[Goose]

Turning an excellent player, 1-2 good players (depending how you define Sellers), and zero depth/a box of misfit toys into a competent team should be considered a major accomplishment for coach Smith in year 1 of what's expected to be a complete down-to-the-studs multi-year rebuild.

IMO virtually everyone agrees that this team played vastly better than initial expectations/conventional wisdom would have predicted. Coach Smith certainly was a large part of that. That is the "good" news. As far as a "down to the studs" rebuild goes this year may not have helped that much. That isn't a criticism of coach Smith, as he had no time to recruit the "young talent" necessary for such a rebuild.
 
This year was IMO an "extract maximum benefit from what you have" year, not a "build for the future" year. Every year is a new challenge, but next year will tell us a lot more about where we are in our "rebuild" efforts. We may win fewer games next year while at the same time setting Stanford up to win many more games two or three years from now. Of course, it would be better to be building for the future while winning in the present. That may not be possible next year.

[Goose]

Turning an excellent player, 1-2 good players (depending how you define Sellers), and zero depth/a box of misfit toys into a competent team should be considered a major accomplishment for coach Smith in year 1 of what's expected to be a complete down-to-the-studs multi-year rebuild.

IMO virtually everyone agrees that this team played vastly better than initial expectations/conventional wisdom would have predicted. Coach Smith certainly was a large part of that. That is the "good" news. As far as a "down to the studs" rebuild goes this year may not have helped that much. That isn't a criticism of coach Smith, as he had no time to recruit the "young talent" necessary for such a rebuild.
 
This year was IMO an "extract maximum benefit from what you have" year, not a "build for the future" year. Every year is a new challenge, but next year will tell us a lot more about where we are in our "rebuild" efforts. We may win fewer games next year while at the same time setting Stanford up to win many more games two or three years from now. Of course, it would be better to be building for the future while winning in the present. That may not be possible next year.