[CTcard]

All these things are inherently true of course, but ...

1.  You can recruit well and still underperform to talent;

Yes, but the theme of the thread, or at least the OP, is that Stanford has overperformed to talent.

I know you think that is wrong. You should make the case not just the assumption.

2.  You can win a lot of games and still should have won more;

Absolutely true.
It appears Alabama fans feel this about Saban.

3.  You can have a sound offensive philosophy and still make AYFKM play calls that are indefensible; and

Not only true, but given what one sees around the greater football world, it would appear that in fact one cannot avoid at least the occasional AYFKM plays.

I personally am much more concerned about issues in offensive philosophy that could be better tuned - at least better tuned for the low-experience years.
That seems a more interesting and productive conversation, though obviously that is a matter of taste.

4.  Perhaps most disturbingly, you can win a lot of games and still preside over a fragile program (based on attendance, anyway).  There are many reasons for this disturbing point - some unrelated to what happens on the gridiron - but one factor is style of play.

...
No real issue with this, except I am not so sure that style of play is very closely tied to our attendance issues; and if it were I am not sure that by itself would be a good reason to change.

In sum, you can be a great coach - appreciated by all die-hard Stanford fans - and still have room for improvement.

Axiomatically true.

[CTcard]

All these things are inherently true of course, but ...

1.  You can recruit well and still underperform to talent;

Yes, but the theme of the thread, or at least the OP, is that Stanford has overperformed to talent.

I know you think that is wrong. You should make the case not just the assumption.

2.  You can win a lot of games and still should have won more;

Absolutely true.
It appears Alabama fans feel this about Saban.

3.  You can have a sound offensive philosophy and still make AYFKM play calls that are indefensible; and

Not only true, but given what one sees around the greater football world, it would appear that in fact one cannot avoid at least the occasional AYFKM plays.

I personally am much more concerned about issues in offensive philosophy that could be better tuned - at least better tuned for the low-experience years.
That seems a more interesting and productive conversation, though obviously that is a matter of taste.

4.  Perhaps most disturbingly, you can win a lot of games and still preside over a fragile program (based on attendance, anyway).  There are many reasons for this disturbing point - some unrelated to what happens on the gridiron - but one factor is style of play.

...
No real issue with this, except I am not so sure that style of play is very closely tied to our attendance issues; and if it were I am not sure that by itself would be a good reason to change.

In sum, you can be a great coach - appreciated by all die-hard Stanford fans - and still have room for improvement.

Axiomatically true.