Jason Garrett Is Reportedly A Finalist For Stanford HC Job, And He Should 1,000% Pitch Andrew Luck As Part Of The Package
[SOURCE]
"Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett has emerged as a finalist for the Stanford head-coaching job, multiple sources with knowledge of the search process told The Athletic on Thursday. Here’s what you need to know:
Garrett, who spent this season as a color analyst for NBC’s Notre Dame games, nearly became the head coach at Duke last season, but the job went to Mike Elko.
Sacramento State coach Troy Taylor is one of the other finalists, sources said.
Candidates the school talked to who are no longer in the running include former BYU and Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall, Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman and former Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio."
Just about any of the other candidates Stanford was considering would've been more interesting than an FCS guy and Jason Garrett. Among the NFLers, Greg Roman could've modernize the Cardinal's antiquated pro-style scheme and maybe attracted a dual-threat quarterback. Could've been neat. Vic Fangio is among the brightest defensive minds of my lifetime who was coordinator on Jim Harbaugh's 2010 staff, which Roman was part of too.
Considering he only has experience coaching-wise at the NFL level and was basically fast-tracked to the Dallas Cowboys leading gig by insular, uber-loyal team owner Jerry Jones, there's reason to doubt that Garrett has the wherewithal and recruiting chops to build a consistent winner at Stanford.
I spent way too much time trying to find the perfect GIF of Garrett's GOATed, defiant clapping even when he's captain of a sinking ship. Couldn't find any in our archives. No good Twitter videos, etc., so this will have to do to encapsulate the trademark trait that annoys the vast majority of the population when it comes to Jason Garrett:
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To be fair to Garrett a little, in nine full seasons as the Cowboys head coach, he had only one losing season. I'd argue the organization didn't always put him and his QB Tony Romo in the best positions to succeed. Even when they had good years, it felt as if Dallas was cursed and couldn't get over the hump in the playoffs. Naturally, Romo and Garrett took the brunt of the blame in those situations, which was justified for the most part.
My other concern about Garrett beyond the program-building element to the job is that he hasn't evolved his offensive scheme to match up with modern football. Seemed like what he ran as the Giants' play-caller under Joe Judge was the type of shit you'd see from the Cardinal in recent years. David Shaw's Stanford tenure unraveled and became stale in large part because of that, or at least that's how I see it.
Garrett doesn't strike me as the type of electrifying personality to get everyone hyped the fuck up again at Stanford.
Here's an outside-the-box, kinda wild idea Cardinal boosters: You wanna get everyone in a tizzy? Hit up Andrew Luck. Y'all just had him back as he got inducted as a first-ballot College Football Hall of Famer:
Aaaaaaaaaand in a long-spanning interview with Seth Wickersham that just ran on ESPN, Luck spoke of his interest in being a coach. Luck is back at Stanford as is to reportedly get a master's degree in education (teaching seems like a relevant skill for coaching), and he could start really low-key as a graduate assistant just to get acquainted with the inner workings of the program.
I can't think of a better way in than for Luck to slowly work his way up on Garrett's staff. I feel like recruits would be falling over themselves in the coming years for a shot to be mentored by Luck. It wouldn't take long for Luck to move his way up the staff once he's ready to take that step.
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Maybe it's too soon and Luck wouldn't be interested at this time. However, the standalone alternatives at the Cardinal's current disposal don't seem saucy enough to inject life back into this proud football program anytime soon.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok