[Leftcoast]

In marathon running or bicycle racing there's a belief that to have a chance to win you must stay "in contact" with the lead group.  Once you lose contact a runner/bicyclist is likely to fall off pace and recede back into the pack.  When you lose contact you've given up and accepted you won't win this race.

Under Mike Montgomery Stanford (along with Arizona and occasionally UCLA) WERE the lead pack.  The team earned #1 rankings, made the cover of SI, saw a long strings of NCAA invites and a glorious Final Four.  Under Johnson we maintained contact and with the Lopez twins were poised on the edge of Pac 10 and National relevance.  Under Dawkins we've seen an entire generation of players graduate without sniffing the first round of the NCAA tournament.  Stanford has lost contact and is now a member of the chase pack - and not many fans under 30 remember when we belonged in the lead group. 

The question NOW is whether Coach Dawkins is the guy who will pull Stanford out of the pack and put the team back in the lead group.  Maybe, but doing so has become a much harder job than when he first arrived. 

We've lost contact.

[Leftcoast]

In marathon running or bicycle racing there's a belief that to have a chance to win you must stay "in contact" with the lead group.  Once you lose contact a runner/bicyclist is likely to fall off pace and recede back into the pack.  When you lose contact you've given up and accepted you won't win this race.

Under Mike Montgomery Stanford (along with Arizona and occasionally UCLA) WERE the lead pack.  The team earned #1 rankings, made the cover of SI, saw a long strings of NCAA invites and a glorious Final Four.  Under Johnson we maintained contact and with the Lopez twins were poised on the edge of Pac 10 and National relevance.  Under Dawkins we've seen an entire generation of players graduate without sniffing the first round of the NCAA tournament.  Stanford has lost contact and is now a member of the chase pack - and not many fans under 30 remember when we belonged in the lead group. 

The question NOW is whether Coach Dawkins is the guy who will pull Stanford out of the pack and put the team back in the lead group.  Maybe, but doing so has become a much harder job than when he first arrived. 

We've lost contact.