David Shaw steps down as Stanford head coach after 12 seasons

The longest tenured head coach in the Pac-12 has called it a day.

Stanford head coach David Shaw has resigned from his position after 12 years as the head man in Palo Alto, CA. The move was announced immediately after the Cardinal’s 35-26 loss to BYU in their season finale on Saturday night.

A Stanford alum, Shaw took the reigns at his alma mater in 2011 following the departure of Jim Harbaugh to the NFL and was able to maintain the program’s spot at the top of the Pac-12 rankings. Through his first six seasons, Stanford posted five 10-win campaigns, a run that included three conference championships and three Rose Bowls. During this time, he was able to develop of bevy of offensive weapons like Andrew Luck, Zach Ertz, and Christian McCaffrey, among others.

The back half of his tenure was diminishing returns, however, as the program couldn’t maintain its grip at the top of the Pac-12. 2018 marked Stanford’s last bowl appearance as the Cardinal would only win a combined 14 games over the next four seasons. Dropping their last five games to close the 2022 campaign, the veteran head coach ultimately decided to step away.

Stanford will now undergo a search for a new head coach. The pool of candidates will be limited given the academic restraints that comes to recruiting for the institution. Expect a name like former Vanderbilt head coach and current Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Derek Mason to be associated with the job.