[FarmBoy]

To me, that was understandable because: (1) the turmoil resulting from the botched Johnson contract negotiations probably was disconcerting to many recruits; (2) Dawkins had no head coaching experience at the time; and (3) Stanford was losing a lot of games due to the fact that Johnson left the cupboard bare.

For the sake of beating the dead horse, one thing you neglect to mention is that Dawkins spent the summer after he was hired coaching the National team rather than pounding the recruiting trail. I seem to recall him publicly justifying it by claiming that his role on the national team benefits the Stanford program or something, but I suspect his time would have been better spent wooing recruits and parents.

Pointing to Brown's injury is just a lame excuse. Quality programs should be good enough to make the tourney, even if one good player gets injured. And Brown was not that much of a difference maker.

[FarmBoy]

To me, that was understandable because: (1) the turmoil resulting from the botched Johnson contract negotiations probably was disconcerting to many recruits; (2) Dawkins had no head coaching experience at the time; and (3) Stanford was losing a lot of games due to the fact that Johnson left the cupboard bare.

For the sake of beating the dead horse, one thing you neglect to mention is that Dawkins spent the summer after he was hired coaching the National team rather than pounding the recruiting trail. I seem to recall him publicly justifying it by claiming that his role on the national team benefits the Stanford program or something, but I suspect his time would have been better spent wooing recruits and parents.

Pointing to Brown's injury is just a lame excuse. Quality programs should be good enough to make the tourney, even if one good player gets injured. And Brown was not that much of a difference maker.