In college football, coaches get fired pretty frequently. Sometimes for misconduct, but mostly, they get the boot after a string of bad seasons.
David Shaw and Stanford are having a bad season. They’ve continuously worsened the past couple of seasons. Some think the solution to Stanford’s woes is to fire Shaw. But there is absolutely no chance Shaw will be fired. Stanford could lose the rest of their games (which seems like a possibility because of all the injuries), and Shaw would still have his job next season.
Yes, I realize I’m the guy who imagined David Shaw and Jim Harbaugh switching schools for 2020, but there’s a world of difference between what I want to happen and what actually will happen. Let’s be honest with ourselves: David Shaw is not going anywhere.
First off, let’s remember how hard it is to fire someone. The decision rests on the shoulders of Stanford’s athletic director, Bernard Muir. It’s a decision that would weigh heavily. One thing most fans don’t realize is that if you fire a head coach, his assistants go with him. In total, you’d likely displace 40 or 50 people, including family members. In many cases, the assistants don’t deserve firing, but they’re a part of the old coach’s regime. Ethically, it’s a difficult decision for any athletic director to make.
Furthermore, blame doesn’t always lie with the head coach. For example, after last week’s Falcons game, fans were calling for Dan Quinn to be fired. Their star player Julio Jones gave a moving speech afterwards and pointed blame at the team, not his head coach.
Does Shaw deserve the blame for Stanford’s poor performance? None of us truly knows, but the person who does is Muir. Whereas fans only see the team in action for the three hours they play their game, Muir can see the team behind the scenes throughout the day. Like an NFL owner, Muir sees the team in the locker room and sees them at practice. He also sees the amount of effort coaches put into each game. My point: Muir knows a lot more than we do.
Even if Muir does blame Shaw, though, do we really think Stanford will get an upgrade at head coach?
Stanford can’t get the “retired” Urban Meyer. He’s not going to downgrade from Ohio State to Stanford. Bob Stoops, who is now coaching in the XFL, wouldn’t come either.
As much as I hate to admit it, Jim Harbaugh is not coming back to The Farm; I think he burned too many bridges at Stanford. He’d also want to move forward in his career rather than backward.
Stanford is not a high enough caliber program to convince a premiere coach to come. Remember, Stanford hired Harbaugh as an unknown. His successor, Shaw, was basically an unknown at the time of his hire. After many years of success under Shaw, is Stanford really going to roll the dice on a new, unproven coach?
Shaw has been a good coach; there’s no arguing that. He led the Cardinal to three Rose Bowl games and won two of them. He was named PAC-12 Coach of the Year four times. He’s the winningest coach in Stanford history.
Plus, David Shaw runs a pretty clean ship, despite college football being filled with scandals year after year. Urban Meyer hid domestic violence at Ohio State, Art Briles hid sexual assault at Baylor, and Maryland’s DJ Durkin was accused of player mistreatment.
David Shaw has never been accused of anything close to these scandals. He’s promoted positive change by raising awareness for sexual violence. His team played games dedicated to the cause, and Shaw is a member on the NCAA Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence.
There’s no denying Shaw is a good role model for students and student-athletes.
Muir will not blame Shaw for Stanford’s bad season. Instead, I believe Shaw will put the blame on his assistants and on injuries, which are both valid.
Stanford has suffered injuries left and right, which could be the fault of Stanford’s new strength and conditioning coach. Perhaps Shaw will replace him.
The offense has struggled. Maybe it’s time to replace Tavita Pritchard.
The defensive line has regressed in recent years. Maybe it’s time to find someone else.
There’s no denying that Stanford football needs help and that change is needed. But there’s also no denying that firing David Shaw will lead to even more trouble for Stanford.
Comments
Just because your on the committee doesn’t make. You
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By card5127 on 10.22.19 7:40pm
Just because your on the committee doesn’t mean highly questionable things haven’t happened
In defending a coach for how the team has had unparalleled success compared to any other era at the farm you can’t use his role on the NCAA Combat Sexual Violence as part of the argument. It’s been widely reported for sometime of the toxic culture at Stanford and favoring the aggressor in sexual violence. Last season Bobbie Okerke (who’s in the nfl now) was found guilty be two of three members on the a committee at Stanford of sexual assault yet was not punished, at Stanford you need all 3 members to agree for there to be a verdict of assault (it used to be 4). Having stated this Coach Shaw should not be on this committee due to the fact that this school (which him and his family love as much as anyone, just ask his old man) has had a toxic history with coming to terms of the predators they attract to the campus. Between Okerke case and Brock Turner (Plus whatever was before, between, and after these cases) no one from Stanford should ever represent this committee if it’s to stand for the right thing. I love what the Coach Shaw has done on the field but fielding a player like Okerke shows you have no right to to be on this committee, for the great coaching decisions he’s made ( sending Jordan out to take out Oregon in ‘12, or the destruction of Iowa or the times you put a unit on the field and got them to achieve a feet greater than the sum of the parts. Next to Tera his the best of the last 30 years on the Farm but his record on assault is not something you should bring up if your defending him.
By card5127 on 10.22.19 7:58pm
This should not even be a conversation really
Stanford is not USC or Oregon. Shaw shouldn’t even be on a moderately warm seat after one bad year. If Stanford misses a bowl three years in a row, maybe you would think about moving on.
I’m a Ducks fan (albeit a Stanford alum). The contrast with Helfrich’s firing in 2016 comes to mind. Yes, we fired him after one bad season, and just two years after reaching the national championship game with him. But it wasn’t just that we weren’t winning games. The team was clearly falling apart behind the scenes. Players were quitting, recruits were bailing, and Helfrich and his disastrously chosen assistants were fiddling while Autzen burned. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that such a precipitous move isn’t warranted just by how many games are won in a single season. There needs to be major chaos off the field to justify it.
Also, you guys had a brutal schedule this year. Sure, you’re 3-4, but only one of the four losses is a bad one, and that involved your third-string quarterback. It was not unreasonable to think that you would lose at USC, at UCF, and to us. Beating the mutts was a pleasant surprise (for us as well). You still have a chance to get bowl-eligible with wins over Arizona, Colorado, and a severely battered Cal. If you do that with all of the injuries and the tough schedule, I think that it’s hard to complain too much.
By sportsfan_87 on 10.23.19 1:16am
David Shaw Should Not And Need Not Go Anywhere
End of story. But the team would benefit by some changes below him. As discussed ad nauseum in related posts.
Also, I have a very hard time imagining Bernard Muir scrutinizing Shaw and the football program very hard. From his and Stanford’s perspective, Shaw is the embodiment of the perfect coach…………….even with 7 – 5 seasons becoming the norm. Football is just not that important in the grand scheme of things, and Shaw’s position among leaders at Stanford certainly takes no back seat to Muir – despite his administrative responsibilities.
Shaw will coach until he is ready to move on and Condi takes the job!
By hoyaparanoia on 10.23.19 9:16am
I don't want good David Shaw to be fired
Only bad David Shaw who makes bad decisions, refuses to change game plans, and doesn’t tailor game plans to suit the talent he has on the field.
Agree there’s no way he’s going to get fired for one bad year.
By worldblee on 10.23.19 9:18am
Really?
Shaw’s latest quote: "I’m not in the business of raising people’s spirits." He goes on to say players have to be self-motivated. I thought one of coach’s jobs was to motivate the troops.
By gaffman on 10.24.19 10:23am