If Stanford coach David Shaw wanted to make the jump to the NFL, he likely wouldn’t have to do much to conjure interest. The NFL has wanted him for years, but he has rebuffed making the jump from the college to the professional level.
Shaw recently explained to Mike Tirico of NBCSN’s Lunch Talk Live that Shaw already has satisfied any curiosity he may have about coaching in the NFL.
"[M]y career was reversed of many coaches,” Shaw said. “Two years out of college I was coaching in the NFL. So I had nine years of NFL experience, and so I know what that’s about. It doesn’t hold any, ‘Oh my gosh, I wonder what that feels like.’ I know what it feels like. I’ve been there. I coached Hall of Fame players and great players and coached in everything but the Super Bowl, so I know what that feels like. That’s number one.”
Shaw also described his current employment as a “destination” job.
“Stanford’s not a place you just go through, do a good job and jump out of here,” Shaw said. “That’s not the way I see this job. . . . I love being at Stanford because I get the brightest guys, I get the most competitive guys on and off the field. I still tell people I write more recommendations than any football coach in America for graduate school, for job opportunities. I’ve helped guys get to the point where they’re starting their own companies. That doesn’t happen on any other campus other than ours, so I love the energy. I love the passion. Not to mention we’re coming off a pretty darn good decade and ready to start the next decade on a high note also.”
Shaw spent a year with the Eagles, four with the Raiders, and four with the Ravens before moving to the college level in 2006. He succeeded Jim Harbaugh as head coach at Stanford in 2011, and Shaw enters his tenth season in Palo Alto.
Nothing stops NFL teams from trying to hire Shaw, and as with other great college coaches there’s surely a number that will get him to think twice. For now, though, he’s not giving the NFL a thought.