Stanford’s Shaw knows what awaits Washington’s Lake
Stanford coach David Shaw has some advice for Jimmy Lake, the new coach at the University of Washington.
Don’t forget to go home.
“I slept in my office once,” Shaw recalled of his early weeks on the job. “I slept on the floor. And then I said, ‘I don’t want to live this way. It’s not a long-term solution.’
“So I told myself I wouldn’t ever stay past 11.”
Shaw knows as well as any head coach the challenges and demands lying in wait for Lake, the successor to Chris Petersen.
Like Lake, Shaw was a coordinator promoted from within.
Like Lake, Shaw was tasked with replacing a hugely successful head coach.
In January 2011, after a week-long search, he took over the Cardinal program from Jim Harbaugh.
Shaw was a member of Harbaugh’s first staff and served as offensive coordinator for four seasons, the run culminating in an Orange Bowl victory.
Lake was a member of Petersen’s first staff, in 2014, and spent the past four years running the defense for a program that won two conference titles and made three appearances in the New Year’s Six.
“I tried to take a common sense approach,” Shaw said. “There are some people you just can’t win over.
“If you play well, it’s because it’s the previous guy’s team. If you don’t play well, it’s because you don’t know what you’re doing.
“I tried to raise the expectations.”
Shaw declined to specifically address Lake’s situation — he has no desire to wade into the business of another head coach.
And the circumstances aren’t identical:
Unlike Lake, Shaw didn’t spend three weeks as the coach-in-waiting, with time to acclimate and a set date of transferal.
Another difference: Shaw took over his alma mater; Lake, who played at Eastern Washington, did not.
And the staff dynamics were different: Shaw was the offensive coordinator for a head coach whose background was offense.
Lake was the defensive coordinator for a head coach whose background was offense.
Dealing with players on the other side of the ball — getting to know them, earning their trust — was the first thing Shaw addressed in broad terms when asked about the transition.
“It’s a challenge because day by day, you’re mainly thinking about your side of the ball,’’ Shaw said.
“I felt it was incumbent on me as the head coach that the guys on special teams and defense knew I was the head coach of the entire team, not just the offense.”
Some of the best advice Shaw received came from a member of the Stanford coaching staff — a former Washington assistant, in fact.
Randy Hart, who coached under Don James (and others) in Seattle, served as Harbaugh’s defensive line coach in 2010 and was retained by Shaw.
“Coach Hart said, ‘What would be great is if you don’t just sit in on meetings on your side of the ball, but if you sit in the linebacker meetings, the defensive back meetings. If you contribute, great. But just being there would mean a lot,’” Shaw recalled.
“I made sure I watched all the individual drills in practice. I had to break that stigma that I was just an offensive guy.”
Shaw took to leaving himself a to-do list for the morning that was five items deep.
When he walked in the next day, the list often had doubled or tripled in size, with more items added continually.
“My favorite show growing up was ‘M*A*S*H,’ ” he said. “They’d be operating on one guy, and then it’s ‘Oh gosh, this other guy has to be the priority.’
“That’s what it’s like. It’s triage. But that’s OK. You never get everything done, but you get the most important things done.”
When Shaw sought counsel from veteran coaches, including Brian Billick and Jon Gruden, they often advised him to delegate.
“A lot of guys said that if you’re not at your best, then you’re letting everyone down. You have to draw a line for your staff but also for yourself.
“I tried to take a holistic approach. You can’t wear yourself down to the point that you’re not effective. It will eat you up and spit you out.
“You can’t try to be Atlas and hold up the world.”