Stanford coach David Shaw makes surprising announcement
Nov 30, 2019; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw addresses the media after a game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
Stanford capped off another disappointing season with a loss to BYU on Saturday, and the program has officially begun its search for a new head coach.
After Stanford fell 36-25 to BYU to finish the season 3-9, head coach David Shaw announced his resignation. He told reporters the decision is one that he arrived at only in the past several days.
“A week ago, 10 days ago, I was gung-ho to be the person to lead us there, and over the last few days I realized it was time,” Shaw said, via Josh Dubow of The Associated Press. “It was time for me to step aside, time for the next group to come in, and hopefully whoever they hire next wins more games than I do. That would be awesome.”
Stanford finished 3-9 this season for the second consecutive year. The Cardinal have not been to a bowl game since 2018. Their only winning season in the past four years was when they went 4-2 in the pandemic-shortened season in 2020.
Shaw, 50, said he has no desire to coach anywhere else at this point.
“I’m not burnt out by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “I’m healthy and feel good. But at the same time, 16 years is a long time — 12 as a head coach, 16 here. I’m so proud of our accomplishments, so proud of our student-athletes, so proud of the guys that have gone on and done other things in the NFL and outside of the NFL in different walks of life. But like I said, the phrase just kept coming back to me that gave me peace, which was, ‘it’s time.’”
Despite the recent struggles, Shaw finishes with an impressive record of 96-54 at Stanford. He is the winningest coach in program history. Shaw won the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award in 2017 and was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year four times.
If Shaw decides to take a year off and return to coaching, there will likely be plenty of interest in him. He is young very by coaching standards and has shown he can win at a high level.
