Jim Harbaugh

Year	School	Record	Bowl
2004	San Diego	7-4
2005	San Diego	11-1
2006	San Diego	11-1
2007	Stanford	4-8
Career		33-14	.702
	Stanford	4-8	.333

2008 SCHEDULE

Date	Opponent	Location	2008 CHS Prediction
8/28/08	Oregon State	Palo Alto, CA	L
9/06/08	at Arizona State	Tempe, AZ	L
9/13/08	at TCU	Ft. Worth, TX	L
9/20/08	San Jose State	Palo Alto, CA	W
9/27/08	at Washington	Seattle, WA	L
10/04/08	at Notre Dame	South Bend, IN	L
10/11/08	Arizona	Palo Alto, CA	L
10/18/08	at UCLA	Pasadena, CA	L
11/01/08	Washington State	Palo Alto, CA	W
11/08/08	at Oregon	Eugene, OR	L
11/15/08	USC	Palo Alto, CA	L
11/22/08	at California	Berkeley, CA	L

	Coaches Hot Seat Prediction		2-10

Coaches Hot Seat Analysis

Vince Lombardi said, "A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall." With 20 wins for Stanford football over the past 6 years, Stanford is now officially a medieval study hall. Yes, Jim Harbaugh and the Cardinal pulled off the biggest upset in the history of college football in the post-World War II era with the win over USC in '07, but even a blind pig finds an acorn from time to time. Tom Fitzgerald of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a very accurate and revealing article about Stanford athletics in June of '07, "Stanford athletes finding it's hard to win if athletes can't get in" and one can only imagine what Jim Harbaugh is thinking now after doing battle with the Stanford admissions department for two recruiting periods. In Fitzgerald's article he recounts several former Stanford athletes and coaches that tell stories of recruits getting turned down by Stanford and then getting accepted by Ivy League schools. Trent Johnson, the recently departed Stanford basketball coach (to LSU) has regaled the Louisiana media in the very same stories of the difficulty of getting even top student-athletes into Stanford, and Johnson is only singing the same tune that has been playing on The Farm for about a decade now. The admission standards for all students at Stanford has risen, but rising admission standards have an acute affect upon athletic programs like football and basketball, and even with all of Jim Harbaugh's enthusiasm, Stanford is a much different football program than the one his father Jack Harbaugh coached at as an assistant over 20 years ago, and there may be nothing that Jim Harbaugh can do to end the slide of the Cardinal football program, without some help from the University.

If there is a serious problem, and anyone that honestly (and is not on the payroll at Stanford) looks at the current problems associated with getting quality football players into Stanford surely believes there is, then what can be done? Yes, the Stanford admissions department does make exceptions to their admissions policies for athletes (the Lopez twins in basketball are an example of an exception being made), but there are not near enough exceptions being made to field a football team that can win the Pac-10 conference title. We have no idea what the current standards are and why certain athletes get admitted into Stanford and others don't, but one thing is certain the admission bar is now set extraordinarily high, so high in fact that there are only a very small pool of high school football players that Stanford even dare recruit from. The root of the problem is that there is a basic disconnect from a large portion of the Stanford campus from the world of American sport and many of these that are disconnected couldn't catch a football on the best day of their life, they get extraordinarily excited when they debate the theories of Freud or work out a difficult math problem, and like nothing more than settling into a comfortable chair in front of a fireplace and reading Proust. Not many football players enjoy the above things, and thus the outright rejection of potential recruits, and even more now, the high school football players that are not even recruited by the Stanford football staff, because they know they will not have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into school. This is a real problem if Stanford hopes to field a championship football team, but the entire admissions process at Stanford, and the number of undergraduates that are admitted each year is a big issue that really needs to be addressed by the president and trustees. Stanford is currently considering adding more undergraduate students (6,700 in 2008) and admitting more freshman, as detailed in a San Francisco Chronicle story last December (Notoriously selective Stanford considers accepting more students), and we are left wondering why this is even a subject for debate with the Stanford endowment now sitting somewhere north of 17 billion dollars. Stanford should expand its undergraduate student body, and while they are doing that they need to take a hard look at accepting more basketball and football players that are high-achieving students in high school, but for whatever reason are not being admitted to Stanford currently.

What should be the standard for admitting student-athletes to Stanford that are high-achievers, but fall below the average incoming freshman? We propose a very simple standard that would allow for more exceptions for student-athletes, but especially for basketball and football players: Is there a very good chance this student-athlete if admitted will earn a degree from Stanford in no more than 5 years? If the answer to that question is "yes" then he is admitted, and if "no," well you know the answer to that one. The reason that a standard of this nature is needed at Stanford is that there really is no way for most athletes in high school with their full-load of both academics and sports to ever compete with the high school students that spend every waking moment studying and preparing their college applications to get into schools like Stanford. College admissions at elite universities have gotten completely out of control in recent years, because many high school kids every movement and action, from volunteering to joining the glee club, is done with an eye on getting into their chosen college. Admitting high-achieving high school students to college is important, but when a college campus becomes filled with nothing more than a bunch of weenies whose every move is calculated by how it might look to an admissions counselor or future employer, then you end up with a "medieval study hall" type of institution There is a tremendous amount of brainpower on the Stanford campus, and the incoming freshmen classes are filled with incredibly bright men and women that will go on to do great work, but we wonder how many of the Stanford freshmen could climb a mountain, complete a triathlon, or if push came to shove, defend their country in war? We are guessing, not many. There is a benefit to a great university like Stanford to admitting student-athletes that come from different walks-of-life and bring a different attitude and background to the college campus. Students that excel in the world of the mind cannot help but be stimulated by great athletes, and athletes can learn a lot from the large amount of brainpower that is sitting in classrooms across the Stanford campus each day.

Our proposal is modest: High-achieving high school student-athletes that have a very good chance of earning a degree from Stanford in five years or less should be admitted to school under a special athlete exception policy. Yes, Stanford can find 10 or so very good football players each year that could get admitted to Stanford just on their performance in the classroom during their high school years, but for the Cardinal to really have a competitive football program, Stanford University and its admissions department needs to recognize that a new approach and policy needs to be taken to strengthen the football team. If a student-athlete is wanted by the Cardinal football coaching staff and he can do the college work and earn a degree from Stanford, then that student-athlete should be given a shot to do so.

With 17 billion dollars plus in the endowment it is time for Stanford to take on more undergraduate students, and within those new students should be room for student-athletes that still meet high standards, but also can help bring championships to The Farm. On the other hand, if Stanford doesn't want to field a competitive football team, then they need to shut the football program down. The status quo of fielding a Stanford football team that is almost always short-handed against every other I-A football they play, is just not acceptable, especially at Stanford where the Founding Grant says: "In my judgment it is the duty of University authorities to send out into the world students with good physical health as well as with good mental attainments, in order that they may successfully fight the battle of life." (Stanford University, The Founding Grant, The Amendments, pg. 21). A Stanford football team that is purposely not allowed to compete for championships is no way to prepare students and student-athletes for the "battle of life" and the time for a new outlook and perspective for the two flagship athletic programs at Stanford is now. It is time to either play for championships in football and basketball, or not play at all.

Jim Harbaugh has done a great job of energizing the Stanford football program and even with the constraints he is working under, the football program is now moving forward for the first time in years. The real challenge for Harbaugh and the Stanford football staff going forward is a lack of depth in many positions relative to many of the teams that they play on their schedule. Yes, games can be won from time to time, but there is no way the Stanford football program will be able to get out of the bottom of the Pac-10 without recruiting at a much higher level than they have in the last couple of years (#50 in '08 and #51 in '07 in Rivals.com team recruiting rankings). Jim Harbaugh has brought a lot of passion to the Stanford football program and if he can just get a little cooperation from the University on the admissions side, Stanford football would have a real opportunity to challenge for the

Pac-10 football title on a regular basis in the coming years. Jim Harbaugh is doing his job, now it is up to Stanford to decide if the same excellence that is so prevalent in the classroom, will be expected on the football field as well.

Coaches Hot Seat Bottom Line

We predict that Jim Harbaugh and Stanford will have a 2-10 record in 2008. Stanford dives right into the Pac-10 schedule with an opening Thursday night game at home against Oregon State, and if Jim Harbaugh wants to change the tone on The Farm, beating the Beavers in week 1 would be a good way to light a fire under the Cardinal football program. In a very close game we see Oregon State getting the win, which drops the Cardinal record to 0-1. A tough, and probably a hot trip is up for week 2, as Stanford travels to Tempe to play Arizona State. ASU is becoming a force under Dennis Erickson after only 1 year on the job, and the Sun Devils will be too much for Stanford in this game. After two games, Stanford is 0-2. Next up is a trip out-of-conference to Ft. Worth, Texas to play TCU. Gary Patterson has built a solid team at TCU, and although this should be a closer game than expected, another loss drops the Stanford record to 0-3. In '07 Stanford blasted San Jose State, and we see another win for the Cardinal in this game over the Spartans. After four games, Stanford is 1-3. Stanford travels to Seattle in week 5 to play the Washington Huskies, and in what should be a very close game, we see UW getting the win at home. Another loss drops the Stanford record to 1-4. Week 6 is a very interesting game as Harbaugh takes his team to South Bend, Indiana to play Notre Dame. Even a very bad Irish team beat the Cardinal in '07, and we see Notre Dame getting another win over Stanford in '08. After six games, Stanford is 1-5. Mike Stoops and Arizona arrive in Palo Alto in week 7, and Stoops might be fighting for his job by this time on the calendar. This should be a hard fought game between Arizona and Stanford, and in another very close game, we give the Wildcats the nod. After seven games, Stanford is 1-6. Jim Harbaugh matches up with Rick Neuheisel at UCLA for the first time in week 7, and although the Bruins will struggle in '08, they should be able to handle the Cardinal at the Rose Bowl. After eight games, Stanford is 1-7. Washington State and first year coach Paul Wulff visit Stanford in week 9, and this is one of the few games on the schedule where the talent level will be roughly equal for Stanford. In a close game for awhile, Stanford pulls away in the 2nd half to get their 2nd win of the year, which raises the Cardinal record to 2-7. Week 10 brings a road trip to Eugene, Oregon to play Mike Bellotti and the Ducks, and there is just way too much talent on the Oregon side of the ball for the Ducks to lose this game. After ten games, Stanford is 2-8. Pete Carroll and USC comes calling in week 11, and they will be looking for payback after the debacle in the Coliseum in '07. USC will try to crush the Cardinal, but will probably only beat them by 4 touchdowns or so. After eleven games, Stanford is 2-9. The Big Game against Cal ends the season as always, and Jeff Tedford will have his Bears fired up after losing to Stanford in '07. In a tough game for both sides, we see Cal getting a win in this Big Game, which drops the Stanford '08 regular season record to 2-10.

2008 Coaches Hot Seat Prediction: 2-10

Will Jim Harbaugh be back for the 2009 season? YES