[OutsiderFan]

 Stanford and its alums, or merely its fans like Tom Siebel, want to succeed at football.

OK, let's get into this a bit.  

The popular narrative here seems to be that as long as Shaw wants to be at Stanford, he can be at Stanford. I don't know what win percentage Shaw must be carrying in the long and near term for this to be a reality, but there are two different types of scenarios for improvement:

1. Shaw on his own decides changes must be made, he makes them, and gets back to winning the Pac-12.

2. Shaw is reluctant to make changes, doesn't get back to winning the Pac-12, and stalls out at 7-5/8-4 type seasons.

Obviously in the first case, everything takes care of itself. Shaw is self-motivated, knows what to do, and does it.  The second case is a bit dicier. 

Who is going to apply the pressure and demand more?  You say Hulk there should be no concerns because Stanford has the money to address whatever problem, and there are people who want Stanford to win in football. In my experience following this stuff, the AD is OK with 7-5 or 8-4 seasons, but the donors most certainly are not, and they force the AD to make changes.

I've never thought of Stanford as the kind of place that would ever have these dynamics at work, a Tom Siebel who would throw around cash to pressure the AD to pressure the coach to make changes, or even replace the coach, if not performing at a championship level. Are you saying these forces now do exist with Stanford? 

It's always been my belief that you can't sustain a winning program without outside pressure that demands it.  Stanford has never really put a high priority on championship football to my knowledge. It's been more if it happens, great, but we're not churning coaches until we win the Pac-12.  Are you Hulk, suggesting that given Stanford's last decade of football success, there are now higher expectations and a higher standard for acceptable football performance?

I get the need to have that high performing program at schools with 100K stadiums to fill, but it seems a little dubious to me that a a school that struggles to fill a 50k seat stadium could ever have great pressure on it to win championships.

[OutsiderFan]

 Stanford and its alums, or merely its fans like Tom Siebel, want to succeed at football.

OK, let's get into this a bit.  

The popular narrative here seems to be that as long as Shaw wants to be at Stanford, he can be at Stanford. I don't know what win percentage Shaw must be carrying in the long and near term for this to be a reality, but there are two different types of scenarios for improvement:

1. Shaw on his own decides changes must be made, he makes them, and gets back to winning the Pac-12.

2. Shaw is reluctant to make changes, doesn't get back to winning the Pac-12, and stalls out at 7-5/8-4 type seasons.

Obviously in the first case, everything takes care of itself. Shaw is self-motivated, knows what to do, and does it.  The second case is a bit dicier. 

Who is going to apply the pressure and demand more?  You say Hulk there should be no concerns because Stanford has the money to address whatever problem, and there are people who want Stanford to win in football. In my experience following this stuff, the AD is OK with 7-5 or 8-4 seasons, but the donors most certainly are not, and they force the AD to make changes.

I've never thought of Stanford as the kind of place that would ever have these dynamics at work, a Tom Siebel who would throw around cash to pressure the AD to pressure the coach to make changes, or even replace the coach, if not performing at a championship level. Are you saying these forces now do exist with Stanford? 

It's always been my belief that you can't sustain a winning program without outside pressure that demands it.  Stanford has never really put a high priority on championship football to my knowledge. It's been more if it happens, great, but we're not churning coaches until we win the Pac-12.  Are you Hulk, suggesting that given Stanford's last decade of football success, there are now higher expectations and a higher standard for acceptable football performance?

I get the need to have that high performing program at schools with 100K stadiums to fill, but it seems a little dubious to me that a a school that struggles to fill a 50k seat stadium could ever have great pressure on it to win championships.