[Spiny_Norman]

In the 80's, we weren't very good at all, yet the students attended the games. That was because of the student culture, not because of the football team. There was football interest without the success, because it was fun. I could see a scenario where Stanford spends millions on NIL, goes 7-5 or 8-4 for a few years in a row, and it might still be a yawner for the current student body and campus vibe.

I was there at the same time. The student body and campus culture are very different now. Walk around campus on a Friday afternoon. How many students do you see shooting hoops, playing ultimate, throwing or kicking a ball around, hitting a tennis ball with a friend? Stanford used to admit people like me, academically-minded students who also loved sports. Probably like many of you. We created and sustained a goofy and fun Stanford style of rah-rah while we were students. We became alumni with that same Stanford spirit. 

Now the undergraduate class is closer to what you might expect to find at MIT. That has been the case for a generation of Stanford students. I don't think that Admissions values as much being an all-around student that includes sports so the class is substantially made up of people with less interest in sports. They become alumni with less interest in sports. I would be interested to compare undergrad intramural participation now vs. say 30 or 40 years ago.

Stanford can work to turn around the on-field football performance. But it won't change the campus culture (and now creeping into the alumni culture) that doesn't really care how they do.

[Spiny_Norman]

In the 80's, we weren't very good at all, yet the students attended the games. That was because of the student culture, not because of the football team. There was football interest without the success, because it was fun. I could see a scenario where Stanford spends millions on NIL, goes 7-5 or 8-4 for a few years in a row, and it might still be a yawner for the current student body and campus vibe.

I was there at the same time. The student body and campus culture are very different now. Walk around campus on a Friday afternoon. How many students do you see shooting hoops, playing ultimate, throwing or kicking a ball around, hitting a tennis ball with a friend? Stanford used to admit people like me, academically-minded students who also loved sports. Probably like many of you. We created and sustained a goofy and fun Stanford style of rah-rah while we were students. We became alumni with that same Stanford spirit. 

Now the undergraduate class is closer to what you might expect to find at MIT. That has been the case for a generation of Stanford students. I don't think that Admissions values as much being an all-around student that includes sports so the class is substantially made up of people with less interest in sports. They become alumni with less interest in sports. I would be interested to compare undergrad intramural participation now vs. say 30 or 40 years ago.

Stanford can work to turn around the on-field football performance. But it won't change the campus culture (and now creeping into the alumni culture) that doesn't really care how they do.