[NU Sports] Coaching carousel

[Mike Nolan]

> Jim Harbaugh has, for better or worse, completely changed the culture of
> football. Now administrators expect a turnaround in one or two seasons. If
> it can be done at Stanford, they ask, why can't it be done at x (name my
> school) -- which, by the way, is a reasonable question.

Gary Barnett's turnaround of Northwestern and Bill Snyder's turnaround
of Kansas State, two programs with long histories of losing, may have
contributed to that culture far more than Stanford did.  Snyder is
doing it again at KSU, the fans there hope he lives forever.  

Stanford was never as far down for as long as either of those schools.  

Tyrone Willingham was 44-36-1 in his 7 seasons, Bill Walsh was 34-24-1 in 
two stints as coach, though only 17-17-1 the second time around.  Stanford 
went to back-to-back Rose Bowls in the 70's under John Ralston, winning both.

Walt Harris was a poor fit at Stanford and lasted just two years.
Harbaugh had two losing seasons to follow Harris, but apparently that
was good enough compared to Walt that he wasn't dumped.

I didn't even remember Buddy Teevens as one of their former head coaches 
until I saw it on Wiki.  

As to David Shaw, well, let's see how good he is as keeping the program
on the top, something Harbaugh wasn't around long enough to demonstrate he
could do, either.
--
Mike Nolan