Chris Beard, head coach of Texas who Stanford plays this coming weekend, was arrested for choking/assaulting his fiancee. He's suspended at the moment.

ASU is now 10-1. Stanford with a conference start of UCLA and ASU is looking to have been very hard. Not sure ASU can keep it up, but it at least gives the conference a solid 3rd team after UofA and UCLA for national exposure.

Cal is 0-11 and literally on the way to being the worst Pac 12 team of all time or at the very least the worst non conference performance ever by a Pac 12 team.

Read that here.

Right here:

I saw an Instagram post at Stanfordfootballfans thanking Lance Anderson. It included numerous photos of him at Stanford coaching players. I’ve pasted the content of the post below.


stanfordfootballfans THANK YOU LANCE ANDERSON!

Coach Anderson came to Stanford University with Jim Harbaugh as the defensive tackles coach in 2007. He leaves as a Stanford legend.

A respected architect of Stanford's historic defense, he coached his players to success on the way to 3 PAC-12 championships, 2 Rose Bowl W's, and countless games where his defensive adjustments played a key role for the Cardinal.

Over the past few weeks, players and their parents have told us about the huge impact Lance Anderson had on them choosing Stanford during the recruiting process.

Hailed as a recruiting/admissions god by players and recruits, it will be impossible for Stanford to replace what Coach Anderson has meant to the program over the last 16 years.

We will miss seeing Coach Anderson on the recruiting trail for Stanford and during practices on The Farm.

Wishing him & his family all the best with their future endeavors!

"His resume looks great, he looks like the right coach that’ll get the job done, I can’t wait to get down and meet him, and nothing has changed with my recruitment, I’m still locked in with Stanford."

Approve move to Big with SC

Would be very helpful to Stanford:

Watch that here. I’m walking in…

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Josh named to the third team by Associated Press.

Read that here. Gorney addresses the positive reactions Stanford commits have to the Troy Taylor hire.

Read that here. 2023 Stanford commit Jaden Platt on the list as a possible guy to flip. Already been mentioned in the recruiting notes thread.

Read that here.

Read that here.

Read that here.

Read that here.

After listening to Troy Taylor's introductory press conference, I was a bit surprised that he wasn't more effusive when asked about Patu directly. While his ability to do so might be compromised by our academic restrictions, I get the sense that his plan is to scour the transfer portal for a veteran option that fits his scheme. Here are a few qualified names he might looks at:
SENIORS






JUNIORS







SOPHOMORES








Needless to say, there are definitely more than a handful of intriguing names in the portal and more than could follow in the coming weeks. Personally, I'm not a fan of bringing on a super senior with one year of eligibility remaining. I'd like to onboard someone that we could build around; someone who's going to be part of a long term plan. McCall is easily the most talented QB on this list and would likely be a one-year stopgap given his NFL pedigree (despite having two years of eligibility). Bachmeier is another intriguing because he brings a boatload of experience, appears to be a fit for Taylor's scheme, and would have the opportunity to play alongside his little brother, Tiger.

Unfortunately, a lot of the names on this list are not realistic possibilities due to the high profile programs they're coming from and the fact that they're going to have high profile programs hot on their tails. But I wouldn't rule out a Miller Moss or Sam Huard due to their west coast connections and the fact that they each gave Stanford a good look at one point or another in the high school recruiting process. If Taylor can get any one of these ten names to join the program via the portal, it can only help our chances in 2023. But looking long term, it may be in the best interest of the program to find one of the guys lower on the list with more eligibility remaining. Thoughts?

_

Alrighty, the men's basketball recruiting notes thread is here. The October notes thread is here.

Let's start with signing day. The window to sign in the early period is November 9th to November 16th. At the moment, the only commit Stanford has for the 2023 class is 5-star point guard Kanaan Carlyle. The good news is he's really good and all signs point to him sticking with Stanford and signing this month.

From reading the stories in the SF Chronicle, you guys would know his mom has already moved out here and got a job with Stanford Hospital, so the family is all in and Carlyle is pumped to be going to a school where he can build his brand as a smart, nerdy, academic guy that is forging a different path than most basketball players.

Ideally, Carlyle is joined by someone else in the 2023 class and the guy who Stanford is hoping they get to join him is 4-star wing Andrej Stojakovic. Given that signing day is just around the corner, it's possible he commits to a school in time to sign in November, but it's no guarantee.

