People who follow Pac-12 football keep asking columnists and talk-show hosts and bloggers, “Is David Shaw finally on the hot seat?”
We get it: Stanford has been stagnant and struggling for several seasons. The days of good football on The Farm are a distant memory. Stanford made the Pac-12 Championship Game and lost to USC in the 2017 season. The Cardinal have not had a really good year on the gridiron since 2018, when they won nine games. Four straight bad seasons? That’s hard to ignore … but is it leading to real internal pressure?
Shaw has built up so much equity and respect within the Stanford administration that his position has seemed secure. Outsiders are wondering when Stanford administrators will turn on him.
That’s the point: They haven’t done so, and it doesn’t seem likely that they will.
We have a situation in the Bay Area where the pandemic has really affected recruiting and transfer portal activity. Stanford exists under constraints which don’t apply to a lot of other Pac-12 programs. This is why David Shaw remains safe for 2023.
If 2024 is the discussion point, that is a lot more interesting, though one should still bet that Shaw will coach at Stanford two or three years from now, regardless of results.
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