On Wednesday, while some Stanford football players were taking the field for their Pro Day in advance of April’s NFL draft, news broke regarding allegations of bullying and belittling of female staffers by head coach Troy Taylor. This is obviously not the kind of news that Stanford is hoping to have about their program. They are hoping to turn a new leaf with Andrew Luck now in charge as the GM of the program and put the bad days behind them.
Via ESPN-Report: Stanford coach bullied athletics staff
My aim in this piece is to add my own reporting to what has already been reported and make sense of what this all means both for Taylor and the Stanford football program at large. If you aren’t aware of the allegations and reports made against Taylor, do make sure to read the stories I have linked to above.
First of all, it needs to be understood that these allegations against Taylor came before his first year started. At least the allegations that sparked the first investigation. So like the spring and summer of 2023. From what has been learned, it sounds like Taylor sent an apology to people a year later in the summer of 2024 and that some people did feel like his behavior had improved. At least a little bit. Taylor was put on a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) because his behavior violated university standards.
Second, the genesis of the complaint that triggered the first investigation is Taylor was working to have a leadership change at a certain position and he got advice from a mentor to force the leadership change to get what he wanted. The leader who he sought to have removed was a female leader in the athletics department. She got removed and then she subsequently filed for an investigation into Taylor.
Third, from what has been learned, these complaints were really within the walls of the athletic department and staffers. So, none of this had anything to do with how Taylor was treating players per se. That said, sources have made it clear that there has been some frustration among a certain group of players about how Taylor has treated them. Specifically, with his overall tone and way of communicating. Just in terms of being too direct and maybe not being sensitive enough to how others might take his style of communication.
Fourth, having read the documents from the first investigation led up by Kate Weaver Patterson of KWP Consulting & Mediation, I can confirm that Patterson's investigation found a lacking of evidence with respect to the allegations of gender discrimination being the reasons for the staffer's replacement.
In her conclusion, Patterson writes: "Using a preponderance of the evidence standard, I concluded the following: There is insufficient evidence to find that gender was the reason for Coach Taylor's request to replace the female staffer."
That all said, what does seem clear is that Taylor definitely made it a more rude and unwelcoming environment and that some of the comments he made were at a minimum weird and off-putting. Patterson also concluded that Taylor "made inappropriate comments" to the female staffer "about her appearance, smell, and interest in football." Those comments may not have been due to her gender, but still not appropriate.
According to the report, a major issue with Taylor is he would blow a gasket over small things that didn’t seem like a big deal. None of that seemed to come out of a place of sexism or anything malicious from what I could tell. It just feels like Taylor genuinely has had an issue with his communication style and that he has rubbed people the wrong way as a result.
"Using a preponderance of the evidence standard, I find in several interactions with staff, Taylor made belittling comments and has expressed inappropriate anger and frustration (i.e. yelling and outsized reactions)," Patterson concluded. "I also find that Coach Taylor's communication style, which he characterizes as 'direct', negatively impacts the staff."
When looking at all the evidence that I’ve been able to gather from sources and reading Patterson's report, one of the big questions is whether or not Taylor has actually improved in terms of his behavior and whether or not he has learned from his mistakes. There is evidence to suggest that he has improved and that he is actively working to be better, which shouldn’t go unnoticed. People are capable of changing and improving. It’s always important to have a growth mindset about people.
Patterson concluded: "I find there have been improvements in Coach Taylor's communication style in the last month and that he exhibits a willingness to learn and grow."
If Taylor has improved and has gotten better, then he should receive credit for doing so. If he has followed through on his commitments from his improvement plan, then Stanford should respect that. From what was reported in Patterson's investigation, it sounds like it's possible that he has gotten better.
"[Matt] Doyle said that things have improved '1000%' and even though the team has suffered some tough losses, that Taylor has been positive and encouraging," Patterson reported. "Taylor himself noted that he had been more aware of how his communication style was being received and was adjusting how he approached meetings and colleagues. These marked improvements noted by various witnesses, and a change highlighted by Taylor himself, may indicate this blind spot is decreasing."
Of course, it should also be noted that a second investigation was led up by Timothy O'Brien, who is a senior counsel for the Libby, O'Brien, Kingsley & Champion law firm located in Maine. I have not been able to read anything from that investigation beyond what has been reported already. But suffice to say, it raises doubts about whether or not Taylor has really improved his behavior or not.
To touch quickly on what this means for Taylor’s job security, I think the biggest issue he has right now is the fact that his first two years were back-to-back 3-9 seasons. In truth, the only thing that can be established/confirmed from all this is that Taylor has a difficult personality and to some can come off as a jerk. Not to excuse that behavior, but there’s a lot of coaches across the country that can match that description. It's just harder to get away with that kind of behavior when your team is losing.
The other piece of this that can’t be overlooked is this is Stanford. They pride themselves on holding their coaches and faculty to higher standards than other places. They’re all about being the pinnacle of success and doing things the right way in terms of valuing the student athlete experience. Excellence on the field, in the classroom, and doing things the right way is big for them. Violating Stanford’s standards is different than violating standards at other places.
If Stanford doesn’t feel like Taylor is living up to the standards that they have set for him, then they should let him go. Though once again, if Taylor has been complying with his PIP, then Stanford should simply make sure he continues to make progress and improve.
Ultimately, this all goes back to what I said earlier. It’s about the wins and the losses. If Taylor can lead Stanford to a markedly better 2025 season than what they’ve had the last two seasons, this will likely all be forgotten. If not, one can’t help but wonder how much longer he’ll last on The Farm.
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