[Austroturf]

It’s lack of speed and the anointing of two ILB’s who cannot stay on the field. It’s arm tackling and not one player with a push who can pressure the QB. It may be scheme but in the end it’s probably too many players who can’t handle D1 football and that is on recruiting, admissions, coaching and a never will change policy of forbidding early admits, JC transfers and rescinding scholies to kids who will never contribute.

Kids play tempo for the most part in HS these days. Shaw’s playbook can’t really handle tempo and the OLB’s can’t handle the zone read. His reliance on tall receivers in the red zone telegraphs plays. You don’t have to hire Troy Taylor but there is no doubt that Stanford needs some outside juice on its staff. And how can anyone call Akina a great coach when Williamson loses his edge on coverage that turns a 12 yard gain into a 55 yard TD?

Couldn't agree more.  The longer Shaw works with this "family-grown", less than star-studded staff, the further the team will sink into mediocrity and sub-mediocrity.  It was asked on another thread whether Shaw has the fire in his belly to engineer a turnaround.  Most decidedly not.  Shaw is a consensus man, striving for harmony within the team and on his staff, hoping to make everybody in the program and the university feel good.  That was all fine when he had the players and the coaches to win multiple trips to the Rose Bowl during the 2011-2015 years.  Not so anymore.  He is temperamentally NOT a turnaround, revolutionary type of individual, which is what the program needs right now.  That said, we could still have some great years under Shaw if had the guts to go out and hire some top coordinators to be the fire in the program that he lacks.  An individual with Shaw's character CAN be successful if he surrounds himself with the kind of staff that compensates for his liabilities.  So far, Shaw has been unwilling to take that step.  His stubbornness is legendary; and it is on full display in his choice of coordinators and assistant coaches.  Until there's a shift in this behavior, we will not see improvement.

[Austroturf]

It’s lack of speed and the anointing of two ILB’s who cannot stay on the field. It’s arm tackling and not one player with a push who can pressure the QB. It may be scheme but in the end it’s probably too many players who can’t handle D1 football and that is on recruiting, admissions, coaching and a never will change policy of forbidding early admits, JC transfers and rescinding scholies to kids who will never contribute.

Kids play tempo for the most part in HS these days. Shaw’s playbook can’t really handle tempo and the OLB’s can’t handle the zone read. His reliance on tall receivers in the red zone telegraphs plays. You don’t have to hire Troy Taylor but there is no doubt that Stanford needs some outside juice on its staff. And how can anyone call Akina a great coach when Williamson loses his edge on coverage that turns a 12 yard gain into a 55 yard TD?

Couldn't agree more.  The longer Shaw works with this "family-grown", less than star-studded staff, the further the team will sink into mediocrity and sub-mediocrity.  It was asked on another thread whether Shaw has the fire in his belly to engineer a turnaround.  Most decidedly not.  Shaw is a consensus man, striving for harmony within the team and on his staff, hoping to make everybody in the program and the university feel good.  That was all fine when he had the players and the coaches to win multiple trips to the Rose Bowl during the 2011-2015 years.  Not so anymore.  He is temperamentally NOT a turnaround, revolutionary type of individual, which is what the program needs right now.  That said, we could still have some great years under Shaw if had the guts to go out and hire some top coordinators to be the fire in the program that he lacks.  An individual with Shaw's character CAN be successful if he surrounds himself with the kind of staff that compensates for his liabilities.  So far, Shaw has been unwilling to take that step.  His stubbornness is legendary; and it is on full display in his choice of coordinators and assistant coaches.  Until there's a shift in this behavior, we will not see improvement.