07-21-2013, 12:21 PM
On Shaw-to-the-NFL speculation:
I was recently re-watching the Oregon-Stanford game. At some point early in the game Brent Musberger raised the idea of Shaw as an NFL candidate. OK, fine, Brent, you've made your point -- you think Shaw is a good coach. Then later in the game Musberger starts to discuss the idea again -- before he abruptly stops himself, or perhaps a producer tells him to shut up.
This kind of speculation will continue as long as Stanford continues to be an elite program. And what drives the speculation is not Stanford's history of losing its successful coaches. Or, at least, that's not the primary factor. What drives the speculation is the fact that there would in fact be lots of interest from the NFL if Shaw decided he wanted to leave Stanford. Nick Saban still gets discussed all the time as an NFL candidate, and that's because lots of NFL teams would line up to hire that guy if he ever decides to leave Tuscaloosa.
In the KNBR interview, I was heartened by the specificity of Shaw's remarks. He can't know where he's going to be in his life 20 years from now. But he basically said, look, I recently turned down NFL overtures. And for the foreseeable future, and certainly for the time that any player I'm currently recruiting would be on campus, I'm staying at Stanford.
I was recently re-watching the Oregon-Stanford game. At some point early in the game Brent Musberger raised the idea of Shaw as an NFL candidate. OK, fine, Brent, you've made your point -- you think Shaw is a good coach. Then later in the game Musberger starts to discuss the idea again -- before he abruptly stops himself, or perhaps a producer tells him to shut up.
This kind of speculation will continue as long as Stanford continues to be an elite program. And what drives the speculation is not Stanford's history of losing its successful coaches. Or, at least, that's not the primary factor. What drives the speculation is the fact that there would in fact be lots of interest from the NFL if Shaw decided he wanted to leave Stanford. Nick Saban still gets discussed all the time as an NFL candidate, and that's because lots of NFL teams would line up to hire that guy if he ever decides to leave Tuscaloosa.
In the KNBR interview, I was heartened by the specificity of Shaw's remarks. He can't know where he's going to be in his life 20 years from now. But he basically said, look, I recently turned down NFL overtures. And for the foreseeable future, and certainly for the time that any player I'm currently recruiting would be on campus, I'm staying at Stanford.
