On Monday, March 31st, Stanford announced the hiring of Frank Reich as their interim head coach for the 2025 season. Over the weekend, Reich’s name came up as a possible candidate for the job and now it is official. In a corresponding move, sources have told CardinalSportsReport.com that tight ends coach Nate Byham has been elevated to offensive coordinator.
“I could not be more excited for our coaches, staff and players to have Frank as our head football coach for the 2025 season,” Stanford general manager Andrew Luck said in the team release. “I have experienced first-hand the incredible impact Frank has demonstrated as a leader and have full confidence he is the perfect steward for this season of Stanford Football. Frank is a teacher, a winner and a coach of the highest caliber. Frank’s values align seamlessly with our vision for this program and I firmly believe in his ability to maximize the on-field potential of our student-athletes while serving as a role model in all aspects of their personal growth.”
“I am thrilled to be working with Andrew again to help take an important step in establishing his vision for the Stanford Football program,” Reich added. “Andrew is an elite leader and competitor, and those traits, along with his genuine passion for this university, resonated in every way and inspired me to accept this role. The unique responsibility to mentor the best student-athletes in the world, to be the absolute best in what they aspire to do, is an opportunity I will fully embrace.”
Reich played quarterback at Maryland, getting selected in the 3rd round of the 1985 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. He played from 1985-1998 in the NFL for the Bills (’85-94), Carolina Panthers (’95), New York Jets (’96), and Detroit Lions (’97-98). He threw 40 touchdowns and 36 interceptions while totaling 6,075 yards to go along with a 72.9 passer rating. Reich helped the Bills reach four straight Super Bowls from 1991-94 and was the starting quarterback in their famous 35-3 comeback victory over the Houston Oilers in the 1992-93 NFL playoffs.
Following his playing days, Reich entered the coaching ranks starting out as a coaching intern with the Indianapolis Colts (2006-07) before being promoted to an offensive assistant in 2008 and then to quarterbacks coach in 2009-10. In 2011, Reich moved to wide receivers coach before leaving Indy to become the wide receivers coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2012. Reich was then quarterbacks coach for the San Diego Chargers in 2013 before being promoted to offensive coordinator (2014-15). Reich then joined the Philadelphia Eagles as offensive coordinator (2016-17) before coming back to Indianapolis to be head coach of the Colts (2018-2022).
Reich was then head coach of the Panthers for the 2023 season. Reich was fired midseason by both the Colts and Panthers in 2022 and 2023. When the Panthers fired him, he became the first head coach in NFL history to be fired midseason in back-to-back years. His 11 games with the Panthers was the fourth shortest head coaching tenure in NFL history. Given his two most recent coaching jobs, Reich is comfortable not staying at a place for very long and in the case of this Stanford job, that’ll be the case as he’s only signed on for one year.
During his time in the NFL, Reich was a part of two Super Bowl winning teams. During his years as a coaching intern in Indianapolis, the Colts won Super Bowl XLI over the Chicago Bears 29-17. Peyton Manning was the quarterback and Tony Dungy was the head coach. Reich then won Super Bowl LII with the Philadelphia Eagles as their offensive coordinator. The Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41-33.
Andrew Luck played under Reich during his time as a quarterback with the Indianapolis Colts, so they have known each other for a while. Given the circumstances that surrounded the dismissal of former head coach Troy Taylor, it’s clear that Luck wanted to make sure the interim head coach was somebody who he could trust and was comfortable working with. Reich checks off those boxes.
While his time as head coach of the Colts and Panthers didn’t end the way he wanted, Reich still has a really strong coaching resume. He’s won a couple of Super Bowls and one was as offensive coordinator. On top of that, he has a lot of experience working with quarterbacks and wide receivers, so he should be able to offer a lot with respect to both positions.
Looking ahead to spring practices, it’ll be interesting to see how quickly Reich is able to gel with the players and coaching staff. It’s not at all an ideal situation Stanford is going through right now, but if they had to go the route of firing Taylor, adding a guy like Reich to take his place for a season is as good as it can possibly get. He should bring some respectability back to The Farm while in the process giving the players the chance to learn from somebody who has succeeded in the NFL both as a player and as a coach. Reich will be formally introduced in a press conference on Tuesday, April 1st at 1:00 PM PT.
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