[msqueri]

A one way door is one thing, but doing everything in your power to set up an industrial strength wind machine directly facing the exit door is another. Stanford fans, coaches, and administrators are way too blithe about guys leaving for the NFL or after graduating from Stanford. In fact, it's worse than that - we seem to actively encourage it. I get it, it's high-minded and makes us feel honorable to be doing college football for the right reasons. But it's the most extreme unilateral disarmament Stanford has seen in decades, even more damaging than not filling the full 85 scholarships or not offering spring official visits or not offering early enrollment. What it means in practice is that Stanford loses massive amounts of prime eligibility for its best players, in contrast to how Stanford operated for 40 years before Shaw and how college football teams continue to operate (or at least try to operate amidst the headwinds of the transfer portal).

It may not bother some of you that Stanford football players leave at the first opportunity, but it kills the football program. One of the most important jobs of the next coach is to create a new culture where players are at Stanford to play football and want to stay to build something with their brothers, rather than bolting for the first paycheck (even if it's a 5th round draft pick or worse as it usually is with our guys) or darting for greener pastures to see what life is like in other programs.

[msqueri]

A one way door is one thing, but doing everything in your power to set up an industrial strength wind machine directly facing the exit door is another. Stanford fans, coaches, and administrators are way too blithe about guys leaving for the NFL or after graduating from Stanford. In fact, it's worse than that - we seem to actively encourage it. I get it, it's high-minded and makes us feel honorable to be doing college football for the right reasons. But it's the most extreme unilateral disarmament Stanford has seen in decades, even more damaging than not filling the full 85 scholarships or not offering spring official visits or not offering early enrollment. What it means in practice is that Stanford loses massive amounts of prime eligibility for its best players, in contrast to how Stanford operated for 40 years before Shaw and how college football teams continue to operate (or at least try to operate amidst the headwinds of the transfer portal).

It may not bother some of you that Stanford football players leave at the first opportunity, but it kills the football program. One of the most important jobs of the next coach is to create a new culture where players are at Stanford to play football and want to stay to build something with their brothers, rather than bolting for the first paycheck (even if it's a 5th round draft pick or worse as it usually is with our guys) or darting for greener pastures to see what life is like in other programs.