Go Mighty Card

Troy Taylor and the Road Not Taken

There are certain givens for every new coach's introductory press conference. There are obligatory well wishes for the people left behind at the previous stop and the proper genuflection towards those who have just made the hire. Regardless of whether or not the position is seen as a destination job, on this day it is. Head coaches will almost always express gratitude that they've finally reached their dream job, even if the people listening know that they haven't. There are smiles, handshakes, and jabs at the rival and enough optimism to make Charlie Brown blush.

Troy Taylor certainly hit all those marks when he met the media last month for the first time as Stanford's new head football coach, but there was something that marked him different than most ball coaches who stand at the podium.

Oregon 45, Stanford 27

It's difficult to know where to begin, so we'll start at the beginning. Not the beginning of this game, but the beginning of this blog. I started writing in this space almost exactly twelve years ago. Here's the first paragraph of my first post from September 26, 2012, a recap of a game between Stanford and Notre Dame.

If you're reading this, you know a few things about Stanford Football.  First, the Cardinal went to South Bend on Saturday afternoon and came away with a victory that was surprising only in the level of dominance.  They beat the Irish soundly on both sides of the ball, and the game really wasn't as close as the score would indicate.

I couldn't have known what was waiting for Stanford football in the years to come. The trip to the Orange Bowl later that season seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity, and the dominant win over Virginia Tech seemed like a fairy tale. I watched that game from a hotel room in Orlando; I had briefly entertained the idea of renting a car and leaving a family vacation for 24 hours to go to the game because I couldn't imagine that I've ever again get the chance to see the Cardinal in a BCS bowl game.

After sitting in the stands for three Rose Bowls in four years, the fantasy threatened to wear off. I was still very aware of how far the program had come, but I never lost sight of the tenuous nature of Stanford's success. We are all just guests at the table, and even though I didn't think the dinner party would ever end, I always knew there was a chance that it might.

I knew that any number of variables could collapse and push the program back down among the masses, and I wondered how I would feel if that happened. Mostly, I wondered about this blog. Would people still be interested in reading about a program that was struggling? Would I still have the motivation to write about them? I wondered.

Coach Shannon Turley Reportedly Heading to Michigan

Editor's Note: The following piece was posted in the middle of a two-hour stretch on Sunday evening during which time it was widely reported that Stanford strength and conditioning coach Shannon Turley was headed to Michigan to become a part of Jim Harbaugh's coaching staff. Since posting, multiple sources confirmed that Turley is staying. Instead of deleting the post, I've allowed it to remain because it speaks to Turley's importance to the program. It's great to have him back.

No matter how successful a college football program becomes, there is never time for complacency. The coaching staffs of teams which reach the pinnacle of the sport immediately become targets as other schools look to hire away personnel to help them achieve that same success. And so it is with Stanford Football, which has lost multiple coaches over the past few seasons. When Jim Harbaugh left for the 49ers he took Vig Fangio, Greg Roman, and Tim Drevno with him. More recently David Shaw has had to watch as Pep Hamilton left for the Indianapolis Colts and Derek Mason took the head coaching job at Vanderbilt.

Losses like these, while initially problematic, are generally good for the program in the long run. They cast the program in a positive light, both for recruits as well as talented coaches who begin to see a spot on the Stanford coaching staff as a ticket to a head coaching position elsewhere.  (To be clear, this is good so long as the head coaching position remains a destination job.)

With Jim Harbaugh coming back to the college ranks to take the job at Michigan, there were immediate concerns that he might spin to the Stanford section of his rolodex in order to fill his new staff. On Sunday night, the poaching began.

An Interview with Coach David Shaw

The centerpiece of Pac-12 Media Day was obviously the three-hour press conference in the interview room, where each team's head coach and one selected player held court before the assembled media. In the afternoon, however, all of the principals were available for one-on-one interviews during which there was more of an opportunity to get deeper answers to specific questions about the team. I had a chance to spend some time with Stanford head coach David Shaw. The first question below is one that I asked him during the press conference, but the rest came as I sat next to him during lunch. The italicized topics indicate paraphrased questions from other media members. Read on...

Meet the New Boss, Not Quite the Same as the Old Boss

Let me tell you why I think David Shaw is a great hire for Stanford Football.  I watched his press conference this afternoon, and I'm convinced that athletic director Bob Bowlsby got it right.  He could have gone with Vic Fangio, but that probably would've been just to keep him on staff.  He could've reached outside the program, but that would've created serious concerns about continuity, and if there's one thing needed in the wake of Andrew Luck's decision to return, it's continuity.

First and foremost, Shaw brings fifteen years of coaching experience to his new position.  After playing wide receiver for the Cardinal from 1991-1994, Shaw embarked on a coaching career that took him from the backwaters of Western Washington to the bright lights of the NFL in Philadelphia, Oakland, and Baltimore.  After hitching his star to Jim Harbaugh at the University of San Diego, Shaw came along to Stanford when Harbaugh was given the head job in Palo Alto.

In his opening presser, Shaw spoke about how the team might look under his leadership.  "Our schemes are going to be the same, they'll be very similar.  We're gonna be aggressive on defense, we're gonna get after people on defense, we're gonna be aggressive on offense, we're gonna be a physical running team once again, we've got a pretty good quarterback that you might've heard of -- we expect great things from him as well."  Sign me up for all of that.

