[washingtonismoney]

Most outside of the Stanford community projected this season's record to be a notch or two below last season' record.

So I think this is a flawed standard to judge Dawkins by, leaving aside whether it's accurate. It implies that if you replaced Dawkins with another coach you likely wouldn't see dramatically better results this season with this set of players.

But that's only one dimension of coaching, and it's driven by fans' tendency to overrate in-game tactical moves. But the far more important element of good coaching is the strategic stuff: development, building an overall structure, etc. So while this collection of players might not be able to do much better, a different, better coach installed two or three years ago would've nurtured a different set of players. (My concern is mostly about Chasson Randle, who has not developed into the well-rounded, efficient player he had the potential to become in his freshman year. Outside analysts loved him and Randle has not made great progress since then, necessarily.)

[washingtonismoney]

Most outside of the Stanford community projected this season's record to be a notch or two below last season' record.

So I think this is a flawed standard to judge Dawkins by, leaving aside whether it's accurate. It implies that if you replaced Dawkins with another coach you likely wouldn't see dramatically better results this season with this set of players.

But that's only one dimension of coaching, and it's driven by fans' tendency to overrate in-game tactical moves. But the far more important element of good coaching is the strategic stuff: development, building an overall structure, etc. So while this collection of players might not be able to do much better, a different, better coach installed two or three years ago would've nurtured a different set of players. (My concern is mostly about Chasson Randle, who has not developed into the well-rounded, efficient player he had the potential to become in his freshman year. Outside analysts loved him and Randle has not made great progress since then, necessarily.)