Stanford HC Tavita Pritchard Offered a Lot of Excitement at Introductory Presser

A new era of Stanford football is officially here. On Friday, Nov. 28, the Stanford Cardinal announced that they were hiring former quarterback and assistant coach, Tavita Pritchard, to be the 37th head football coach in program history.

Taking over for interim head coach, Frank Reich, Pritchard will be tasked with bringing Stanford football back to national prominence and a program that is capable of competing for conference championships and College Football Playoff berths.

A quarterback for the Stanford Cardinal from 2006-09, Pritchard immediately went into coaching after his college career ended, starting off as a graduate assistant for the Cardinal in 2010 before being hired as a defensive assistant in 2011, a role he served in for two seasons.

After serving as Stanford's running backs coach in 2013 and the quarterbacks/wide receivers coach from 2014-17, Pritchard took over as the offensive coordinator in 2018. He remained in that role through the 2022 season.

After longtime head coach David Shaw resigned and replaced by Troy Taylor ahead of the 2023 season, Pritchard left The Farm and took his first coaching job away from Stanford—serving as the Washington Commanders' quarterbacks coach from 2023-25 under head coaches Ron Rivera and Dan Quinn.

Now, Pritchard returns as a first-time head coach ready to take his alma mater to new heights. Introduced in a press conference on Tueday, Dec. 2, the start of the Pritchard era brought on excitement and confidence that the former signal caller is the answer in Palo Alto.

Here are the top takeaways from Pritchard's introductory press conference.

Finding a Stanford person was important, but not the main priority

Pritchard is a Stanford man through and through. Not only did he play for the Cardinal during his college days, he also served as an assistant coach for the program from 2010-22, having only one coaching job away from The Farm.

And while Pritchard is a fitting hire given his Stanford connection, finding a head coach that had ties to the school was not a top priority. In fact, general manager Andrew Luck alluded to this past season under Reich as well as the current landscape in college football for being reasons why he made sure to speak to all different types of coaches.

"It sat there. It sat there as a real question, but it was not a necessary," Luck said. "It was not a
necessity. When it came to Tavita, it was a bonus. There's not that many folks coaching out there with an intimate and deep history of this place.

"I saw Frank Reich come in and do an unbelievable job, really only knowing the school through James Lofton, his teammate, then how much Zach Ertz and I would talk about it when we played for him."

"It wasn't a necessity. Certainly, it's a bonus because we do know there's a learning curve," Luck added. "There's a bunch of learning curves that Tavita is on the continuum of. There is sort of a Stanford learning curve. I certainly had a bit of re-acquaintance with it coming back as GM. I do know Tavita starts pretty far along in that Stanford learning curve that's unique."

Pritchard having Stanford ties is a major plus though. Not only does he fully understand the landscape and culture that makes Stanford unique, he also knows what it takes for Stanford to win, which means he comes in with a clear vision on how to build the program.

Pritchard is Returning to Stanford, But It Is Far From Being the Same Program He Left

Essentially a part of the Stanford family for 17 straight years, Pritchard is very familiar with his surroundings. But this is far from the same program that he left. Not only is the program now in the ACC as opposed to the Pac-12 that Pritchard was in, but when it comes to the games and the travel situation, it will be much different.

Stanford now plays teams from all over the country, and with traveling being a big part of things now, Pritchard will need to navigate how to keep his team locked in and focused in any situation.

"Can I just say the travel?" Pritchard said with a smile. "I mean, looking at some of those cross-country trips, we're going to North Carolina a couple of times next year, Louisville. I think the furthest we ever had to go, other than our non-conference Notre Dame games and such, were Arizona.

"We didn't have to go very far. That's one. I think that's a real consideration as you think about preparing a team, think about supporting student-athletes. That's a real thing."

"Even just being in the NFL, going to play the New York Giants from D.C. was different than coming out here to play the Seattle Seahawks," Pritchard added. "It does go back to how we support them, that it's process-oriented so whether or not we have an hour-and-a-half flight or five-hour flight, we're going to prepare the same way. We may have tweaks, but they don't have to worry about those things. That's for me and Andrew."

Pritchard's three seasons in the NFL allowed him to experience football in a different way as a coach, and with the gap between college and pro being as small as its ever been, getting to experience all aspects, including the travel, could definitely help Pritchard in the long run at Stanford.

Luck and Co. Interviewed Over 30 Candidates Before Deciding on Pritchard

This coaching search was a very long one for Luck and his staff, spanning essentially the entirety of the 2025 season. But a long process comes with its advantages, allowing Luck the opportunity to interview a whole slew of candidates to ensure that he is making the right hire.

