A commemorative football sits on a shelf in the office of Richard Shaw, dean of admission. The ball marks Stanford football’s dramatic 24-23 upset win over the University of Southern California last fall, which, the Cardinal faithful hope, may indicate the beginning of a new era in Stanford athletics.

For that era to begin, Shaw will play a crucial role. Stanford is unique among universities nationwide for its balance of success in the classroom and on the playing field. Yet for many, the admission office is responsible for precluding success in high profile sports such as football and basketball.

“If we lose, guess who’s at fault?” Shaw said, pointing at himself. “And that’s fine. The reality is that we’re still going to sustain expectations.”

Shaw, the gatekeeper who rejected nearly 23,000 applicants to the University this year, said he would not compromise Stanford’s stringent admission standards in the name of athletic success.

“It’s important to maintain standards,” he said. “Intercollegiate athletics is a huge concern. But we have lots of values.”

Shaw sits in a hard place. Professors grumble that standards should be higher. Coaches complain when they can’t get their star recruits admitted.

“We’re not going to get them all,” he continued. “If that means somebody else might, that’s the way it is. But we’re not somebody else, we’re Stanford. I have no apologies for the place this is.”

It’s not that Shaw doesn’t want to win. He called the Cardinal’s soon-to-be streak of 14 straight Director’s Cups “mind-boggling.” And, of course, there is the commemorative football in the office.

“Do I like to win?” Shaw said. “Yeah, I think winning is OK.”

With experience at such high-profile athletic schools as the University of Colorado, UC-Berkeley and the University of Michigan, Shaw understands the needs of winning athletic departments. Shaw, who came from Yale in 2005, was preceded by Robin Mamlet, who came from Swarthmore in 2000 — a liberal arts college in Pennsylvania that had a Division III athletic program.

This past year has been one of the most successful in recent years for the larger men’s sports like football, basketball and baseball. One reason is a small sample size, but coaches and athletes say the admission office has become more cooperative since Shaw took over in 2005.

“Dean Shaw, from everyone I’ve understood, is empathetic,” said former men’s basketball coach Mike Montgomery. “He looks real hard to find a way to help, as compared to . . . “ he said, trailing off.

“It’s easy to say no,” Montgomery continued. “Let’s find a way to make it work. Everyone feels good about dealing with Dean Shaw.”

Shaw, for his part, will only admit that he has worked to establish stronger lines of communication with the athletics department.

“In general, the goal is to have good relationships with all segments of campus,” he said. “I think we’ve established good relations with [Athletic Director] Bob Bowlsby.”

Bowlsby, who came to Stanford in 2006 from the University of Iowa, said he hears some complaints from coaches but he sees athletics and admissions “on the same team.”

“I won’t consider it to be us against them — we’re on the same page,” Bowlsby said, acknowledging “there are certainly some disappointments along the way.”

Shaw admitted the nature of his work places a bigger burden on coaches and assistants in recruiting the right player — one whose skills in the classroom match athletic prowess.

“It puts more pressure on coaches,” Shaw said. “They have to go out and find kids that might not be on everybody’s radar screen — taking the right courses, doing well in the classroom.”

Meanwhile, Montgomery said that coaches understand the unique balance that Stanford finds between athletics and academics.

“Nobody wants somebody to come in and open the gates — nobody,” Montgomery said. “The coaches don’t. Nobody does. Everybody understands that we have [a] harder job in terms of locating kids that can do that kind of work that is expected here. That’s what makes for the integrity of this whole thing.”

“If it broke down, it would be a problem,” he added. “Nobody wants that. The key word is fair, and/or reasonable.”

Bowlsby said it was “pretty well certain” that Stanford would take home a record 14th straight Director’s Cup, which measures all sports equally. But the athletic director expressed enthusiasm that the high profile, revenue-producing sports such as football, basketball and baseball appeared on the upswing.

“I don’t think you can call yourself the best athletics program in the country if you can’t win consistently in the sports that the media follows [and] that fans covet,” he said.

While athletics may have enjoyed another winning season, Shaw said he measures success largely by graduation rates.

“This is college, this is about pursuing a degree,” he said. “We don’t admit students of whom we don’t have every expectation will graduate.”

According to NCAA data, between 2002-2005, 93 percent of Stanford football players graduated, by far the best showing in the Pac-10 conference — the University of Washington was next, at 64 percent. The Cardinal also topped the baseball rankings, with 96 percent of players graduating.

In basketball, Stanford showed second at 67 percent, to Washington’s 70. That was before the departure this year of the Lopez twins, sophomores Brook and Robin, for the NBA.

“I don’t like that, one can imagine,” Shaw said of the early departures.

Shaw said he was “dismayed” when he heard about the academic troubles of Brook Lopez, who was ruled academically ineligible fall quarter.

“I don’t know what was going on in his mind,” he said. “It’s not OK with me.”

More distressing to the admission dean are the graduation rates from competing schools. Other institutions known for academic prowess, like Cal and UCLA, have performed dismally in this respect. Cal graduated 52 percent of football players and 33 percent of basketball players, UCLA 56 and 40.

“We don’t compromise, as others do,” Shaw said. “Other schools have lost it, in my estimation. It’s pretty discouraging to see.”