[Maple Leaf]

Does anyone know of a head coach who turned around the trajectory of a program without changing at least one coordinator?

Do you see the problem as coordinators (i.e., scheme and strategy) or recruiting? I know they are related... The better we are, the better we recruit. I think they are both problems, of course...

-m.

That was one of John Ralston's greatest attributes along with overall program management and getting players to believe they can beat the big boys of the day, though at times (to many times) his teams failed to beat lesser teams.

I see problems everywhere. This is why we all say it's difficult to overcome a bad manger at the top.  If they aren't going to trust talented people to do their work unimpeded, success will be hard to achieve.

My primary concerns with David Shaw have always been:

1. Lack of urgency in all facets of his program, from recruiting, to assistant coach evaluation, to in-game adjustments
2. Inability to grow by doing things that make him uncomfortable*

* This includes hiring talented coordinators and letting them do their jobs. Every good manager knows the key to success is hiring people more talented than you and empowering them to do the work.  The thing is, the manager always gets the credit when those working under them are the ones responsible for the impressive results. Bad managers are too insecure to understand this and become micromanagers because they can't handle others being more capable or demonstrating their own work isn't as good. 

Davis Shaw is a tremendous figure head for Stanford Football. He has the potential to be a great Head Coach if he would just let go and let more talented coordinators do their thing. Maybe if he wasn't micromanaging the offense, he might turn into a better game manager too.

[Maple Leaf]

Does anyone know of a head coach who turned around the trajectory of a program without changing at least one coordinator?

Do you see the problem as coordinators (i.e., scheme and strategy) or recruiting? I know they are related... The better we are, the better we recruit. I think they are both problems, of course...

-m.

That was one of John Ralston's greatest attributes along with overall program management and getting players to believe they can beat the big boys of the day, though at times (to many times) his teams failed to beat lesser teams.

I see problems everywhere. This is why we all say it's difficult to overcome a bad manger at the top.  If they aren't going to trust talented people to do their work unimpeded, success will be hard to achieve.

My primary concerns with David Shaw have always been:

1. Lack of urgency in all facets of his program, from recruiting, to assistant coach evaluation, to in-game adjustments
2. Inability to grow by doing things that make him uncomfortable*

* This includes hiring talented coordinators and letting them do their jobs. Every good manager knows the key to success is hiring people more talented than you and empowering them to do the work.  The thing is, the manager always gets the credit when those working under them are the ones responsible for the impressive results. Bad managers are too insecure to understand this and become micromanagers because they can't handle others being more capable or demonstrating their own work isn't as good. 

Davis Shaw is a tremendous figure head for Stanford Football. He has the potential to be a great Head Coach if he would just let go and let more talented coordinators do their thing. Maybe if he wasn't micromanaging the offense, he might turn into a better game manager too.