New Stanford Head Coach, David Who?
You do not have to be that old to remember David Shaw playing wide receiver for Stanford from 1991 to 1994. At least that is what I like to believe. It was not that long ago at the least. And now Shaw is the head coach of his alma mater.
But many are asking where did this guy come from? After graduating from Stanford, Shaw coached at Western Washington for two years. Then he went to the NFL, spending time in Philadelphia, Oakland and Baltimore. In 2006 he joined Jim Harbaugh at the University of San Diego and was put in charge of the passing game as the wide receivers and quarterbacks coach.
Harbaugh made a big jump up to Stanford and proved to be a great man for the job, but Shaw made an even bigger jump. He went from being in charge of the passing game for a I-AA team to the offensive coordinator at Stanford. He obviously has done a fine job in his position as an offensive coordinator, but he never gained too much national attention for his efforts. All of the accolades were heading straight to Harbaugh and the talented offense that he and Shaw put together.
For three years the system was working fine. Then Harbaugh split for the NFL. With the recent successes at Stanford, the Cardinal could have gone out and gotten a big name coach…if they wanted to pay for him. But this is a program that trusts Harbaugh’s influence. The Stanford offense was humming for three years, so why not promote the offensive coordinator?
And, for the first time since 1983, the Cardinal have one of their own as their coach. Not only did Shaw play at Stanford, but his father, Willie, was an assistant coach at Stanford from 1974 to 1976 and the defensive coordinator from 1989 to 1991. He was a finalist for the head coaching job in 1992, but was beaten out by Bill Walsh. The elder Shaw then went on to be a successful coach in the NFL until 2002.
The younger Shaw has a tough act to follow, but he has the support of Stanford and is a Stanford man. Harbaugh never was. And maybe that means if Shaw has similar success as his predecessor, he will stick around and turn the Cardinal into a consistent Pac-12 contender and not split the first time a “football school” or the NFL comes calling.
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