On Saturday at 11:00 AM PT, Stanford football held a team meeting to introduce their new head football coach with Zoom provided for players who had gone home for the holiday break. The new head coach introduced to the team is none other than Troy Taylor, who coached Sacramento State to an FCS quarterfinals appearance before falling to Incarnate Word on Friday by a final score of 66-63. Taylor will have an introductory press conference with the media on Monday, December 12th at 11:00 AM PT.
During the course of the entire coaching search, Taylor had remained a top candidate and was later deemed a finalist for the job, something he informed Sacramento State in a team meeting on Thursday. After Jason Garrett announced on Twitter that he would not be taking the Stanford job, it became pretty obvious that the job was going to Troy Taylor. A source who has been tracking the situation closely confirmed to CardinalSportsReport.com on Thursday evening that Taylor was indeed going to be the new head football coach.
The only remaining shoe to drop was how and when Taylor would break the news to Sacramento State and when he would be introduced at Stanford. CardinalSportsReport.com learned on Friday morning that Stanford would be having a team meeting to introduce the new head football coach on Saturday at 11:00 AM, confirming that Taylor was going to have to break the news to his now former team sometime over the next 24 hours before coming to Stanford for his introduction.
During his time as head coach at Sac State, Taylor compiled a 30-7 overall record and a 23-1 record in the Big Sky conference, resulting in three Big Sky championships/co-championships. Taylor’s .811 winning percentage at Sac State is the best winning percentage of any coach in program history by a lot. Only one other coach (Bob Mattos) has had a winning record as a head coach at Sac State (84-73-2). For Taylor to do what he’s done at Sac State is nothing short of phenomenal. He turned a doormat of the FCS level into a national powerhouse.
In addition to having a phenomenal run at Sac State, Taylor also has a strong Pac-12 background. He played quarterback at Cal (1986-89) and was the program’s all-time leader in passing yards (8,126) at the end of his Cal career. He would propel his legendary Cal career into an NFL career where he was selected in the 4th round by the New York Jets in the 1990 NFL Draft. He played for the Jets for two seasons and was a member of the Miami Dolphins practice squad for one season before his playing career came to an end.
After spending some years as an assistant coach at Cal, he later became the head coach/co-head coach at Folsom High School (2002-2015) before becoming co-offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach at Eastern Washington (2016). Following his one season at Eastern Washington, he became offensive coordinator at Utah (2017-18) before taking the head coaching job at Sac State (2019-22).
As for what he’ll bring to The Farm, Taylor will bring an offensive mind of the likes that Stanford has never seen before. He’s a real offensive wizard, a genius at finding ways to create space for his wide receivers and maximize the offensive capabilities of his roster. He even used two quarterbacks at Sac State this season, rotating them in based on feel and what he saw from the defense. Taylor should bring a lot of energy to the program and bring a fun and exciting brand of football that should lead to a lot more wins than what they’ve had the past few seasons.
Taylor has a real Silicon Valley type of mindset that ideally should be reflected in a head coach at Stanford. He’s creative, willing to take risks, and not afraid to shake things up. His creative vision should be exciting and bring in a new era of Stanford football that truly reflects the spirit of what Stanford is all about.
UPDATE: Stanford Athletics has released a press release about Taylor’s hiring. Read that here.
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