[CardinalSagehen]

It is not news that our practices are less intense than most.  KJ Costello said essentially the same thing a couple years ago upon his arrival at Miss. St. and his exposure to Mike Leach's practices.   

I'm just guessing, but I don't think it's about Shaw's vanity or his academic belief that football needs to be extremely cerebral. I think it's because he actually has a conscience. In my imagination, I speculate that Shaw's paycheck and competitiveness wage war in his soul against his fundamental knowledge that today's football is not good for a young man's long-term health. 

Shaw has rationalized and stated that the inherently violent sport of football can be practiced and played more safely. This is partly true, but mostly false in practice. For example, maybe the "Oklahoma Drill" and other similarly barbarian practices actually serve a useful purpose for building a winning football team, at the expense of numerous sub-concussive head traumas? 

Shaw serves as the chair of the NCAA Rules Committee, which is mostly about health & safety. As the head of this committee, he walks the walk at Stanford.  Some of our players also wear accelerometers in their helmets to measure head impacts, for the purpose of CTE research.

Too much conscience is not necessarily a good thing for winning games as a college football coach.  (One could argue that it's not such a bad thing for a football coach at Stanford, though.  One could also argue that football is bloodsport and we're all supporting it.)

That said, Shaw has won many games as a college football coach, and I believe he can still be successful.  It may just take some more changes than he's prepared to make.

[CardinalSagehen]

It is not news that our practices are less intense than most.  KJ Costello said essentially the same thing a couple years ago upon his arrival at Miss. St. and his exposure to Mike Leach's practices.   

I'm just guessing, but I don't think it's about Shaw's vanity or his academic belief that football needs to be extremely cerebral. I think it's because he actually has a conscience. In my imagination, I speculate that Shaw's paycheck and competitiveness wage war in his soul against his fundamental knowledge that today's football is not good for a young man's long-term health. 

Shaw has rationalized and stated that the inherently violent sport of football can be practiced and played more safely. This is partly true, but mostly false in practice. For example, maybe the "Oklahoma Drill" and other similarly barbarian practices actually serve a useful purpose for building a winning football team, at the expense of numerous sub-concussive head traumas? 

Shaw serves as the chair of the NCAA Rules Committee, which is mostly about health & safety. As the head of this committee, he walks the walk at Stanford.  Some of our players also wear accelerometers in their helmets to measure head impacts, for the purpose of CTE research.

Too much conscience is not necessarily a good thing for winning games as a college football coach.  (One could argue that it's not such a bad thing for a football coach at Stanford, though.  One could also argue that football is bloodsport and we're all supporting it.)

That said, Shaw has won many games as a college football coach, and I believe he can still be successful.  It may just take some more changes than he's prepared to make.