well last spring by him. That’s a gripe. I feel like Athletic Fundraising has been up. The rest is too soon to tell.
Can he get us into the Big 10 in the next wave of realignment?
Also has he even had to make a single head coaching hire yet?
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - cardcrimson - 09-07-2026
Gotta remember the small, inconspicuous Vote! button. . . .
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - Mick - 09-07-2026
(09-07-2026, 07:31 AM)cardcrimson Wrote: Gotta remember the small, inconspicuous Vote! button. . . .
I had to search for that button...it's so tiny, there's no box...just the word "Vote" in a regular white font amongst a crimson bar background.
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - rogpodge - 09-08-2026
https://x.com/i/trending/2097330008310022592
In other news, rumors that Mike Norvell fired at Florida State. I thought they played well against a very good SMU team.They forced 4 turnovers and stayed in the game with explosive plays.
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - Spiny_Norman - 09-08-2026
(Yesterday, 08:07 AM)rogpodge Wrote: https://x.com/i/trending/2097330008310022592
In other news, rumors that Mike Norvell fired at Florida State. I thought they played well against a very good SMU team.They forced 4 turnovers and stayed in the game with explosive plays.
What did you think of FSU's QB play (former Stanford starter Ashton Daniels)?
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - JohnR34231 - 09-08-2026
(Yesterday, 10:12 AM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:(Yesterday, 08:07 AM)rogpodge Wrote: https://x.com/i/trending/2097330008310022592
In other news, rumors that Mike Norvell fired at Florida State. I thought they played well against a very good SMU team.They forced 4 turnovers and stayed in the game with explosive plays.
What did you think of FSU's QB play (former Stanford starter Ashton Daniels)?
His passing statistics were not impressive (12-23 for 125 yards). He did run for one touchdown and throw for one.
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - SkiBum80 - 09-08-2026
(Yesterday, 10:12 AM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:(Yesterday, 08:07 AM)rogpodge Wrote: https://x.com/i/trending/2097330008310022592
In other news, rumors that Mike Norvell fired at Florida State. I thought they played well against a very good SMU team.They forced 4 turnovers and stayed in the game with explosive plays.
What did you think of FSU's QB play (former Stanford starter Ashton Daniels)?
Didn't watch the whole game, but most of first half.
I think Ashton is better off with FSU than with us. He can showcase his game there better.
I'm not sure to say we are better off, but I would say I'm "more comfortable" with our guy and our game plan now.
(with the disclaimer that after just 2 games it's a bit early to conclude that for the season as a whole).
Mainly because I'm nervous having an offense that runs off of 16 QB carries that Ashton did in that game.
It can be super exciting. But I think can be really risky to a QB staying uninjured over the course of a season.
For us, I'm happy to see Ford and Irvin get the carries, not our QB.
And I'm hoping our run game going forward is more like it was vs Hawaii than vs Miami.
And for all the criticism and hand wringing after the Miami game, as evidenced by the in-your-face blowout score,
we still did have OLine pass protection and a very meaningful passing game.
To the point that I'd be willing to predict that we did better than what will become Miami's average for passing yards allowed over the season.
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - Goose - 09-08-2026
(Yesterday, 12:08 PM)JohnR34231 Wrote:Daniels still is what he always has been. He is a QB that can run the ball well but is a very much less than adequate passer. None of his stops after Stanford have changed that. Obviously it wasn't a coaching problem or unique to Stanford. In today's college football, if you can't complete a high percentage of your passes you are doomed. A team that runs triple-option like Navy can win completing very few passes. However, even Navy can't win averaging a 52% completion percentage. I am absolutely amazed that any P4 program would consider Daniels as their #1 QB.(Yesterday, 10:12 AM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:(Yesterday, 08:07 AM)rogpodge Wrote: https://x.com/i/trending/2097330008310022592
In other news, rumors that Mike Norvell fired at Florida State. I thought they played well against a very good SMU team.They forced 4 turnovers and stayed in the game with explosive plays.
What did you think of FSU's QB play (former Stanford starter Ashton Daniels)?
His passing statistics were not impressive (12-23 for 125 yards). He did run for one touchdown and throw for one.
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - needle - 09-08-2026
(Yesterday, 01:13 PM)Goose Wrote:(Yesterday, 12:08 PM)JohnR34231 Wrote:Daniels still is what he always has been. He is a QB that can run the ball well but is a very much less than adequate passer. None of his stops after Stanford have changed that. Obviously it wasn't a coaching problem or unique to Stanford. In today's college football, if you can't complete a high percentage of your passes you are doomed. A team that runs triple-option like Navy can win completing very few passes. However, even Navy can't win averaging a 52% completion percentage. I am absolutely amazed that any P4 program would consider Daniels as their #1 QB.(Yesterday, 10:12 AM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:(Yesterday, 08:07 AM)rogpodge Wrote: https://x.com/i/trending/2097330008310022592
In other news, rumors that Mike Norvell fired at Florida State. I thought they played well against a very good SMU team.They forced 4 turnovers and stayed in the game with explosive plays.
What did you think of FSU's QB play (former Stanford starter Ashton Daniels)?
His passing statistics were not impressive (12-23 for 125 yards). He did run for one touchdown and throw for one.
Ashton Daniels was rated a tick higher (0.86 star rating) than Davis Warren (0.85) on the 247 site, fwiw. It was NOT obvious to me before the season started that Davis Warren would be clearly better than Ashton (look at Davis Warren's "highlights" against that football powerhouse Arkansas State), though I think we all see that now.
Anyway, I'm pretty pleased to see Tavita and Andrew make a good evaluation of a QB after the last few years of poor to mediocre play from the position.
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - TonyLima - 09-08-2026
(09-06-2026, 08:40 PM)KartyFan Wrote: I voted too early to tell. Would have liked to see the WBB situation handled better. But it does seem like he is modernizing our department and trying to adapt to our new world without letting go of everything that makes us Stanford.Same.
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - old spanish trail - 09-08-2026
(7 hours ago)TonyLima Wrote:(09-06-2026, 08:40 PM)KartyFan Wrote: I voted too early to tell. Would have liked to see the WBB situation handled better. But it does seem like he is modernizing our department and trying to adapt to our new world without letting go of everything that makes us Stanford.Same.
Me too. And, WBB situation should have been handled much better
RE: Performance of Mr. Donahoe - Goose - 09-08-2026
(7 hours ago)needle Wrote: Anyway, I'm pretty pleased to see Tavita and Andrew make a good evaluation of a QB after the last few years of poor to mediocre play from the position.I guess I am not sure Tavita and Andrew made a good evaluation of the QB. It may well be that he was the only one they could get that looked even credible. In other words, some serendipity might be involved. That said, I am very happy with the coaching that has produced this result. That seems to indicate Tavita et al can get maximum results from what talents the QB actually has.Whether or not their evaluation of Warren was spot on from the beginning, the coaching staff has definitely found some talent and is making the most of it. That is all one can ask.