But maybe the most exciting aspect of this hire is that Bowlsby chose a Stanford man.  Shaw made it clear during his opening statements that this is his dream job, the only coaching job he's ever really wanted.  For him, the Stanford job is a destination, not a stepping stone, and Bowlsby made it clear that Shaw's attitude towards the job was a key part of his thought process as he was sifting through his list of candidates.  "Longevity is paramount," he said.  "It was a combination of factors that led me to believe that David was the right choice, but longevity is certainly one of them."  

Shaw explained his feelings like this: "I went into the interview process with the mindset that I wanted this to be my last head coaching interview ever.  That's my goal.  I want to be one of the "25 and Up Club" with Tara Van Deveer and Dick Gould.  That's my focus -- this place, and how great can we make this..."  At only 38 years of age, Shaw could be the face of Stanford Football for the next twenty-five years.

So today begins a new era of Stanford Football, and not just because there's a new man in the head coach's office.  Bowlsby made it clear that the University sees the football program differently than it has in the past, admitting that, "I don't think you can call yourself the best athletics program in the United States unless you can win consistently in football and the sports that the media covers and the fans really follow."  Agreed.

There will be lots of news flowing from the football office over the next few days, ranging from the completion of Shaw's staff (Fangio and Greg Roman are both expected to leave for NFL jobs, whether in San Francisco or elsewhere) to hoped-for commitments from some undecided recruits visiting campus this weekend.  For now, though, all you need to know is this: David Shaw is the new head coach at Stanford University.  And it is good.

David Shaw Press Conference

Waiting

There are any number of ways I could've gone with this... The Waiting is the Hardest Part, Waiting for the Sun, Waiting in Vain...

But we're just waiting.   All season long I wondered why people around the country weren't giving the Stanford Football program its proper respect, but in a lot of ways I'm guilty of the same thing.  When I look at the University of Michigan as they emerge from the failed Rich Rodriguez experiment and enter into the Brady Hoke era, I don't for a second doubt that they'll return to prominence.  They're Michigan.  When I look south to the Swamp and the Florida Gators, I don't worry that they'll fade away without Urban Meyer at the helm.   They're Florida.  Within the Pac-12 there's USC, struggling under the yoke of NCAA sanctions that will keep them from bowl games and limit their scholarships, but I know they'll be a national power just as soon as they're finished serving their time.  They're USC.

But I worry about the Mighty Card.  Even without a head coach, Stanford keeps popping up in various preseason polls for 2011, thanks mostly to the return of Andrew Luck.  The defense got better each week and returns a great deal of talent.  Half of the players from the deep recruiting classes of 2009 and 2010 are yet to be heard from, and some potential 2011 signees are talented enough to contribute this coming fall.  There's a lot to be excited about.

But I worry.

I worry that Jim Harbaugh will gut the coaching staff and take them to San Francisco.  I worry especially about Vic Fangio, the Dark Lord of Defense, the man who turned one of the worst defensive teams in the country to one of the best in the space of twelve months.  If he leaves, the defense could revert to the porous 2010 version.  If offensive coordinator David Shaw leaves, Luck and the offense will have to learn a whole new playbook, and what could've been a national championship year will become a transition season.

I worry that Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby will choose poorly, and that the wrong candidate will waste the year that Andrew Luck has given us and plunge the program back into mediocrity.

I worry that the stellar recruiting class assembled by Harbaugh and his staff will slowly erode away, setting the program back even farther.

I worry. 

Hopefully something good will happen on Thursday to assuage all this angst.

Filling Harbaugh's Shoes

When the Two-Faced Denny Green left for the Minnesota Vikings in 1991, he was replaced by Bill Walsh.  When Tyrone Willingham took the Notre Dame job in 2001, he was replaced by Buddy Teevens.  Sometimes you get it right, others times you don't.

So in the wake of Jim Harbaugh's departure, Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby has an important decision to make, and he needs to make it quickly.  If he waits too long, the impressive list of recruits committed to the Cardinal could stray; if he chooses the wrong coach, the momentum built by Harbaugh and his staff could stall and the program could sink back to the depths of the Buddy Teevens and Walt Harris eras.

Bowlsby was wise enough to hire Harbaugh in the first place, so I have faith that he's doing his due diligence right now and will come up with the right man for the job.  Here's a list of the candidates he's probably looking at, starting with those outside the program and continuing with the internal candidates.

Harbaugh Agonistes*

In 1991 the Stanford football team enjoyed one of its finest seasons in quite some time, finishing the regular season at 8-3 before losing in the Aloha Bowl on Christmas Day.  As exciting as it was, some of the expected joy was diminished due to constant speculation about the future of the head coach.  No one, it seemed, could imagine that a young, successful coach would want to remain at Stanford to build a consistent program since the NFL would offer more money and greater prestige.  But our head coach repeatedly put our fears to rest, declaring several times that he wasn't interested in any other job -- until he left a few weeks after the season to become the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.  I was young at the time, only a year removed from campus, so I took this very personally and vowed to refer to him from that moment on as the Two-Faced Denny Green.  

Strictly from a fan's point of view, the sudden departure of a successful head coach can be difficult.  Even though there were lots of signs (most of them dollar signs) pointing towards this eventual outcome, the seventy-two hour emotional roller coaster ride that preceded Harbaugh's signing with the 49ers was unbelievably gut-wrenching.