OSU football: Stanford coaching legacy impressive

Stanford is an interesting name in college football. The Cardinal is not a traditional powerhouse. But the Cardinal does have tradition. Stanford carries a magical name.

For several reasons. Jim Plunkett and John Elway and now Andrew Luck. Stanford Stadium, which has hosted a Super Bowl. And for coaches.

Stanford’s all-time list of coaches is fascinating. The current Cardinal coach, David Shaw, is one of the lesser-known head coaches among the top teams in college football. We’ll fix that for you in a couple of days; we’ve got a profile of Shaw planned. And in the Saturday Oklahoman, I wrote about Stanford’s pioneer status in hiring minority coaches.

But the list of former Stanford coaches is a virtual  history of football.

* Walter Camp, the father of American football, coached Stanford in 1892, 1894 and 1895. Camp was a player, coach, publicist and rulemaker in the 19th century, primarily at Yale. The Walter Camp Foundation still produces an all-American team and announces a player of the year.

* Hurryup Fielding Yost coached Stanford in 1900. Coached Michigan from 1901-26 (except 1924) and won six old testament national championships. An epic figure in Michigan history.

* Pop Warner. Jim Thorpe’s legendary coach at Carlisle coached at Stanford from 1924-32. We still call youth football “Pop Warner” leagues. It takes a big shadow to push Walter Camp off the top of the list, but Warner does it.

* Clark Shaughnessy coached Stanford 1940-41. Coached forever. His first head coaching gig was Tulane in 1915. His last coaching gig was the University of Hawaii in 1965. Also coached the Los Angeles Rams and Loyola-Chicago, the University of Chicago, Maryland, Pittsburgh and Maryland again. He left Maryland for Pitt after the 1946 season, which is when Maryland hired Jim Tatum away from Oklahoma, making way for Bud Wilkinson to be elevated to the job. Shaughnessy is in in the College Football Hall of Fame, along with Camp, Yost and Warner.

* John Ralston, who coached Stanford from 1962-71, including back-to-back Rose Bowls in 1970-71. Ralston also coached the Denver Broncos to a 34-33 record from 1972-76. His career as a head coach started at Utah State in 1959 and ended in 1996 at San Jose State.