With the news of Stanford, California and SMU joining the ACC, it’s time to learn about the new members.
Stanford is the rare school where its famous alums outshine its football and basketball stars in the pop culture world.
That doesn't mean Stanford football and basketball haven't had some sustained stretches of success. Stanford football under coach Jim Harbaugh and then David Shaw had an impressive 10-year run. Hoops coach Mike Montgomery's era looks better and better with each passing year.
Stanford has a different focus. It has helped them win the Director’s Cup at a staggering rate — 26 of possible 29 seasons.
The current iteration of Cardinal athletics isn’t pretty in the two revenue sports. Stanford went 3-9 overall and 1-8 in the Pac-12 last year and hired new coach Troy Taylor, who was a standout quarterback at California.
The Stanford hoops program went 14-19 overall and 7-13 in the Pac-12, under Jerod Haase, who was hired in 2016. Haase played at California for a year, and then transferred to Kansas and is a former North Carolina assistant.
Many wondered if Stanford would go after alum Mark Madsen last spring, but then California swooped in and hired him.
The names associated with Stanford football are some of the legends of the game. Stanford has won 15 conference titles dating back to 1924, and have gone to 30 bowl games (15-14-1). The Cardinal have gone to 19 bowl games since 1977.
When it comes to great people associated with football, Walter Camp was the first coach in 1992, and then Pop Warner had a great stint from 1924-32.
Coach John Ralston revved things up from 1963-71, and won the Pac-8 twice and a pair of Rose Bowl victories in 1970-71. He left to become the coach of the Denver Broncos, and that started a tradition of great Stanford coaches ending up in the NFL.
One of those coaches ended up being one of the all-time greats of the game. Bill Walsh left being the offensive coordinator with the San Diego Chargers, and took over Stanford in 1977. He went a combined 17-7 and was hired nearby by the San Francisco 49ers. Three Super Bowls later, he was cemented as an all-time great. He actually came back to Stanford for a year-year stint from 1992-94, where he went 10-3 his first year, and 34-24-1 overall.
Rod Dowhower took over Stanford in 1979, but he left to be the offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos in 1980. He eventually was the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 1985-86.
Stanford football struggled for the most part from 1980-1988, even with John Elway playing from 1979-82, and then Jack Elway was the coach from 1984-88. The father of John Elway had been the San Jose State coach when John Elway played for the Cardinal.
Stanford went back to the Walsh coaching tree and hired Dennis Green in 1989, and he got the Cardinal back on track to 8-4 in 1991. He then bolted to become the head coach for the Minnesota Vikings.
Kinston, N.C., native and former NC State assistant coach Tyrone Willingham was hired in 1995, and he built upon Green’s foundation and sustained it. Stanford had winning years in four of seven years, and he was hired at Notre Dame.
Buddy Teevens had a subpar three years, and former Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris wasn’t a good fit and the program bottomed out in 2006. In entered Jim Harbaugh, who had been the head coach at San Diego. Harbaugh turned it around over four years, and went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl in 2010. He was then hired by the San Francisco 49ers as history repeated itself. Harbaugh is now the coach at Michigan.
David Shaw was elevated to the top job after being with Harbaugh for several years. Shaw kept it going in impressive fashion, winning at an impressive clip his first eight years. He reached the Rose Bowl three times, along with the Fiesta Bowl, and had two years of going 12-2 (2012, 2015).
The wheels came off the last four years with Stanford going 14-28 and the change to Taylor was made.
As well as having well known coaches, Stanford also had its fair share of Heisman Trophy contenders over the years. Quarterback Jim Plunkett won the trophy in 1970 and he went on to become the No. 1 pick in the draft to the New England Patriots. He later guided the 1980 and 1983 Los Angeles Raiders to Super Bowl titles.
John Elway finished second and he also was the No. 1 overall pick in 1983 by the Baltimore Colts, who were forced to trade him to the Denver Broncos. The Hall of Famer went on to win two Super Bowl titles as a player, and one as a general manager.
Continuing the theme of a quarterback competing for the Heisman Trophy and being the No. 1 pick, Andrew Luck was second to Cam Newton in 2010 with Harbaugh as coach.
A trio of running backs also finished second in the Heisman — Toby Gerhart in 2009, Christian McCaffrey in 2015 and Bryce Love of Wake Forest (N.C.) High in 2017.
Elway, wide receiver James Lofton, safety John Lynch and fullback Ernie Nevers have all made the Hall of Fame, and 24 players and coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, including quarterback John Brodie, who was a first round pick in 1957, and running back star Darrin Nelson, who went in the first round in 1982.
Besides quarterback and running backs/fullbacks — Brad Muster (1988) and Tommy Vardell (1992) were both first-round picks — the Cardinal became a tight end factory in 2010. Eight Stanford tight ends were drafted between 2010 and 2020.
