[yvonne]

I'm having a hard time taking some of the most sweeping criticism of Shaw seriously.  It reminds me of what was being said on this board after the Northwestern loss a couple of years ago.  Let me remind everyone:

1) Shaw has won more games than any other coach in 127 years of Stanford football history.

2) Shaw has been Pac 12 coach of the year 4 times.  Walsh and Willingham managed once, Harbaugh none.

3) Under Shaw, Stanford has won the Rose Bowl twice, after a 31 year drought.  

4) Shaw has managed all this while apparently upholding high academic standards and avoiding (or weeding out, in the case of Turley?) corruption in the program.

5) Shaw is an alum of our program and school, whose ability to personify the value of a Stanford education gives him a major advantage over nearly any possible replacement.

Shaw has certainly made mistakes, probably in recruiting, in trusting assistant coaches he should not have trusted (Bloomgren), in some game plans (MSU), in some play calls (numerous.)   I have no problem with criticizing particular mistakes--and I imagine Shaw doesn't either.  Does anyone here really believe that external criticism of Shaw is any harsher than the criticism he makes of himself? 

I'm reminded of the 2000s with Tara.  Was Tara a lesser coach during those years, when her team was not flying as high as it did in the decade earlier or the decade after?  Of course not.  The truth that fans don't want to hear is that at Stanford, coaches do not have complete control.  Recruiting is an imprecise science, there are unpredictable ups and downs, injuries take a toll.  A couple of unheralded recruits can prove to be special talents, or a couple of heralded recruits can turn out to be duds, and the whole complexion of a season changes.

Two bad games against rising star quarterbacks, in hostile territory and hostile weather, during a spate of injuries, does not convince me that Shaw is anything less that the same terrific coach we have watched perform miracles with the program for years.  A couple of losing seasons would be necessary to do that.  Let's keep things in perspective.

I'm as pro-Shaw as anyone, but changes need to be made: expand the brain trust and recruit for the style that brought you here. It's as though he's forgotten what he, himself said. Also, it's hard for me to look across the Bay and see the other team winning using that style while we've moved to "throw and hope." I don't want to return to the "cycle of suckage" in which we'd have a couple of 8-5 seasons in between 4-8 seasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBCkec9csdo

[yvonne]

I'm having a hard time taking some of the most sweeping criticism of Shaw seriously.  It reminds me of what was being said on this board after the Northwestern loss a couple of years ago.  Let me remind everyone:

1) Shaw has won more games than any other coach in 127 years of Stanford football history.

2) Shaw has been Pac 12 coach of the year 4 times.  Walsh and Willingham managed once, Harbaugh none.

3) Under Shaw, Stanford has won the Rose Bowl twice, after a 31 year drought.  

4) Shaw has managed all this while apparently upholding high academic standards and avoiding (or weeding out, in the case of Turley?) corruption in the program.

5) Shaw is an alum of our program and school, whose ability to personify the value of a Stanford education gives him a major advantage over nearly any possible replacement.

Shaw has certainly made mistakes, probably in recruiting, in trusting assistant coaches he should not have trusted (Bloomgren), in some game plans (MSU), in some play calls (numerous.)   I have no problem with criticizing particular mistakes--and I imagine Shaw doesn't either.  Does anyone here really believe that external criticism of Shaw is any harsher than the criticism he makes of himself? 

I'm reminded of the 2000s with Tara.  Was Tara a lesser coach during those years, when her team was not flying as high as it did in the decade earlier or the decade after?  Of course not.  The truth that fans don't want to hear is that at Stanford, coaches do not have complete control.  Recruiting is an imprecise science, there are unpredictable ups and downs, injuries take a toll.  A couple of unheralded recruits can prove to be special talents, or a couple of heralded recruits can turn out to be duds, and the whole complexion of a season changes.

Two bad games against rising star quarterbacks, in hostile territory and hostile weather, during a spate of injuries, does not convince me that Shaw is anything less that the same terrific coach we have watched perform miracles with the program for years.  A couple of losing seasons would be necessary to do that.  Let's keep things in perspective.

I'm as pro-Shaw as anyone, but changes need to be made: expand the brain trust and recruit for the style that brought you here. It's as though he's forgotten what he, himself said. Also, it's hard for me to look across the Bay and see the other team winning using that style while we've moved to "throw and hope." I don't want to return to the "cycle of suckage" in which we'd have a couple of 8-5 seasons in between 4-8 seasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBCkec9csdo