Both local and national media, including The Daily, were skeptical about Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby’s decision to hire Jim Harbaugh as the next Stanford football coach. Harbaugh replaced Walt Harris, who was fired after two largely unsuccessful seasons. He was chosen from a pool that included several candidates widely regarded as more qualified, including Oregon defensive coordinator Mike Aliotti, former USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow, and Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, all from successful, winning programs.

Instead, Stanford has gone out on a limb and taken a coach who does not have major coaching experience at the Division I level. Harbaugh was successful at the University of San Diego, going a Pete Carroll-like 27-2 in his final 29 games as coach. But coaching Division I-AA, without scholarship players, is very different than the fiercely competitive and well-funded Pac-10. Bowlsby certainly picked Harbaugh over the other candidates for a compelling reason, and considering the other choices, Harbaugh must have made a strong case for himself.

Harbaugh certainly has the potential to be successful at Stanford, but he must understand the unique environment here on the farm. We are not USC, for one, and we cannot expect to win ten games every year and go to a BCS game. We are not even Oregon, which usually wins eight or nine times a season. We have higher academic standards, which creates a much smaller potential pool of players.

However, we should expect to be competitive every year, at every game, and not be humiliated at our own gorgeous stadium, game after game. This is Harbaugh’s task, and it is a decidedly doable one. He needs, from day one, to restore the self-respect and pride of Stanford football, of knowing that on any given day, we can score touchdowns and not humiliate ourselves. Walt Harris’s first year was just that: we went 5-6, beat a ranked team, and almost went to a bowl game. We almost beat Notre Dame.

That is all we ask of Harbaugh: to make us proud again, to hold our heads up high and actually care again. During USC’s domination of us this year, some students unfurled a banner that said “We Believe in Stanford Football.” Very few students and even fewer alumni did likewise. And it showed: at several home games, Stanford fans were outnumbered by their opponents’ supporters in a stadium, replete the palm trees, that is as “Stanford” as one can get. Most “fans” tended to leave at halftime.

We want to believe again, to fill our stadium with red and white, not with red and gold, or blue and yellow. 5-7 is not terrible; 1-11 is. Next season we hope to be in the stands, cheering with enthusiasm unknown to mankind, as our team takes the field, ready to again beat the Arizonas and San Jose States of the world. Perhaps one day, maybe in the distant future, Stanford will be as good as USC, if not better. After all, we are Stanford, and our football team should reflect who we are: the best.