[Mick]

We've had coaches who didn't represent Stanford well. [i]Doctor[/i] Tom Davis, with his constant whining about admissions is one.

...I would be interested in the difference between average SAT/GPA scores between the recruits of Davis' years and those of other coaches. 

I've looked at Davis' career record.  He was 100-47 at Boston College prior to Stanford and improved the team while he was there, improving their postseason record from 2nd round NIT to Sweet Sixteen to Elite Eight in his last three years at BC.  Then after he left Stanford, he took Iowa to a 30-5 record, and went to the NCAAs ten out of thirteen years.  In his total career, he never lost a first round NCAA tournament postseason game.  Never.  Not once.  He lost in the NIT first round twice.

He went to the NCAA Elite Eight the year before he coached Stanford.  He went to the NCAA Elite Eight the year after he left Stanford with Iowa.  Steve Alford took over at Iowa the year after Davis left, and Iowa basketball declined markedly.  It went to the NCAAs three times in eight years, losing twice in the first round.  Of the three times he went to the NIT, he lost in the first round twice. 

Davis went 58-59 at Stanford.  The football record for those years (Wiggin and Elway) was 15-29, tied for the eighth-worst four year stretch in the 100+ year history of Stanford football.  This suggests to me that there may be a degree of merit to the theory that Davis could not get good recruits into Stanford.

[Mick]

We've had coaches who didn't represent Stanford well. [i]Doctor[/i] Tom Davis, with his constant whining about admissions is one.

...I would be interested in the difference between average SAT/GPA scores between the recruits of Davis' years and those of other coaches. 

I've looked at Davis' career record.  He was 100-47 at Boston College prior to Stanford and improved the team while he was there, improving their postseason record from 2nd round NIT to Sweet Sixteen to Elite Eight in his last three years at BC.  Then after he left Stanford, he took Iowa to a 30-5 record, and went to the NCAAs ten out of thirteen years.  In his total career, he never lost a first round NCAA tournament postseason game.  Never.  Not once.  He lost in the NIT first round twice.

He went to the NCAA Elite Eight the year before he coached Stanford.  He went to the NCAA Elite Eight the year after he left Stanford with Iowa.  Steve Alford took over at Iowa the year after Davis left, and Iowa basketball declined markedly.  It went to the NCAAs three times in eight years, losing twice in the first round.  Of the three times he went to the NIT, he lost in the first round twice. 

Davis went 58-59 at Stanford.  The football record for those years (Wiggin and Elway) was 15-29, tied for the eighth-worst four year stretch in the 100+ year history of Stanford football.  This suggests to me that there may be a degree of merit to the theory that Davis could not get good recruits into Stanford.