4. David Shaw, Stanford
David Shaw has always been rumored as a candidate to be an NFL head coach. He’s not the offensive mind that some of the other potential coaches are, but he respected for many reasons. He’s not only created success at Stanford, he has built a program. This is conducive to what he would be doing in the NFL.
This is where being at Stanford might actually help Shaw. At a university with high academic standards like Stanford, you don’t have a lot of say in terms of who gets to go to your school. They do what they can, but some players don’t want to go play at Stanford, and some simply can’t get accepted. That compares well to what coaching an NFL team would be like for him. Shaw would get some say in terms of who teams sign and draft, but any potential GM or owner would call the shots.
Players would be traded without his approval, college guys would be drafted in positions that he might disagree with, and owners will sometimes refuse to pay their players no matter how much Shaw would want them on the roster. He would have to just do the best with what he has in the locker room, and he has done that very well.
Shaw is also simply a winner. He’s won at least 8 games in every season as a coach. He’s 5-3 in bowl games, including winning two Rose Bowls. He’s been the head coach of a few NFL stars, including Zach Ertz and Christian McCaffrey. He has the resume and reputation to get hired.
It will always just be a question as to whether or not Shaw wants a job. Many believe that if he truly wanted to be an NFL coach, he would’ve accepted a job by now. He seems to be very content with his current situation, and his job security is much stronger than it would be as a first-time NFL head coach for a struggling franchise. He might not accept a job, but he is definitely prepared if he ever wants one.