Stanford Football Hires Veteran Offensive Coordinator to be Quarterbacks Coach

Tavita Pritchard's staff is coming together quite nicely. Hired by Stanford football to be the new head coach in late November, the first two months on the job have been very eventful for Pritchard, even though news and updates have been very quiet when it comes to his coaching staff.

But over the last couple of weeks, Pritchard's staff has started to really come together, with an offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator brought in, and the retention of some staff members from the prior regime.

Earlier this week, the Cardinal announced another key addition to the coaching staff with the hiring of quarterbacks coach, Brian Lindgren. Lindgren, a longtime offensive coordinator in college football, brings experience to the coaching staff and adds another veteran presence for the rookie head coach in Pritchard.

Lindgren comes to Stanford after serving two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Michigan State under coach Jonathan Smith. At Michigan State, Lindgren oversaw an offense that guided the Spartans to a 5-7 finish in '24 and a 4-8 finish in '25, but played a big role in the development of quarterback Aidan Chiles.

In recent seasons, inconsistent quarterback play has plagued Stanford, something the program is turning to Lindgren to fix.

After his playing career ended, Lindgren began his coaching career in 2005 when he got the quarterbacks coach job at the University of Redlands. Serving on that staff for a season, Lindgren then moved onto Northern Arizona, working his way up the ranks of the Lumberjacks' coaching staff.

Starting as the wide receivers coach in 2006, Lindgren eventually worked his way up to offensive coordinator by 2009, serving as NAU's OC from 2009-11.

In 2012, Lindgren left Northern Arizona to take the offensive coordinator job at San Jose State, coaching there for one season before following San Jose State head coach Mike MacIntyre to Colorado, starting in 2013. From 2013-15, Lindgren was Colorado's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach but from 2016-17, he was the co-offensive coordinator.

When Oregon State hired Smith ahead of the 2018 season, Lindgren was named the offensive coordinator, where he served until the end of the 2023. That was when Smith took the Michigan State job.

Lindgren will have his work cut out for him at Stanford, but could also use his opportunity with the Cardinal to really prove himself. The current quarterback situation at Stanford is still murky, but the Cardinal currently have Elijah Brown, transfer Davis Warren and incoming freshman Michael Mitchell Jr. all in the mix, at least on paper.

All three have shown success at various stages of their careers, and if Lindgren can develop them well, then Stanford's quarterback room will be one to keep an eye on. In addition to Lindgren, head coach Pritchard was the QB coach for the Washington Commanders, and Cardinal GM Andrew Luck is a former QB and No. 1 overall pick that had a successful career with the Indianspolis Colts.

There will be plenty of resources available for the quarterback options to use in order to reach their full potentials.

As for the rest of the coaching staff, that is still being hammered out, with the role of defensive coordinator still vacant. However, Stanford has been linked to a few candidates, most notably former Texas and Boise State defensive coordinator, Pete Kwiatkowski. His addition has been rumored, but not confirmed.

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