[msqueri]

On another board somebody asked if any of Shaw's hires have been great. That sent me down a path musing on how to characterize Shaw's best hires. Sharing my thoughts here in case folks have reactions:



Alamar got spectacular results for a while but has faded for a while now, though special teams still tends to be an advantage for us. My biggest problem here is that a dedicated special teams coach takes away coaching firepower from the defense, but it's a defensible decision and over Shaw's tenure it's worked pretty well.



Akina has had some ups and downs but on balance I'd say has been a good hire. For one, the level of defensive back we've recruited the last eight years is considerably higher than any other time in Stanford's history.



I would call Bloomgren Shaw's best all-time hire. He maintained/stabilized OL play at a critical time in the glory years and was arguably the greatest recruiter in Stanford's history. He stands out among Shaw disciples in getting a major college football head coaching gig.



Carberry was a good hire but so good he got poached for one of the top OL jobs in the sport pretty quickly, hurting the stability of our OL.



On paper Gould was a hire to be excited about but personally I think Gould has been a net negative on our coaching staff.



Kennedy has been a great hire IMHO.



Pritchard is uniquely difficult to assess in many respects as I don't think any of us know where David Shaw ends and Tavita Pritchard begins, in several respects. Plus Pritchard was a key player/coach under Harbaugh (albeit not a full assistant coach until Shaw), so it's debatable whether to call him a Shaw hire. The biggest problem with Pritchard is the opportunity cost of not having a proven, dynamic offensive coordinator, which reflects poorly on Shaw.



Sanford was a Shaw hire who went on to be a head coach. He's a weird one to characterize as he came to Stanford immediately after Harbaugh, so in a sense is a vintage Shaw hire, but Sanford came from the Harbaugh/Taggart family and, if I recall the rumblings, may have been arguably the one coach Shaw ever had who he asked to look elsewhere. I wouldn't say Sanford getting head coaching opportunities reflected well on Shaw in the way Bloomgren did.



Tarver had a nice year on Shaw's original staff but immediately parlayed it into an NFL job, and water subsequently finding its level suggest Fangio's epic bequest may have made Tarver look good.



Taylor was a Shaw hire who went on to bigger and better things and is now supposedly on lists for a major college football head coaching job. Hard to fault his tenure at Stanford, certainly more successful on the field and on the recruiting trail than Gould.



Turner has had an epic run of NFL tight ends so I don't know what the basis would be to say he wasn't a good hire. But I also understand he fell into Shaw's lap thanks to his dad (Ron Turner for those who don't know).



In all, I think a fair read is that Shaw has had many good hires. Let's not begrudge him that. That doesn't change the overall bottom line that the coaching staff has declined over time. To me it seems like this is because of the big things - offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and strength and conditioning. There was also the of immense proportions dropoff between Shaw's inheritance of Hart and Shaw's replacement with Reynolds, and the miserable string of inside linebacker coaches ever since Tarver in Shaw's first year (Kotulski, Hansen, Sanders, oh my).



My read is that Shaw has generally gotten hiring right, including where it matters most in terms of position coaching (offensive line and defensive backs), but has opted out of real hiring for the two biggest assistant coach positions, the coordinators, and that has been devastating. Shaw hasn't hired coordinators, he's promoted loyal and likable friends from within. It's been Shaw's arrogance, loyalty, and lack of ambition that have crippled us on the coaching front. He hires plenty of good people, but he won't do it at the most important places or admit failure when his friends fail.



For Shawpologists I think this will raise the hope that after this year we'll finally move on to new coordinators and maybe that will reverse the tailspin. I acknowledge that is a very real possibility that Shaw buys another year by finally demoting or cutting ties with Anderson and/or Pritchard. I really hope that's not what we see though. A 2023 without a QB (I predict), WRs, LBs, or DBs and with new coordinator(s) will be seen as a rebuilding year and, if that is what comes to pass, will mean Shaw is actually buying himself 2-3 years. We've seen enough of Shaw's failures to lead that this would be an awful result IMHO. David Shaw must go.

Yes, "David Shaw must go."  But thanks for the capsule history. Just more supporting evidence.

Shawpologists: your comments are encouraged. Got any (other than "B-b-b-but how can we be sure of the next guy?")??

If you look at the talent getting drafted by the NFL we have had 10 offensive players drafted in the last 5 years, and 15 in the 5 years before that. Biggest drop off has been in the Offensive Line, the place we are hurting the worst now.  So we have either recruited the wrong guys the last 5 years or we haven't been able to develop them.  I don't know which coaches coincided with which periods.  This year I think the Offensive Line has been at best offensive.

I think offensive line is one of the places we're hurting the least. In 2022, we've been very good at run blocking and pretty bad at pass blocking. That's a mediocre offensive line. Almost every other unit on our roster would be so lucky to be described as mediocre. In terms of NFL draft selections too, two offensive linemen drafted in the last three drafts is a good amount by most teams' standards.

You are right it's been a drop-off from our heights. Big-time. But that says a lot about how extraordinary our previous run was in addition to what it says about today. Having a mediocre line with two very good if not great college players and numerous other experienced guys is not "offensive." Offensive is what's happening everywhere else.

