Fired Stanford Football Coach Suing ESPN Over His Dismissal

Troy Taylor filed a defamation lawsuit against ESPN and reporter Xuan Thai on Wednesday.

Troy Taylor was fired by Stanford in March following two seasons at the helm. / Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

Fired Stanford football head coach Troy Taylor has filed a defamation lawsuit against ESPN and reporter Xuan Thai, the Sacramento Bee reported on Wednesday.

Taylor, 57, was fired by Stanford in March after two seasons at the helm of the school's football team. Six days prior to his dismissal, ESPN published a report by Thai detailing two investigations by Stanford into accusations that Taylor "bullied and belittled female athletic staffers," among other claims. At the time Stanford GM Andrew Luck said Taylor was fired because he felt the program needed a "reset." ESPN additionally published a story in April in response to Taylor's statement released a month after he was dismissed.

Taylor's defamation suit focuses on those two stories. Taylor's suit claims ESPN and Thai published "repeated defamatory statements about Taylor, knowing full well that the statements were false, for the purpose of smearing Taylor’s reputation and injuring him in his profession." The network declined comment to The Athletic.

Taylor went 6-18 in two seasons for Stanford. In the wake of his firing, school GM Andrew Luck brought in Frank Reich as an interim choice for the 2025 season as the university searches for a long-term answer.

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