Depends on where the program is....

If it’s losing and needs to be turned around quickly, Harbaugh is your man.

If it’s already winning and you need to maintain that tradition at Stanford, Shaw is your guy. He understands the institution better and he is more committed to the overall goals of the program in the long term. He’s a Stanford Man.

But this should be pretty obvious to, well, just about anyone who’s paying attention….

By Stanford_Fan on 07.27.16 12:04pm

couldn't

agree more with your assessment.

any long time Stanford fan knows the football program was dead until Harbaugh showed up and turned losers into winners.
he laid the tracks for the next guy and Shaw has done a great job with continuity and consistency.

I can’t blame Harbaugh for taking the 49ers job, but the 49ers blew it with showing Harbaugh the door.

By kollesteral on 07.27.16 12:34pm

Didn't know Finebaum had a radio show at Stanford

I hope that you realize without Coach Harbaugh there would be no Coach Shaw.
David Shaw was a coordinator on Coach Harbaugh staff at Stanford; let’s take a look at that Finebaum!
What coaches have David Shaw Stanford team beaten in the watered down Pac12? Year one Coach Harbaugh finished 4-8 but beat Pete Carroll #2 ranked USC Trojans.
Year two finished 5-7, year three finished 8-5 beat Chip Kelly Oregon Ducks and destroyed Pete Carroll Trojans in back to back weekends.
Only a handful of coaches could do what Coach Harbaugh had done at Stanford, his record speaks for itself, it would have been nice to have seen a match-up between Michigan and Stanford in the Rose Bowl last year, I’m sure that this will eventually get settled on the field.

By 1Tony_T on 07.27.16 8:35pm

Tough choice,

I’ll just take both, please and thanks.

By Tim Eckert-Fong on 07.28.16 8:56am

Let's not disrespect ...

someone who laid the foundation for the Stanford football team we know today. Harbaugh is the one who coined the term Intellectual Brutality and brought some positive history back by singing Hail Stanford Hail after every game. I didn’t even know we had a song! I agree that Shaw is better for the long term and building a winning legacy, but I don’t think that he had the personality to transform everyone’s mindset and make them believe we could become a winning team. Remember EUTM? And I like his rap video! He’s a crazy guy for sure, but crazy like a fox!

By Cardinal93 on 07.30.16 2:08pm

That's fair.

He was indeed the person who turned it around, and I’m certainly appreciative of that.

That said, I’m really not convinced that he was the only person capable of turning around Stanford; after all, we had some very talented players when Harbaugh came in, not the least of which were Toby Gerhart, Richard Sherman, Coby Fleener, Doug Baldwin, Owen Marecic, etc. etc.

But Harbaugh was the person who happened to be there for the turnaround, and he was also the person who put in the hard work to ensure the turnaround. And that is certainly something that I respect and appreciate.

By Matt Vassar on 07.30.16 2:24pm

Start up versus continuity

Matt: there is no disputing Harbaugh’s genius at creating something and getting it moving forward and creating buzz and interest – and palpable success. San Diego, Stanford, 49er’s and now Michigan. Kudos to a great coach. After he moved on from Stanford, I watched Shaw, and at times raged against him, when for example, in my view, he simply blew the Utah game that was there to win; or the abysmal end to the Stanford-OkState bowl game, where he took the best weapon he ever had out of the game. His explanations for these and other botches jarred my mind – I thought he was a bullshit artist, and pass-the-buck specialist. But, as I argue these things out with my Stanford buddies who also love the game, I really respect the coaching staffs, concept continuity, player development, and recruiting effort he marshals around the team. So, I have to say that I now choose Shaw for the long run (we’ll have to see how Harbaugh does in the long-run department, because he has not much record there; hopefully, Michigan is his "Bo Schembechler" post and he will make it great). I think we have been blessed to have two such great coaches make and continue an absolutely phenomenal – in Stanford terms – run at football success. There have been a few other greats, but these two are at the top of the list, and in David Shaw, I see more greatness coming.

By jafco99 on 08.01.16 5:01pm

Great points all around, jafco99!

Love hearing about your conversion from Shaw skeptic to Shaw enthusiast. At the risk of rehashing conversations that you and your friends already had, here’s my $0.02:

I agree with you and think that Shaw faced a lot of criticism early in his career for being too conservative. I’ll preface this by saying that I have no explanation for Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl (2011 season). That one bewilders me, too. But outside of that:

I honestly think that a large reason for Shaw’s initial conservatism was that (with the exception of the 2011 season) he worked with the post-Andrew Luck offense, which up until last season, wasn’t stellar. For instance, 2014 Stanford’s 5.6 yards/play put it in a statistical dead heat with offensive heavyweights like Middle Tennessee, U Mass, and Texas State. Given that, I’m not too surprised that Shaw may have opted to be a bit more conservative on offense and instead let his defense do what they did best.

Last season, though, Stanford saw a HUGE resurgence of its offense, and we also saw Shaw open up the playbook quite a bit. I also think that 2015 won’t prove to be the aberration, but the beginning of a trend. How could it not be with all of the offensive firepower we’ve been recruiting in recent years?

By Matt Vassar on 08.02.16 3:28pm

Matt: couldn't agree more:

Last year’s O was back in synch with some of what we saw in the Luck era. And it was made real by the incredible effort of one C. McCaffery – like a three-yard screen pass that becomes a 45-yard scintillating TD, throwing off a 300 pound D lineman at the point of catch. I think one or both these contending QBs are going to be exceptional, and there is incredible talent at all the receiving positions, and I think, at running back. If the O line gets it done, then this is a hard team to beat. And, I think the D is going to be very good to great. As a result, I’m optimistic we could go to the Final 4. Can’t wait for the season to start, but I won’t pin my heart on my sleeve. Stanford’s schedule is enough to poleax a bull.

By jafco99 on 08.09.16 4:38pm