What Stanford Football Should Expect in a Kris Richard Defense

The new era of Stanford football is off and running. Hiring a new permanent head coach in Tavita Pritchard after last season, the Cardinal enter 2026 with new life and are ready to return to national prominence. Once one of the most consistent programs in college football, the Cardinal have struggled in recent seasons, finishing 3-9 every year from 2021-23 before going 4-8 in 2025.

But now, the Cardinal are ready to turn things around and have brought in a whole new coaching staff to pair with Pritchard, hiring coaches with a lot of NFL experience. One of those coaches is new defensive coordinator, Kris Richard, who will his own adjustments to the makeup of the defense. And because of that, here is what Stanford fans should expect from Richard's defense.

What to expect from a Kris Richard defense

A defensive backs coach as well for most of his coaching career, Richard is known for his development of defensive backs, helping the Seattle Seahawks Legion of Boom defense evolve into a Super Bowl champion.

During his time with the Seahawks, several defensive backs burst onto the scene and turned into perennial Pro Bowlers, including former Cardinal Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas. On The Farm, expect the defensive backs to play a pivotal role—not only in pass coverage, but in making plays against the run.

For players like Brandon Nicholson and Jay Green, being in Richard's scheme is their chance to prove just how good they really are and make an impact for NFL scouts.

But there is no position that will play more of a role in Richard's defense than the linebacking core. In every coaching role in the NFL that Richard has served in, the team's that he coached for boasted star linebackers that came out of their shells even more with him in charge.

As the defensive coordinator in Seattle, Bobby Wagner developed into one of the NFL's best linebackers. While Richard was with the Dallas Cowboys, he had Leighton Vander Esch on his defense—another player that burst onto the scene quickly.

Stanford had linebacker Matt Rose record the first 100 tackle season for a Cardinal in over a decade, and with him coming back, expect him to be a major focal point of Richard's new-look Cardinal defense.

In a loaded ACC with a lot of good quarterbacks, defense will be key. The Cardinal struggled defending the pass last season, and over the past few seasons opposing quarterbacks have been able to throw the ball extremely well against Stanford.

Richard will be tasked with revitalizing Stanford's pass defense, and as the defensive backs coach as well, the defensive backs will spend a lot of time learning under Richard. If the group can tighten up, success could come very soon on The Farm.

This will be a big year for the Cardinal and while there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the rebuild, the high pedigree staff that Pritchard brought in will help the Cardinal reach new heights this fall.