09-20-2017, 05:07 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-20-2017, 08:29 PM by TreesAndBirds.)
The problem in part is that Stanford is now a "safe pick" for high school athletes. It's not like it was when people came here to build a program, to "shock the world". Now they come to a program that is built and it is their job to sustain it. That attracts a different type of person.
I have been in Silicon Valley a long time, and see the same thing in a number of institutions that use to attract people who wanted to build something new and change the world, and now want a safe choice with little downside risk.
Some institutions are successful for a long time because they can attract so much talent they will remain great. But Stanford will always be a bit thin on talent due to obvious admissions limitations, and need to make up for that with EUTM, or a chip on the shoulder, or something that makes the whole bigger than the parts.
I dont want to say they dont have it or cant have it, but I'm not sure who is stepping up to provide the catalyst that makes a good team a great team.
It can be a highly emotional person like Harbaugh or Skov, but I think it can also be someone like Hogan, who dealt with personal tragedy while giving it all on the field, or Andrew who would throw his body into a play like a linebacker when needed. There is more than one way, but there needs to be someone who can make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
I have been in Silicon Valley a long time, and see the same thing in a number of institutions that use to attract people who wanted to build something new and change the world, and now want a safe choice with little downside risk.
Some institutions are successful for a long time because they can attract so much talent they will remain great. But Stanford will always be a bit thin on talent due to obvious admissions limitations, and need to make up for that with EUTM, or a chip on the shoulder, or something that makes the whole bigger than the parts.
I dont want to say they dont have it or cant have it, but I'm not sure who is stepping up to provide the catalyst that makes a good team a great team.
It can be a highly emotional person like Harbaugh or Skov, but I think it can also be someone like Hogan, who dealt with personal tragedy while giving it all on the field, or Andrew who would throw his body into a play like a linebacker when needed. There is more than one way, but there needs to be someone who can make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.