Stanford Football Hires Big Name as Interim Head Coach for 2025 Season

A tumultous two weeks for Stanford football finally found a temporary resolution. After firing head coach Troy Taylor early last week, the Cardinal were scrambling to find a replacement with spring practice looming.

But it appears that the the program has found a temporary fix to all its problems, bringing in longtime NFL head coach, Frank Reich, to be the interim head coach for the 2025 campaign.

In what is expected to be one-year agreement, with the Cardinal expected to launch a full-scale national search ahead of the 2026 season, Reich comes in as an elite offensive mind with a strong track record of winning in his career, leading the Indianapolis Colts to two playoff trips in his five seasons in charge.

Prior to his time as a head coach, Reich spent time as an offensive coordinator, winning a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017.

Despite having zero college coaching experience, Reich comes in as an elite offensive mind who could be instrumental in the development of key players, such as quarterback Elijah Brown, and help the Cardinal turn the page onto a brighter future.

Coaching Stanford general manager, Andrew Luck, for one season in Indianapolis, the familiarity with Luck and the relationship that the two were able to form could have been a major factor in the decision. We should know more about how this came to be following Tuesday's press conference.

For the Cardinal, this season will be a major test of resilience, as the program will need to show that it can still compete despite the circumstances.

While it is likely that some of their commits will elect to transfer, the high academic pedigree of Stanford will most likely cause some talent to stay, giving the team a chance to still improve their fortunes despite not having a full-time head coach.

In a corresponding move, the Cardinal promoted tight ends coach, Nate Byham, to be the offensive coordinator where he is expected to call the plays. In terms of the rest of the staff, there have been no reports yet of anyone expected to leave for other jobs.

This season will be interesting one for the Cardinal as they hope to still show that they are ready to compete in a loaded ACC conference. With plenty of talented recruits expected to join the program in the fall, the Cardinal are locked in and ready to conquer a tough slate of games in 2025.