Stanford Goes Outside the Box

Stanford athletics has been a big part of my life.

I worked for the Athletic Department as a student, serving as SID (sports information director) Bob Murphy's assistant during the Jim Plunkett years, later succeeded Murph as SID and then served as associate athletic director under Andy Geiger.

I had turned down an opportunity to be director of public relations for the 49ers when Bill Walsh was hired as head coach. Walsh and I developed a close relationship during our years together at Stanford, and I knew he'd be successful in the NFL. He called me every night at 6:30 for two weeks, each time raising the ante.

But I was fascinated with the prospect of being an Athletic Director, so I reluctantly turned down Bill's overtures and accepted Geiger's offer to remain at Stanford as Associate AD.

It didn't take long for me to realize the AD job would be a bad fit for me and my family. I didn't like fund-raising, and I wasn't much into facilities, two of the key requirements of the job. I also knew that if I became an AD I'd want to support every team, but worried about the toll it would take on my wife and kids to be away attending games or dragging them to multiple events each week.

So after three years I left Stanford to start my own PR/marketing company. Stanford was a client of mine for many years. Later I was fortunate enough to be co-founder and CEO of a women's pro basketball league and college football bowl game. 

Both were a heckuva lot more fun than being an Athletic Director, which has evolved into an even more difficult and oppressive job in the era of NIL and the transfer portal.

I bring all this up because Stanford just announced it has hired former Nike, ServiceNow, Ebay and Bain CEO John Donahoe (above) as its new Athletic Director.

Many are hailing this hire like it's the Second Coming. 

I have my doubts.

While Donahoe's business acumen and high-level leadership experience will be assets in his new job, there are a few red flags.

Donahoe has no experience in college athletics, other than playing JV basketball at Dartmouth over 40 years ago. College athletics is a far different animal than footwear retailing, cloud computing or financial services.

He is 65 years old. The AD's job is demanding, to say the least. At Stanford, that challenge is heightened by the university's refusal to sacrifice academic excellence in pursuit of athletic success--a principle that most schools have long since abandoned--and its desire to maintain championship level programs across 36 sports. 

For someone who "retired" 10 months ago, it is far from a retirement job. It will be an all-consuming, seven day a week effort.

His resume, while quite impressive, is not without blemishes.

Donahoe was CEO of Nike, but his nearly five-year tenure was rocky, to say the least. 

His data-driven management style wasn't a good fit for the iconic sneaker-maker. Relationships with key retailers like Macy's and Foot Locker suffered, innovation went south, sales fell, competitors thrived, and the company's stock plunged 25% in his final year. 

Donahoe was reportedly paid $104 million during his time as CEO, at the same time he implemented multiple rounds of layoffs to cut costs. 

To say the least, that didn't make him popular among Nike's staff. Though he was a favorite of founder Phil Knight, he was eased into "retirement" by the board in Oct. of 2024 in favor of long-time Nike veteran Elliott Hill.

At Stanford, he inherits an athletic department that was late to the party on NIL compensation and transfer recruitment, has recorded four straight 3-9 football seasons, and is facing the reality of having to come up with $20.5 million to share with athletes under the House Settlement's revenue-sharing guidelines.

Donahoe will have plenty of room for cost-cutting in Stanford's bloated athletic administration, which includes over 35 deputy, associate and assistant athletic directors.

But it remains to be seen if he can craft the relationships that are perhaps the most critical component in athletic administration, and whether his lack of experience in college athletics proves a minor hindrance or a major handicap.

Today's athletic director has to deal with a wide array of constituent groups--coaches, athletes, parents, boosters, the media, state legislatures, the NCAA, the president's council, collectives, third-party NIL payers, the student body, the admissions office, etc.

Even the most successful business person has no clue about much of this.

Donahoe's out-of-the-box appointment calls to mind the hirings of Larry Scott and George Kliavkoff as Pac-12 Commissioner.

And we know how those hires worked out. Both were unmitigated disasters that resulted in the destruction of the famed, 108-year old conference.

Let's hope this one turns out better.