Report: Louisville OC Lance Taylor Emerges as Frontrunner for Western Michigan HC
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - One day removed from Scott Satterfield's stunning departure for Cincinnati, it appears that the dominoes are starting to fall as it pertains to his now former coaching staff at Louisville.
Cardinals offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Lance Taylor "has emerged" as the "likely frontrunner" for the head coaching position at Western Michigan, according to a report from Football Scoop's John Brice.
Brice also reports that Taylor had been a candidate to named Louisville's interim head coach for the Fenway Bowl, but that "Louisville officials were concerned with the prospect of naming Taylor the Cardinals’ head coach and then seeing Taylor named the Broncos’ next leader." Louisville's Director of Player Development, Deion Branch, was ultimately named interim.
Louisville's offense struggled at times during Taylor's lone year with the program, but that was mainly due to injuries, a lack of depth a wide receiver and inconsistent quarterback play. The Cardinals' 405.1 yards per game ranked 54th in FBS, while their 27.2 points per game ranked 76th.
Should he accept the position at Western Michigan, Taylor would be the first assistant coach to officially depart the program this offseason, and the second member of the overall staff under Satterfield. Head strength and conditioning coach Ben Sowders left for the same position at Arkansas this past weekend.
This season was a one-off when it comes to Taylor's overall resume. He spent the previous three seasons as Notre Dame's running backs coach, helping guide Kyren Williams to back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons under his tutelage.
The Mt. Vernon native's most noteworthy coaching achievement came when he was the running backs coach at Stanford from 2014 to 2016. He played a large role in developing both Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love, who each had runner-up finishes for the Heisman Trophy.
Taylor had a two-year run as the Carolina Panthers' wide receivers coach in between his stints at Stanford and Notre Dame, and also has prior stops with the New York Jets, Appalachian State and Alabama. He played wide receiver from the Crimson Tide from 2000 to 2003.
The Cardinals finished the regular season at 7-5, and 4-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Louisville, ironically, will face Cincinnati in the Fenway Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 11:00 a.m. EST.
(Photo of Lance Taylor: Alton Strupp - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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