Who should our next HC be?

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David Shaw was the coach we wanted a few seasons ago, running a lineman-driven power-running/strategic passing game at Stanford, which is hard to recruit to for different reasons than most schools. 

Shaw is into year four of a freefall at Stanford. I'm not sure he's going to survive this season. It will probably be amicable — he's still highly respected but it's one of those "fresh start" situations. 

Would you be interested? 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
David Shaw was the coach we wanted a few seasons ago, running a lineman-driven power-running/strategic passing game at Stanford, which is hard to recruit to for different reasons than most schools. 

Shaw is into year four of a freefall at Stanford. I'm not sure he's going to survive this season. It will probably be amicable — he's still highly respected but it's one of those "fresh start" situations. 

Would you be interested? 
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Not that I ever was but no.  Which is probably obvious.

There are definitely disadvantages to trying to win at Stanford.  But most of his success was just continuing what Harbaugh had built.  If you throw out the COVID season this will probably be six straight years in decline.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
David Shaw was the coach we wanted a few seasons ago, running a lineman-driven power-running/strategic passing game at Stanford, which is hard to recruit to for different reasons than most schools. 

Shaw is into year four of a freefall at Stanford. I'm not sure he's going to survive this season. It will probably be amicable — he's still highly respected but it's one of those "fresh start" situations. 

Would you be interested? 
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You can put Shaw into the same category as Petersen saying he’d never leave Boise State or Fickell leaving Cincy.  He has said he is lifelong Stanford. He’s on the decline so I’d pass as don’t think he could get the kids we need.  Stanford is his schtick and his free fall makes him less attractive that he’d be hungry enough to compete at the high level we need.  

 
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I guess it comes down to will we be satisfied with 8-4 or 9-3 seasons or 10-2 or 11-1? A decent coach who teaches sound fundamentals could perhaps get us the former. But for the latter, we need a coach who not only can coach but can recruit consistently top 15 classes.  Who could that be? We know there are several decent coaches in the Western Division. But these coaches can only go so far because they apparently are not great  recruiters.  We know Joseph “potentially” with some new hires could be that kind of recruiter. But let’s see how he does as far as coaching and wins this season. If he losses the next two, then this discussion becomes more mute. The only thing I can say I personally know is it’s extremely difficult to find a coach who is equally good at recruiting as he is with coaching. There aren’t many. 

 
Mavric said:
Not that I ever was but no.  Which is probably obvious.

There are definitely disadvantages to trying to win at Stanford.  But most of his success was just continuing what Harbaugh had built.  If you throw out the COVID season this will probably be six straight years in decline.
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Throw out the COVID season and it's still a good run, well past the recruits he inherited from Harbaugh. And maybe what he learned is worth something. His offense checked a lot of boxes for Husker fans. 

Not sure I"m sold on Shaw myself, but we are likely to choose a coach with a lesser record. 

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Guy Chamberlin said:
Fun fact: Matt Rhule never defeated a ranked team during his time at Baylor. 
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This concerns me more and more the more I think about it ^

This also concerns me...

Recruiting Rankings

  • 2013 - 77
  • 2014 - 69
  • 2015 - 80
  • 2016 - 59
  • 2017 - 40
  • 2018 - 29
  • 2019 - 36

In researching him a little more, he definitely seems to be much more of a developer than a recruiter. And, being firmly of the mindset that you need both to win Championships, I might be moving more toward the "pass on Rhule" camp. Tack on the "never beat a ranked team" and it's possible his results were slightly fools gold, meaning he only ever beat the teams he was supposed to beat. Probably good enough to be competitive in the West most years, and maybe we just need to be okay with that. But, I want more. I think we need to start with an elite recruiter, or at least someone who hasn't built their career priding themselves on doing more with less.

 
The word on Petersen was not that he would never leave Boise - it was that he would never leave the northwest/west coast, in part due to culture but also in part due to health issues with his kid.

Similarly Fickell would absolutely leave Cincinnati, but it's less likely he'll leave Ohio and less that he'll leave the Great Lakes midwestern region.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Throw out the COVID season and it's still a good run, well past the recruits he inherited from Harbaugh. And maybe what he learned is worth something. His offense checked a lot of boxes for Husker fans. 

Not sure I"m sold on Shaw myself, but we are likely to choose a coach with a lesser record. 
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I realize it extended past Harbaugh's recruits.  That's why I didn't reference recruits.

I see a lot of Solich there, though obviously nowhere near the sustained success that Solich inherited.  You have recruits already there to get you directly through a couple of years.  Then you still have that success to get you a couple more classes of recruits.  But the whole process isn't what it used to be so it starts to fade and, given enough time, is nowhere near what it used to be.

 
I would take Shaw. Funny thing is that Covid year might have been a good one had it been played out. He didn't actually get to play much with Mills and he turned out to be a pretty good QB in the NFL, even with the crappy Texans. The only question would be can he get similarly talented QBs to show up to Nebraska without the fancy degree. The only QB he didn't get fresh off the top of the recruiting list was Hogan, but made him work well for four years. Maybe Shaw needs more players in his profile and not high recruits he can't ride with since (KJ Costello transferred out, Mills left early).

He also wouldn't be a top pick by any means, but I think he could right the ship for someone later.

 
In my opinion, Nebraska can only sell itself to recruits via elite facilities + elite fanbase (NIL)

I think we need a coach who can sell himself on being a winner, and a history of sending kids to the pros... because Nebraska can't sell either of those, at this point in time (not even close)

I think that is what top recruits look for, above any other deciding factors (with exception of location, for some kids).

With all that said... Urban Meyer is the first that comes to (my) mind. Lane Kiffin seems like a name that can sell that (to a degree).

As a Raider fan, I've always wondered what Jon Gruden can do in the college ranks... I doubt most our fans would be interested in that name; but it is an intriguing name.

 
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