Before deciding on Pritchard, Luck interviewed nearly 30 candidates, getting input from many big names in the football world.

"Talked to, interviewed close to 30, I want to say around that. A bunch of other informal
conversations," Luck said.

"My wife knows this. I would get into football-land at home. Someone would be talking to me and my mind would just go. For the last nine months my mind would go to who is going to be our next head coach. That was on the whole time. Who would be the right leader for these young men.

"It was laid very bare to me about a week or two into the job. I think I had a bit of one of those moments at night, there are these two existential things that happen," Luck said. "Holy smokes, I'm in charge of a Stanford football program that's been around since 1892.

"With a legacy of Pop Warner, Bill Walsh, Jim Plunkett, Christian McCaffrey. There's 109 young men on this team whose lives are very much shaped by football and the Stanford football program. Who that leader was, getting Frank was huge for this year, to make sure we went a step forward, right? Who's our next leader, who would bring us into this new era, was always front of mind.

"Talked to a lot of folks. Went around the country. I enjoyed the process. I think it helps I'm an extrovert, I enjoy talking and listening to people."

Not often are coaching searches this long, and the fact that Luck opted to roll with Pritchard tells you everything you need to know about how highly he is valued within the Stanford community.

Pritchard's Time in the NFL Will Come in Handy from an X's and O's Standpoint

Pritchard got a lot out of coaching in the NFL, but the most important thing that he got out of it was more in-depth knowledge about the X's and O's, getting the chance to coach alongside elite offensive minds such as Kliff Kingsbury. And with Stanford's offense struggling in recent seasons, Pritchard's hiring could bring new life to the offensive side of the ball for the program.

"From the X's and O's and football standpoint, when you're in coaching, as long as I've been, I don't want to count how many years now, there's so many different ways to do things. There are," Pritchard said.

"Obviously working under Kliff Kingsbury, he was an air raid, Mike Leach trained quarterback. We couldn't have come from two different worlds in terms of our football upbringing. I came from a 12-, 13-, 22-personnel, get up there and run-it-down-your-throat offense. He came from a 10-personnel, we're-going-to-throw-it-70-times-a-game offense."

"There were a lot of common threads, right? When it comes to playing great football, it comes back to blocking and tackling and fundamentals. When I think about schematically where we will go, we will lean into who our Stanford student-athletes are, right?," Pritchard added.

"One of our committee calls, John may recall this, but I asked them to recall Toby Gerhart, think about all these players, Tyler Gaffney, Stepfán Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, Bryce Love. All phenomenal running backs and players here in their own right. All very, very different players, right?"

"What I found in the NFL is, this will speak to what Andrew is talking about, there will be some toe stubbing, so to speak, in the big picture. When it comes down to it, we're problem solvers. That's what we have to be about, especially at Stanford. We have to go find the guys."

There are a lot of questions that still need to be answered for Stanford, especially regarding the personnel, but if Pritchard's offense really is new and improved, expect big things to come to The Farm.

This Season's Improvement Lays the Groundwork for Pritchard's First Season

For the first time since 2019, the Cardinal won more than three games in a full season in 2025. While there is still a lot of work to be done, a lot of positives came out of the one-game improvement.

Aside from beating Cal and taking home their first Big Game trophy since 2020, the Cardinal also managed to pull off wins against big name teams such as Florida State and Boston College. Coming into year one, there is a lot for Pritchard to work with in terms of improving the team even more.

"One of the words I mentioned that Andrew and I have talked a lot about and thinking about this team, what Coach Frank Reich has done, is 'belief'. I think when you talk about the groundwork that's been laid, it starts there, right?," Pritchard said.

"Even just watching that game. I will take this moment to say now being on the east coast for the last three years, it's clear why we got shafted in all those Heisman Trophy races. It's really hard to watch west coast sports on the East Coast. Cal was one of the games I was able to stay up and watch.

"Our kids stayed up much past their bedtime to see that happen. To see the belief in that team, the way the defense played, the way the special teams played, the offense built off of that. It's complementary football. It was built on belief, like you saw it happening in that game on that field.

"That was bubbling under the surface all year, right? That's something that we absolutely will build on that, what's already been happening."

Pritchard's first season will be pivotal, and given how Luck is entering year two as the general manager, the urgency to win now will be much higher. But still, the Cardinal are deep in a rebuild and with Pritchard earning high praise from his peers, there is full trust in him being the secret to success.