My feeling is the longer this goes on, the higher the chance that he goes somewhere other than UCLA and if he were to go somewhere other than UCLA, I think Stanford would be the school. Better academically, closer to home, there's a relationship with Isa Silva who also played at Jesuit, and then we know that the visited recently on September 30th. Having dug some recent digging into the matter I haven't received any confirmation that Stanford is out or that they don't feel their chances aren't good. So that gives me some reason for hope as well.

Below are a couple of recent articles that mention Stojakovic from our national guys. They seem to think UCLA, but like me, they think the odds are good that the longer he stretches this out, the more the odds are he goes elsewhere. Btw, I haven't changed my UCLA FutureCast from the summer, but I don't want anyone reading that as me thinking he's still going to UCLA. I would say they might have the edge, but I think Stanford has a real chance here. I'm actually feeling it's close to a toss up right now, which is good for Stanford. I would honestly be surprised if he doesn't go to either Stanford or UCLA.

Twitter Tuesday


Five Must-Get Prospects for Major Programs


I've also checked on a couple of lower ranked guys just to confirm: 3-star power forward Bron Roberts and power forward Mitchell Holmes. Both were offered by Stanford at one time and it's possible one of them fills the role of being a Jarvis Moss/developmental type of signing. I'll let you know what I find out on those guys. It's totally possible neither is an option for Stanford as they haven't come through my list of visitors, but still good to check.

As for 2024 guys, point guard Trent Perry, 4-star shooting guard Gicarri Harris, 4-star shooting guard Sir Mohammad, 4-star shooting guard Kon Knueppel, and 5-star center Yves Missi have emerged as kinda the top five guys right now just in terms of traction.

Perry visited over the summer and Stanford feels like he's a real diamond in the rough type of kid. One of the best guards on the West Coast. Harris and Mohammad both visited together the weekend of the Oregon State football game (October 8th), Knueppel visited this past weekend, and then Missi visited a couple weeks back on October 21st. There's a possibility Missi reclassifies (h/t @hardcorecard).

Obviously, Missi is the biggest prize here, but all these kids are really good. If Stanford gets a 2-3 of these guys (especially Missi) that'll make for a really nice class. Missi reclassifying would be fantastic as that could really add some pop for 2023.

And then 2025, the four guys who have been offered are power forward Caleb Wilson, small forward Nikolas Khamenia, 5-star small forward Koa Peat, and 5-star small forward Bryson Tiller. Still a bit early to get a feel for them, but the fact that they've already been offered indicates the staff thinks very highly of them.

I will check this weekend to see if there are any visitors for the Wazzu football game. I'll let you know if any names pop up there. Let me know if you have any questions.

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Reporting it’s Coach Taylor

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Read that here.

1. Hope. We have hope. That's the bottom line for me. After a joyless and enervating stretch that lasted far too long (opinions differ on how many years but most of the last half decade certainly), Stanford football fans, players, and parents finally get to look forward to something. It may take some time for wins to return but the first steps are joy (or at least making Stanford football something that is fun to participate in and watch), energy, and optimism. This hire gives us all three.

2. Troy Taylor will transform Stanford football, for good or for ill. Given how far the program has fallen, the possibility the transformation is for the worse strikes me as vanishingly small. The program had become so uncompetitive, joyless, and hopeless under Shaw that the bar to clear is set very low. The chance remains that Taylor is a dud or the damage is too great or the systems and culture Taylor brings can't graft on to the Stanford patient. But the hire gives us a chance to find out if salvaging the patient is possible, which we wouldn't have had with Shaw. Where I don't have much uncertainty is that Taylor will transform Stanford football one way or another. This is a clean break from Shaw and even from Harbaugh. Stanford declined to opt for continuity with prior regimes or even styles and went in a different direction. I think that's prudent. There are multiple ways to skin a cat and competence and culture need to be the areas of focus over any particular approach.

