[baymeadows3408]

I generally think people over estimate the importance of the head coaches and under estimate the importance of the assistants.  At Stanford, one of the things Harbaugh did really well was continually bring in really high quality assistants many of who had substantial NFL experience.  This was really important in our success and FWIW he put together a high quality staff at the Niners as well.

Look at the MI staff.  The OC & DC are both long time college guys with no NFL experience and no apparent past relationship with JH.  I think that is a big part of his problem.

As coaches get successful, some start to believe their press and think that they are the key to success.  I think that is what has happened to JH and frankly to Shaw as well.  JH has the problem that he is well known to be crazy and I am not sure really top people want to work with him anymore.  Shaws problem is hubris and ego.

Compare those two with Saban.  Saban continually loses assistants but reinvests in high quality guys.

There is a lesson here....

Yeah, I think Harbaugh had the right connections to bring in NFL-level assistants to Stanford. Retention was going to be a problem because I think a lot of them were using Stanford as a stopgap, but it became a moot point when Harbaugh left and took a lot of the assistants with him. I don't know enough about Shaw to comment on the quality of his network, but he hires a lot from within and I do think an infusion of new ideas would benefit the program.

[baymeadows3408]

I generally think people over estimate the importance of the head coaches and under estimate the importance of the assistants.  At Stanford, one of the things Harbaugh did really well was continually bring in really high quality assistants many of who had substantial NFL experience.  This was really important in our success and FWIW he put together a high quality staff at the Niners as well.

Look at the MI staff.  The OC & DC are both long time college guys with no NFL experience and no apparent past relationship with JH.  I think that is a big part of his problem.

As coaches get successful, some start to believe their press and think that they are the key to success.  I think that is what has happened to JH and frankly to Shaw as well.  JH has the problem that he is well known to be crazy and I am not sure really top people want to work with him anymore.  Shaws problem is hubris and ego.

Compare those two with Saban.  Saban continually loses assistants but reinvests in high quality guys.

There is a lesson here....

Yeah, I think Harbaugh had the right connections to bring in NFL-level assistants to Stanford. Retention was going to be a problem because I think a lot of them were using Stanford as a stopgap, but it became a moot point when Harbaugh left and took a lot of the assistants with him. I don't know enough about Shaw to comment on the quality of his network, but he hires a lot from within and I do think an infusion of new ideas would benefit the program.