[OutsiderFan]

Those offer numbers are quite revealing.

Specifically, it is interesting to see the discrepancy between Shaw and Harbaugh.  Given they both coached at Stanford and both had success, no better stat demonstrates "there is more than one way to skin a cat" when it comes to approach to scholarship offers.

Before seeing where Michigan ranked, I assumed they would be much further down the list because I would have thought Harbaugh would be more selective in terms of the talent pool he is pursuing. 

This data might reveal something we have never really seen before, that though Stanford's pool is smaller than everyone else's, it may well be that many programs can't actually fish in the Stanford pool.  What I mean is that yes, anyone who can be admitted to Stanford can be admitted to say Iowa State, but these numbers demonstrate Iowa State isn't going to be able to pull fish from Stanford's pool, despite this.

The conventional thinking has always been "how can Stanford compete with such a small pool everyone else can fish in?"  The answer seems to be that Stanford's smaller pool has fewer fish(recruits), but Stanford is among very few with the bait to land them. So when you factor in Stanford's close rate on offers, the pool Stanford has, in relative terms, is actually as big or bigger than the powerhouse programs. Stanford has successfully created such a uniquely powerful brand that the small size of admissible recruits doesn't really seem to be an issue that holding the program back anymore.  In fact, Stanford has turned a weakness into a strength.  This is really quite impressive.

[OutsiderFan]

Those offer numbers are quite revealing.

Specifically, it is interesting to see the discrepancy between Shaw and Harbaugh.  Given they both coached at Stanford and both had success, no better stat demonstrates "there is more than one way to skin a cat" when it comes to approach to scholarship offers.

Before seeing where Michigan ranked, I assumed they would be much further down the list because I would have thought Harbaugh would be more selective in terms of the talent pool he is pursuing. 

This data might reveal something we have never really seen before, that though Stanford's pool is smaller than everyone else's, it may well be that many programs can't actually fish in the Stanford pool.  What I mean is that yes, anyone who can be admitted to Stanford can be admitted to say Iowa State, but these numbers demonstrate Iowa State isn't going to be able to pull fish from Stanford's pool, despite this.

The conventional thinking has always been "how can Stanford compete with such a small pool everyone else can fish in?"  The answer seems to be that Stanford's smaller pool has fewer fish(recruits), but Stanford is among very few with the bait to land them. So when you factor in Stanford's close rate on offers, the pool Stanford has, in relative terms, is actually as big or bigger than the powerhouse programs. Stanford has successfully created such a uniquely powerful brand that the small size of admissible recruits doesn't really seem to be an issue that holding the program back anymore.  In fact, Stanford has turned a weakness into a strength.  This is really quite impressive.