3. While stylistic differences abound, Taylor does represent a clear attempt to replicate the Harbaugh magic in terms of reaching way down to FCS to find an uber-competent offensive wizard (and even a former quarterback who played high school football in Northern California and made it to the NFL before becoming a QB/offensive specialist coach). The obvious similarities create both promise and peril in my mind. While FCS to Power Five success stories are few and far between, one of the most spectacular being at Stanford with a similar resume coach inspires some confidence. I also like that Taylor offers similarities not just to Harbaugh but to Art Briles. Looking at the sweep of FCS to Power Five hires, what Stanford aims to do with Taylor and Colorado aims to do with Coach Prime follows Kansas State (Klieman), Stanford (Harbaugh), Virginia (London), Washington State (Wulff), and Vanderbilt (Johnson) making similar gambits. It's failed slightly more often than not (obligatory small sample size caveat) as far as I can tell, but Harbaugh and Klieman are encouraging cases, and it's further encouraging to peel back the history to understand that the spectacular and immediate nature of Taylor's success stands apart from the FCS to Power Five failures. Wulff wasn't even close to as successful at Eastern Washington. Johnson took much longer to excel at Furman, inherited a prouder program than Sacramento State, and didn't reach the heights Taylor did. London inherited a powerhouse at Richmond from Dave Clawson and parlayed an even smaller sample size than Taylor (two years, compared to Taylor's three seasons over four years) into the Power Five job. I think when you look at the details of what Taylor did compared to other FCS to Power Five jumps it starts to get super exciting. He feels a lot like Harbaugh and Klieman.

4. By now folks are probably very familiar with how impressive those details are but it bears emphasizing, as "FCS coach" doesn't come close to doing him justice. Miracle worker nonpareil is more like it. Taylor finished his Sacramento State career with a .789 winning percentage. For context, among the other ten coaches in school history only one ever won more than half his games (.535 win percentage). The Hornets in all their history had never been to the FCS playoffs and had only made playoffs at all once, in 1988 in Division II. Taylor took them to the playoffs in each of his three seasons. All three Hornets teams he coached were top ten in the nation. This would be like taking Kansas or Vanderbilt to multiple New Year's Six bowls. It's extraordinary.

5. That track record is the reason to be excited. All the talk of offensive wizardry misses the forest for the trees in my view. Whether a team excels because of offense, defense, balance, or whatever may be important in speaking to fan biases/preferences, but it's not what's fundamental: a head coach bringing the requisite overall culture, structure, management to lead a winning program. The reason to be excited about Troy Taylor is that he wins with overwhelming frequency in an environment that had never been conducive to winning before him. That's the story. That's the appeal. We need somebody who can create and sustain a healthy culture out of a bombed out crater. Taylor's track record provides reason to believe he can do it. There are no guarantees as a coach moves to a new level with new people around him and new challenges to confront. No man ever steps into the same river twice for he's not the same man and it's not the same river. All of that. But the best way to have confidence in his ability to do what we need is he's done something like it before.

I received some recruit reaction over the weekend. Here it is:

Tre Williams
Super fired up that it’s Troy Taylor. He’s who I wanted from the beginning and I think it’s a really great fit.

JShawn Frausto-Ramos
I love Coach Taylor coming in. He was the OC at Utah and loves to win. My relationship with coach Akina has stayed very strong since my sophomore year at Alemany. I should be taking an official visit next week December 16-18 to chat with coach Taylor, coach Akina and the rest of the staff.

Zak Yamauchi
I trust the people at Stanford who came to the decision of choosing Troy Taylor as the new head coach. His career at Sacramento State speaks for itself and I’m glad he has a plan to take Stanford into the right direction. Especially as an offensive lineman, I can’t wait to see what he will do to help get the ball moving. I’m excited and still solid on my commitment to Stanford. I can’t wait to see what he will bring to the table and the plans he has for the future of Stanford football.

Gavin Geweniger
He’s a great coach with an awesome resume. I think he is definitely the right guy for the job and I’m very excited. I am going up to Palo Alto next weekend to meet him and the new staff. I am still solid in my commitment.

Ben- maybe you can let Troy Taylor know that Stanford fans are very welcoming of Cal alums who finally come over to the good guys.

I live in a private community of about 800 full time residents on 5,000 acres on the Sonoma coast. We just replaced a horrible community manager, unqualified, with an outstanding one, really overqualified.

Our tremendous search firm insisted we preserve anonymity for all candidates until we brought the first place candidate to the community for a few final interviews. No one other than the search firm and the board of directors knew the very last very few candidates from about 150 applicants. The promise of anonymity probably increased the original pool and protected all the applicants.

Garrett, still wounded by the Duke experience, was a total jerk in writing his ambiguous tweet, but the error of the selection process is obvious. You promote division within your audience, before and after your choice, if you suggest two (or more) were potential candidates after the search.

If TT was the best choice and the first choice, which I think he was, only he should have been brought on campus.

(Of course, our 800+ posts of guessing was anxious fun.)

The NY Times article on yesterday’s Niners win is written by David Lombardi. Congrats to him!

He's already better than Isa Silva and Michael O'Connell.