Stanford also had a good amount of offensive lineman drafted in the first round — Bob Whitfield (1992), Kwame Harris (2003), David DeCastro (2012), Andrus Peat (2015) and Joshua Garnett (2016).
The only first-round picks on defense since 1972 were defensive back Darrien Gordon (1993) and defensive tackle Solomon Thomas (2017).
Stanford basketball
Stanford basketball usually revolves around what former coach Mike Montgomery achieved.
Stanford won the NCAA tournament championship in 1942, which shared teams with the NIT at that time. The Cardinal reached as far as the Final Four in 1998, Elite Eight in 2001 and five overall trips to the Sweet 16.
Stanford reached the NCAA Tournament in 1942, and then didn’t return until 1989, which would be dubbed the “Todd Lichti era” of Stanford hoops. Coach Howard Dallmar coached from 1954-75 without ever winning more than 18 games and reaching the tourney.
Dr. Tom Davis managed a 19-12 mark in 1983-84, and he left in 1986 for Iowa. Then enter Montgomery in 1986-87. He reached the NIT in his second year and the NCAA Tournament in his third, which was Lichti’s senior year, and power forward Adam Keefe was a freshman.
The next surge happened with future NBA point guard Brevin Knight and pro center Tim Young, and the team reached the Sweet 16. The Cardinal reached the Final Four the next year in 1997-98, behind Young, Jason and Jarron Collins and Mark Madsen in the post, plus Arthur Lee and Kris Weems on the perimeter. Stanford proved it could be a national power during that time period, knocking off Purdue and Rhode Island before falling 86-85 to Kentucky in overtime. The Cardinal finished 30-5.
Montgomery and the Cardinal won or shared the Pac-10 title in four of the next six years, and finished second the other two, with the Collins twins and Casey Jacobsen leading the way, all first-round NBA Draft picks.
Josh Childress led the next quality wave, but then Montgomery left after 2004 to become the coach of the Golden State Warriors, and later the California Bears.
Another set of towering twins helped new coach Trent Johnson go 28-8 in his fourth season in 2007-08 — Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez — who are still current NBA players.
Former Duke star and assistant coach Johnny Dawkins replaced Johnson, and the results were uneven. Dawkins reached the NCAA Tournament once, and NIT Tournament three times from 2008-16. After he was fired, Haase came and he has one postseason showing, going to the NIT in 2017-18.
Tyrell Terry and Zaire Williams both went one-and-done at Stanford, and the Cardinal lost promising forward Harrison Ingram to North Carolina and veteran point guard Michael O’Connell to NC State this offseason.
Notable Stanford alums
Herbert Hoover, 31st President of U.S.
Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court Judge
Anthony Kennedy, Supreme Court Judge
Sandra Day O’Connor, Supreme Court Judge
William Rehnquist, Supreme Court Judge
Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Limited
Sundar Pichae, Google
Larry Page, Google
Sergey Brin, Google
Reed Hastings, Netflix
Evan Spiegel, Snapchat
Kevin Systrom, Instagram
Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard
David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft, Los Angeles Clippers owner
Marissa Mayer, formerly Yahoo! and Google
Peter Thiel, PayPal, other businesses
Charles Schwab, business
Doris Fisher, Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic
Phil Knight, Nike
Sally Ride, Astronaut
Reese Witherspoon, actress
Sigourney Weaver, actress
Ted Danson, actor
Fred Savage, actor
Ted Koppel, TV anchor
Rachel Maddow, MSNBC
• President John F. Kennedy for one semester of business school.
Other star athletes
Tiger Woods, golf
Michelle Wie, golf
Notah Begay III, golf
Tom Watson, golf
Kerri Strug, gymnastics
Amy Chow, gymnastics
Julie Foudy, women’s soccer
Janet Evans, women’s swimming
Katie Ledecky, women’s swimming
Simone Manuel, women’s swimming
John McEnroe, men’s tennis
Patrick McEnroe, men’s tennis
Bob Boone, MLB Baseball
Shawn Green, MLB Baseball
Jack McDowell, MLB Baseball
Mike Mussina, MLB Baseball
Ed Sprague, MLB Baseball
Jennifer Azzi, women’s basketball
Candice Wiggins, women’s basketball
Chiney Ogwumike, women’s basketball
Nneka Ogwumike, women’s basketball
Nicole Powell, women’s basketball
Val Whiting, women’s basketball
Kate Starbird, women’s basketball
Scott Fortune, men’s volleyball
Kerri Walsh Jennings, women’s volleyball
Kim Oden, women’s volleyball
Eric Heiden, speed skater
Bob Mathias, track and field
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