Stanford has named offensive coordinator and running backs coach David Shaw ’95 the newest head coach of the Cardinal football program. Shaw was officially introduced at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
Shaw, who played wide receiver for Stanford in the early 1990s, takes over the title of Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football from Jim Harbaugh, who left the Farm for the San Francisco 49ers after four seasons. Shaw served with Harbaugh throughout his time at Stanford, as well as at the University of San Diego.
A favorite of players and alumni alike, Shaw enters the top spot after a coaching search that saw most of its focus on in-house candidates, so as to provide continuity with the highly successful Harbaugh era. Aside from Shaw, associate head coach Greg Roman, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and special teams coordinator Brian Polian were interviewed. Stanford had a brief flirtation with Boise State’s Chris Petersen before he reaffirmed his commitment to his current school.
Shaw, 38, confirmed that he plans to keep using the philosophy that Harbaugh instilled during his tenure, building a physical, running team on offense and an aggressive, hard-hitting defense. He said that he was not willing to rest on the accomplishments of last season, when the Cardinal capped its first 12-win season in history with a victory in the Orange Bowl.
“Take the 2010 season–outstanding, phenomenal. We’re going to put it in a box, we’re going to put a ribbon on it, we’re going to put it on the shelf for everybody to admire,” Shaw said. “But our goals are not met. We’re not done…we have a desire to be the first Pac-12 champion.”
Shaw also expressed his desire to build a consistently strong program at Stanford while embracing the University’s focus on academics.
“Two good years of football is not enough,” he said. “That’s not what we’re aiming for. We’re aiming for consistency, for a team that’s going to make Stanford University proud every time we step on the field.”
Athletic director Bob Bowlsby said that he had serious discussions with three external candidates about Stanford’s head coaching position and contacted four other coaches, but he declined to name any of them.
“This is, in my estimation, the most logical step that we can take,” Bowlsby said at the press conference. “[Shaw] is a proven recruiter. He’s got great college and NFL experience. He understands and embraces the athletic and academic merger at Stanford University. His contribution to the current state of affairs in our football program is immeasurable, and he is a person of impeccable character and integrity.”
In Shaw, Stanford has found a young coach with eight years of NFL experience who is also likely to be seriously dedicated to the Farm. He is the 34th coach in the program’s tenure, and no head man has stayed for more than nine years.
“I went into the interview process with the mindset that I wanted this to be my last head coaching interview ever,” Shaw said. Referring to the Stanford women’s basketball coach, he added: “I want to be in the 25-and-up club that Tara VanDerveer is in.”
Shaw began his coaching career immediately after his graduation from Stanford, heading first to Western Washington before heading to the Philadelphia Eagles for his first NFL job. He remained in the professional ranks until he joined Harbaugh’s staff in San Diego in 2006, then came to Stanford with Harbaugh the next year. For his first three seasons with the Cardinal, he operated as both the wide receivers’ coach and offensive coordinator, but in 2010, while retaining his coordinator title, he switched his focus to running backs. Now, he becomes the first Stanford alumnus to lead the Cardinal program since Paul Wiggins ’57, who did so from 1980-1983.
Quarterback Andrew Luck, last season’s Heisman Trophy runner-up and the early favorite to win the award in 2011, spoke about Shaw’s hire as well.
“He’s a Stanford man,” Luck said. “I’ve known that since he was recruiting me coming out of high school. He has a deep, abiding love and respect for Stanford. You can really tell that. He’s going to do a wonderful job with this program and the players are behind him 100 percent.”
Luck commented on the differences in style between Harbaugh and Shaw.
“He’s definitely a lot different than Coach Harbaugh in a lot of aspects,” he said. “It’s just different personalities and people go about things differently. I wouldn’t say there’s one right way to do it.”
Shaw’s appointment comes at a critical time for Stanford, which will host about 20 recruits on campus this weekend. Shaw will also have to work to keep Roman, Fangio and other members of Harbaugh’s staff, some of whom have received interest from other schools and professional teams. However, he chose not to elaborate on Stanford’s attempts to retain those coaches and its search to fill open assistant positions, saying, “We’ll talk about that as the week goes on.”
-Cyrus Pinto contributed to this report