Shaw honored as Pac-12 Coach of the Year

By Rick Eymer

Palo Alto Online Sports

Stanford’s David Shaw played football under legendary coach Bill Walsh and now he shares a bit of Cardinal legacy with him.

Shaw became just the fourth coach in Pac-12 history (which dates to Pac-8 days) to win the conference’s Coach of the Year honors a second straight year.

Walsh never won it twice in a row, but he did help shape Shaw’s coaching vision.

His second such award was confirmed when the Pac-12 announced its year-end all-conference honors Monday.

“I was surprised,” Shaw said after Monday’s practice. “To be honest, I didn’t even think about it. I’m very appreciative. Very grateful. There are a lot of guys in this conference that I respect very, very highly. And for those guys to vote for me, it’s humbling.”

Shaw earned votes for continuing to succeed at Stanford despite losing the NFL’s overall No. 1 pick, two All-American linemen and several other players.

The Cardinal (8-1, 10-2), which hosts UCLA in the Pac-12 championship game Friday at 5 p.m., also survived a quarterback change in mid-season to beat three consecutive nationally-ranked teams to claim the North Division title.

Shaw guided Stanford to another historical year, in which the Cardinal won at least 10 games for the third straight year for the first time in school history, as well as knocking off three straight ranked teams.

Shaw had help, of course, and he’d be the first to share the credit with his coaching staff and his mentors.

Tight end Zach Ertz and offensive lineman David Yankey were named to the all-conference offensive first team and linebackers Trent Murphy, Chase Thomas (one of only two first team repeats) and defensive back Ed Reynolds were first-team defensive picks.

Defensive linemen Henry Anderson and Ben Gardner were named to the defensive second team.

The conference-best five defensive selections among the first two teams represents a season-long effort that produced the nation’s best team in sacks (4.42 per game average; Arizona State was second at 4.0) and tackles for loss (9.25 per game average; Arizona State was second at 8.83), and rushing defense (71.3 per game yards allowed; Alabama was second at 77.0).

Running back Stepfan Taylor and linemen Kevin Danser and Sam Schwartzstein were named to the second team offense. Taylor and UCLA’s Jonathan Franklin were both relegated to the second team to Oregon’s Kenjon Barner and Arizona’s Ka’Deem Carey.

USC’s Marqise Lee was named Offensive Player of the Year, Arizona State’s Will Sutton was named Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year, Oregon quarterback was named Freshman Offensive Player of the Year and USC’s Leonard Williams was named Freshman Defensive Player of the Year.

Stanford placed 14 on the honorable mention list: DB Usua Amanam, DB Terrence Brown, DB Alex Carter, ST Alex Debniak, OL Cameron Fleming, RB Ryan Hewitt, QB Kevin Hogan, RS Ty Montgomery, DB Jordan Richards, LB Shayne Skov, DL Terrence Stephens, RS Drew Terrell, TE Levine Toilolo, and P Daniel Zychlinski.