On Tuesday, March 25th, Stanford football made the decision to fire head coach Troy Taylor after two seasons on The Farm in which the Cardinal went 6-18 overall, 3-9 in each season. Taylor ties Walt Harris for having the shortest tenure on The Farm as head coach. Harris went 6-17 overall in his two seasons at the helm from 2005-06. The 2006 season was particularly bad as the Cardinal went 1-11 overall and 1-8 in the Pac-10. Stanford football general manager Andrew Luck issued the following statement:
I took the role of Stanford Football General Manager with a strong vision for building a new winning era for our football program. Stanford has always set the standard for excellence with our university’s unique leadership in both athletics and academics, and I have no doubt that our program’s best days lie ahead.
Since beginning my role as General Manager, I have been thoroughly assessing the entire Stanford football program. It has been clear that certain aspects of the program need change. Additionally, in recent days, there has been significant attention to Stanford investigations in previous years related to Coach Taylor.
After continued consideration it is evident to me that our program needs a reset. In consultation with university leadership I no longer believe that Coach Taylor is the right coach to lead our football program. Coach Taylor has been informed today and the change is effective immediately.
A search for new coaching leadership in football has begun, and an acting coach may be named for the 2025 season. Our focus remains on supporting our student-athletes and ensuring they have the best possible experience on the field, in the classroom, and on campus with their peers.
I thank Coach Taylor for his contributions to our team and the hard work he put into the program. I wish him and his family well moving forward.
Stanford University is my home, and I am so excited to support our players in competing at the highest level and developing as young adults. We have powerful traditions, incredible student-athletes, and a vision for the future that demonstrates our strong potential as a program. This vision includes an emphasis on a positive, winning, and inclusive culture. I am confident that we will return Stanford to the top echelon of college football.
Last week, I wrote an article making sense of the allegations made against Taylor regarding his conduct in the workplace. I didn’t cast judgment regarding what Luck would do or what he should do. The only thing I did say is if Troy Taylor had made strides and real improvement regarding his PIP (Personal Improvement Plan), they should keep him. If not, then they should let him go.
READ: Making sense of bullying allegations against Stanford HC Troy Taylor
Given that Luck has made the decision that he has, my guess is Taylor hadn’t made the kind of strides that Stanford was hoping he’d make with regard to his PIP. On top of that, Taylor wasn’t winning and there is good reason to think his motivation tactics weren’t bringing out the best in his players. He just comes across as a difficult person to work with and play under, who in the process wasn’t able to deliver the goods. When you add those things up, it isn’t hard to see why he was fired.
At the same time, the optics around this whole thing are just bad. Were it not for the ESPN report that was published last week, Troy Taylor probably would have been the head coach for the 2025 season. Since all of these issues with Taylor were known well before the publishing of that story, Stanford should have made the coaching change at the end of last season in tandem with Andrew Luck being hired. Or at least very soon after Luck had some time to evaluate the state of the program.
Instead, Luck praised Taylor and said he was excited to work with him and by all accounts was planning on doing just that. In an interview I had with Luck earlier this year before this all broke, Luck gave me zero indication that a coaching change was a possibility. In that vein, it’s disappointing that Stanford and Luck didn’t do the right thing from the jump and had to have their hand forced by a report.
That all said, it does feel like the right outcome for Stanford happened in the end. Troy Taylor simply didn’t bring winning football to The Farm in his two seasons and there wasn’t a lot of reason to think the 2025 season would be much better. Not to mention the allegations that would have created a cloud over the entire season.
Rather than kicking the tire down the road, it makes sense to just pull the plug and start afresh with someone who can bring a fresh vision to the program. Someone that is more aligned with Stanford’s core goals and mission as a university all while putting a winning product on the field.
It’ll be interesting to see if Stanford makes a hire for the coming season or if they go the direction of making an interim hire with the goal of hiring their new coach after the season. From what Luck said in his statement, naming someone as an interim head coach for the 2025 season is on the table as an option.
If they go the interim route, co-defensive coordinator Bobby April III is really the only option among guys who are on the coaching staff. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like the players all like him and would enjoy playing under him. So that’s one option they could explore.
If Stanford was going to go the route of bringing in somebody from outside the program to take on an interim role for just one season, Washington Commanders quarterbacks coach Tavitia Pritchard would be an option. Pritchard was the offensive coordinator under David Shaw and has a close relationship with Luck. Pritchard seems to have done well as the Commanders’ quarterbacks coach and certainly would be a good cultural fit with Stanford.
Given that spring football is starting in April, this really isn’t the best time to find a permanent head coach and since Luck has already suggested publicly that they may name an acting head coach for the 2025 season, I think odds are good they go the route of naming an interim just for the season and then seeing how things go from there. Such a move would bring an immediate sense of stability and also allow Luck to take a bit of a breath and evaluate things holistically without feeling the pressure of finding their future head coach during a window when it would be a lot harder to do. From my sources, it sounds like most players are happy Taylor is gone, but there is of course an uncertainty that comes with not knowing who the head coach is going to be. Naming an acting head coach for the season would ease those qualms.
While there’s a lot of questions and uncertainty around Stanford football right now, what’s clear is that the program is at an inflection point. It’s Andrew Luck’s program now and with Taylor getting the sack, Luck has a chance to hire his own guy to lead the Cardinal into the future. It’ll be fascinating to see what direction he goes.
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