[StanfordMatt]

As for an out of the box coach.  Great.  Show me where that has worked over a significant period of time at a major D-1 football program.  

To a certain extent, it worked at Stanford in 2007 with Harbaugh’s hire. We hired an FCS coach from a non-scholarship program who ran a pro-style offense with formations featuring 9 OL. We zigged while everyone else was zagging because we knew we had to be different to succeed. We used our uniqueness to topple the Oregon’s and USC’s of the world even though we couldn’t hold a candle to those programs in terms of resources.

Fast forward to 2024 and you can make the argument that the institutional disadvantages for Stanford are bigger than they were in 2007 as a result of NIL, the portal, etc.

The “zig” of loading up on OL and an elite pocket passing QB is no longer big enough to compensate for those institutional disadvantages.

The “zig” has to be bigger for us to succeed nowadays. Like Billy Beane’s Moneyball.

Is it guaranteed to work? No. Credit to Presbyterian for hiring the Arkansas HS coach who never punted a few years ago. That failed miserably. But they dared to be great and didn’t settle for the easy way out (e.g. just hiring the coach from up the street who’s had some success at a lower level).

Stanford is an institution that dares to be great. Rather than sell our soul to the NIL gods or sacrifice our academics to slum it in the portal (options which are moot anyway because the powers that be won’t allow it), I’d rather dare to be great in our hiring process. Sadly, Muir is woefully unequipped to handle that task.

[StanfordMatt]

As for an out of the box coach.  Great.  Show me where that has worked over a significant period of time at a major D-1 football program.  

To a certain extent, it worked at Stanford in 2007 with Harbaugh’s hire. We hired an FCS coach from a non-scholarship program who ran a pro-style offense with formations featuring 9 OL. We zigged while everyone else was zagging because we knew we had to be different to succeed. We used our uniqueness to topple the Oregon’s and USC’s of the world even though we couldn’t hold a candle to those programs in terms of resources.

Fast forward to 2024 and you can make the argument that the institutional disadvantages for Stanford are bigger than they were in 2007 as a result of NIL, the portal, etc.

The “zig” of loading up on OL and an elite pocket passing QB is no longer big enough to compensate for those institutional disadvantages.

The “zig” has to be bigger for us to succeed nowadays. Like Billy Beane’s Moneyball.

Is it guaranteed to work? No. Credit to Presbyterian for hiring the Arkansas HS coach who never punted a few years ago. That failed miserably. But they dared to be great and didn’t settle for the easy way out (e.g. just hiring the coach from up the street who’s had some success at a lower level).

Stanford is an institution that dares to be great. Rather than sell our soul to the NIL gods or sacrifice our academics to slum it in the portal (options which are moot anyway because the powers that be won’t allow it), I’d rather dare to be great in our hiring process. Sadly, Muir is woefully unequipped to handle that task.