[Goose]

The bottom line is this:  Stanford and/or the football program is not appealing enough for these kids to stay.  And until we learn definitively that these kids were booted out via graduation and couldn't get into a grad program - which I find exceedingly hard to believe, given the easy option of just holding back Winter/Spring quarters and then taking some classes next fall - I view this as another indication of things going a bit awry.

Do you in all seriousness not understand why a high achiever, goal oriented individual would be adverse to intentionally wasting a year by artificially postponing graduation in order to play football??? You are quite right that if that course of action is the only way you could stay at Stanford, it would generally not be appealing enough to stay at Stanford, no matter what else Stanford did. There are undoubtedly special cases where a player wants to take some particular classes where staying an "extra" year may make sense, but it certainly is not the general case.

It is also important to realize that these players have actually gone through four years of practices, strength and conditioning, and spring football at Stanford. This is a grind. There aren't many "new experiences" to be had by doing it again. While playing another season with "your guys" may be attractive, the vast majority of your classmates will be moving on. Playing another year elsewhere to pay for a graduate degree, coupled with whatever additional insights that will come from a new place actually makes sense. I am pretty sure that if one of the players was giving up football and going to another school, nobody would find that remarkable. Playing one more year to do the same should not be any more unusual.

[Goose]

The bottom line is this:  Stanford and/or the football program is not appealing enough for these kids to stay.  And until we learn definitively that these kids were booted out via graduation and couldn't get into a grad program - which I find exceedingly hard to believe, given the easy option of just holding back Winter/Spring quarters and then taking some classes next fall - I view this as another indication of things going a bit awry.

Do you in all seriousness not understand why a high achiever, goal oriented individual would be adverse to intentionally wasting a year by artificially postponing graduation in order to play football??? You are quite right that if that course of action is the only way you could stay at Stanford, it would generally not be appealing enough to stay at Stanford, no matter what else Stanford did. There are undoubtedly special cases where a player wants to take some particular classes where staying an "extra" year may make sense, but it certainly is not the general case.

It is also important to realize that these players have actually gone through four years of practices, strength and conditioning, and spring football at Stanford. This is a grind. There aren't many "new experiences" to be had by doing it again. While playing another season with "your guys" may be attractive, the vast majority of your classmates will be moving on. Playing another year elsewhere to pay for a graduate degree, coupled with whatever additional insights that will come from a new place actually makes sense. I am pretty sure that if one of the players was giving up football and going to another school, nobody would find that remarkable. Playing one more year to do the same should not be any more unusual.