[msqueri]

On another board somebody asked if any of Shaw's hires have been great. That sent me down a path musing on how to characterize Shaw's best hires. Sharing my thoughts here in case folks have reactions:



Alamar got spectacular results for a while but has faded for a while now, though special teams still tends to be an advantage for us. My biggest problem here is that a dedicated special teams coach takes away coaching firepower from the defense, but it's a defensible decision and over Shaw's tenure it's worked pretty well.



Akina has had some ups and downs but on balance I'd say has been a good hire. For one, the level of defensive back we've recruited the last eight years is considerably higher than any other time in Stanford's history.



I would call Bloomgren Shaw's best all-time hire. He maintained/stabilized OL play at a critical time in the glory years and was arguably the greatest recruiter in Stanford's history. He stands out among Shaw disciples in getting a major college football head coaching gig.



Carberry was a good hire but so good he got poached for one of the top OL jobs in the sport pretty quickly, hurting the stability of our OL.



On paper Gould was a hire to be excited about but personally I think Gould has been a net negative on our coaching staff.



Kennedy has been a great hire IMHO.



Pritchard is uniquely difficult to assess in many respects as I don't think any of us know where David Shaw ends and Tavita Pritchard begins, in several respects. Plus Pritchard was a key player/coach under Harbaugh (albeit not a full assistant coach until Shaw), so it's debatable whether to call him a Shaw hire. The biggest problem with Pritchard is the opportunity cost of not having a proven, dynamic offensive coordinator, which reflects poorly on Shaw.



Sanford was a Shaw hire who went on to be a head coach. He's a weird one to characterize as he came to Stanford immediately after Harbaugh, so in a sense is a vintage Shaw hire, but Sanford came from the Harbaugh/Taggart family and, if I recall the rumblings, may have been arguably the one coach Shaw ever had who he asked to look elsewhere. I wouldn't say Sanford getting head coaching opportunities reflected well on Shaw in the way Bloomgren did.



Tarver had a nice year on Shaw's original staff but immediately parlayed it into an NFL job, and water subsequently finding its level suggest Fangio's epic bequest may have made Tarver look good.



Taylor was a Shaw hire who went on to bigger and better things and is now supposedly on lists for a major college football head coaching job. Hard to fault his tenure at Stanford, certainly more successful on the field and on the recruiting trail than Gould.



Turner has had an epic run of NFL tight ends so I don't know what the basis would be to say he wasn't a good hire. But I also understand he fell into Shaw's lap thanks to his dad (Ron Turner for those who don't know).



In all, I think a fair read is that Shaw has had many good hires. Let's not begrudge him that. That doesn't change the overall bottom line that the coaching staff has declined over time. To me it seems like this is because of the big things - offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and strength and conditioning. There was also the of immense proportions dropoff between Shaw's inheritance of Hart and Shaw's replacement with Reynolds, and the miserable string of inside linebacker coaches ever since Tarver in Shaw's first year (Kotulski, Hansen, Sanders, oh my).



My read is that Shaw has generally gotten hiring right, including where it matters most in terms of position coaching (offensive line and defensive backs), but has opted out of real hiring for the two biggest assistant coach positions, the coordinators, and that has been devastating. Shaw hasn't hired coordinators, he's promoted loyal and likable friends from within. It's been Shaw's arrogance, loyalty, and lack of ambition that have crippled us on the coaching front. He hires plenty of good people, but he won't do it at the most important places or admit failure when his friends fail.



For Shawpologists I think this will raise the hope that after this year we'll finally move on to new coordinators and maybe that will reverse the tailspin. I acknowledge that is a very real possibility that Shaw buys another year by finally demoting or cutting ties with Anderson and/or Pritchard. I really hope that's not what we see though. A 2023 without a QB (I predict), WRs, LBs, or DBs and with new coordinator(s) will be seen as a rebuilding year and, if that is what comes to pass, will mean Shaw is actually buying himself 2-3 years. We've seen enough of Shaw's failures to lead that this would be an awful result IMHO. David Shaw must go.

Yes, "David Shaw must go."  But thanks for the capsule history. Just more supporting evidence.

Shawpologists: your comments are encouraged. Got any (other than "B-b-b-but how can we be sure of the next guy?")??

If you look at the talent getting drafted by the NFL we have had 10 offensive players drafted in the last 5 years, and 15 in the 5 years before that. Biggest drop off has been in the Offensive Line, the place we are hurting the worst now.  So we have either recruited the wrong guys the last 5 years or we haven't been able to develop them.  I don't know which coaches coincided with which periods.  This year I think the Offensive Line has been at best offensive.

I think offensive line is one of the places we're hurting the least. In 2022, we've been very good at run blocking and pretty bad at pass blocking. That's a mediocre offensive line. Almost every other unit on our roster would be so lucky to be described as mediocre. In terms of NFL draft selections too, two offensive linemen drafted in the last three drafts is a good amount by most teams' standards.

You are right it's been a drop-off from our heights. Big-time. But that says a lot about how extraordinary our previous run was in addition to what it says about today. Having a mediocre line with two very good if not great college players and numerous other experienced guys is not "offensive." Offensive is what's happening everywhere else.