[Austroturf]

Yes, this article excellently outlines the true challenges facing Stanford going forward.  Over the past few years, we have attributed Stanford's waning fortunes to:

1) a decline in the coaching staff (particularly the coordinators);
2) inadequate recruiting;
3) the drop-off in strength & conditioning;
4) the lapsing of Harbaugh's vaunted "EUTM" culture;
5) Shaw's stubbornness and inability to change;
6) the complicated playbook;
7) etc.  

Successfully addressing these issues would be mere band-aids if Stanford cannot find a way to navigate college football's new world order.  Not even Shaw's salary matters.  Pay him 2 million, pay a new coach 20 million.  It won't matter.

To me, Tara VanDerveer personifies the best of Stanford athletics, as well as Stanford itself, in every essence. Her thoughtful, measured view of the the New Landscape is alarming to say the least. Thus I am equally alarmed and dismayed by the prospects, given the reality of the university. May it navigate this bewildering maze (her well-chosen word, not mine) and prevail. Only time can tell.

Agree.  And this is because most female college basketball players are true student athletes, so the old laws still apply (coach well, recruit well, instill a winning culture, etc.).  Whenever the $$$ rule the day (as in football), the old laws are being rewritten by greed.

[Austroturf]

Yes, this article excellently outlines the true challenges facing Stanford going forward.  Over the past few years, we have attributed Stanford's waning fortunes to:

1) a decline in the coaching staff (particularly the coordinators);
2) inadequate recruiting;
3) the drop-off in strength & conditioning;
4) the lapsing of Harbaugh's vaunted "EUTM" culture;
5) Shaw's stubbornness and inability to change;
6) the complicated playbook;
7) etc.  

Successfully addressing these issues would be mere band-aids if Stanford cannot find a way to navigate college football's new world order.  Not even Shaw's salary matters.  Pay him 2 million, pay a new coach 20 million.  It won't matter.

To me, Tara VanDerveer personifies the best of Stanford athletics, as well as Stanford itself, in every essence. Her thoughtful, measured view of the the New Landscape is alarming to say the least. Thus I am equally alarmed and dismayed by the prospects, given the reality of the university. May it navigate this bewildering maze (her well-chosen word, not mine) and prevail. Only time can tell.

Agree.  And this is because most female college basketball players are true student athletes, so the old laws still apply (coach well, recruit well, instill a winning culture, etc.).  Whenever the $$$ rule the day (as in football), the old laws are being rewritten by greed.