Shaw won’t let fans’ criticism sway his QB choice
David Shaw earns $5.68 million a year as Stanford’s head coach, second only to Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez ($6 million) in the Pac-12, according to USA Today.
What Shaw also receives, on occasion, is plenty of heat. He has gotten a lot of that since Thursday night when he stuck with struggling quarterback Keller Chryst against Oregon State.
The redshirt junior was clearly off his game, and Stanford was fortunate to win 15-14 thanks, in large part, to Harrison Phillips and Peter Kalambayi for causing a critical OSU fumble that Phillips recovered in the final minutes.
Chryst’s last two passes, aside from three penalty-extended attempts at a two-point conversion, were perfect: a 4th-and-10 connection with tight end Kaden Smith for 25 yards and a 3-year lob to J.J. Arcega-Whiteside for the winning touchdown.
Until then, though, Chryst’s passing was dreadful. He repeatedly missed receivers or threw too late. His timing was off. He stared down receivers, giving the Beavers time to break on the ball and knock it down. They had one interception and should have picked off at least four more.
Chryst went 16-for-33 for 141 yards. According to Shaw, two of his passes were dropped and three were deflected. “Those for some reason get blamed on Keller,” he said. “You take those five incompletions and make them completions. Now … those stats look different.”
Maybe, but it’s doubtful that would assuage the fans.
Judging from angry notes on Internet message boards and emails to The Chronicle, Shaw was subjected to the largest outburst of criticism of his seven years as the head coach. Many fans couldn’t understand why he didn’t switch to redshirt freshman K.J. Costello.
Criticism “has never bothered me and never will,” Shaw insisted. He pointed out, “A month ago, I was the worst coach in college football (after the loss to San Diego State). Two weeks ago (after four straight wins), everybody loves you. And halfway through the (Oregon State) game, I should be sweeping somebody’s garage.”
Though he refused to explain why he didn’t yank Chryst other than to indicate it was a gut decision, Shaw said the quarterbacks would be in “competition mode” this week. So, going into Saturday’s key Pac-12 North game at Washington State, Shaw has left open the possibility that Costello will start or play at least part of the game.
“We’ll see where we are with the quarterback situation by the end of the week,” Shaw said.
Chryst was coming off “the best game of his career’’ the previous week against Oregon, Shaw said. The coach evidently kept hoping Chryst would regain that form against Oregon State. He eventually did, but only after putting the Cardinal’s backs to the wall did he complete the two late passes.
“What I was glad to see was at the end of the game, with the game on the line, he made the plays,” Shaw said. “That’s where you lean on a guy who’s a senior, who’s a captain, and who fills the comfort of us trusting him to finish the game.”
Meanwhile, there was little comfort for Stanford fans as they rued what they considered the coach’s stubbornness.
Costello has a much higher completion percentage than Chryst (64.2 to 54.2) and a much higher quarterback rating (145.6 to 123.1). When a reporter mentioned those numbers, Shaw said, “You’re giving me stats. You’re not at practice. You’re not in our huddle.”
Asked why he didn’t put in Costello for at least a couple of series, Shaw said he wasn’t going to discuss the issue any further.
Costello’s reaction wasn’t known. According to a Stanford spokesman, he wasn’t going to be available for comment after practice Tuesday night, the only time in the practice week that offensive players are allowed to talk to the media.