[BostonCard]

Fair points.  As I said, “A pool of more than 30 candidates” is vague to the point of meaninglessness.  I agree that the pool of candidates where Stanford would have made an offer (but for having a more preferred candidate on the list) and the candidate potentially accepting is narrower than 30.

But it’s probably not that much narrower.  The universe of candidates we have drawn from in the past is pretty large, actually.  We’ve taken FCS coaches (Taylor, Harbaugh), coordinators in college (Shaw, Dowhower) and the pros (Walsh, Wiggin), head coaches from P4 FBS programs (Harris, Green), position coaches with no coordinator experinece (Willingham), retreads working as OCs (Teevens), G5 Head Coaches (Elway).

I think out of Matt’s list, once you get beyond the first 10 or so names, Stanford would have been an attractive opportunity for several dozen, and whether Stanford gave them a significant look or not, they would have made reasonable candidates if the powers that be in the search committee had wanted to (we have no insight on whether they did or not).

There are only 60 P4 head coaching jobs in the country, so even one on the bottom end of desireability for institutional reasons is a big deal and would be highly coveted by someone currently coaching a G5 school, an FCS school, who is currently a coordinator in the college (and some in the pros), or who was fired from a more high profile coaching gig.

BC

[BostonCard]

Fair points.  As I said, “A pool of more than 30 candidates” is vague to the point of meaninglessness.  I agree that the pool of candidates where Stanford would have made an offer (but for having a more preferred candidate on the list) and the candidate potentially accepting is narrower than 30.

But it’s probably not that much narrower.  The universe of candidates we have drawn from in the past is pretty large, actually.  We’ve taken FCS coaches (Taylor, Harbaugh), coordinators in college (Shaw, Dowhower) and the pros (Walsh, Wiggin), head coaches from P4 FBS programs (Harris, Green), position coaches with no coordinator experinece (Willingham), retreads working as OCs (Teevens), G5 Head Coaches (Elway).

I think out of Matt’s list, once you get beyond the first 10 or so names, Stanford would have been an attractive opportunity for several dozen, and whether Stanford gave them a significant look or not, they would have made reasonable candidates if the powers that be in the search committee had wanted to (we have no insight on whether they did or not).

There are only 60 P4 head coaching jobs in the country, so even one on the bottom end of desireability for institutional reasons is a big deal and would be highly coveted by someone currently coaching a G5 school, an FCS school, who is currently a coordinator in the college (and some in the pros), or who was fired from a more high profile coaching gig.

BC