Who's in and out of the running for Stanford's head coaching vacancy

One of the biggest storylines of the offseason was David Shaw stepping down as the head coach at Stanford.

This of course led to conspiracies as to who will be his replacement, with a lot of former coaches with Stanford ties were being thrown around. There were also some outsiders, that people viewed as legitimate candidates for what has been ranked the best opening in college football.

There have been some surprise candidates here and there, so I felt it was necessary to update the public on who is in the running and who is not.

Jason Garrett (Former Dallas Cowboys HC)

Status: Out

Garrett's position in the race to replace Shaw shocked the country on Thursday. Many didn't even realize that he was a candidate to begin with. As quickly as his name randomly appeared, he tweeted Thursday night that he was remaining with NBC.

Greg Roman (Baltimore Ravens OC)

Status: Out

Greg Roman was the first name too publicly be linked to the opening, but has since been removed from consideration according to Stewart Mandel.

Bronco Mendenhall (Former Virgina HC)

Status: Out

One of just two defensive minded coaches vying for the job, Mendenhall will likely return to college football, it just won't be as the head coach of Stanford according to Stewart Mandel.

Troy Taylor (Sacramento State HC)

Status: In the running

After reports confirmed he visited campus earlier in the week, it was also reported that he and Garrett were the finalist. Considering Garrett is no longer in the mix, Taylor is looking like the favorite.

Chris Petersen (Former Washington HC)

Status: Unknown

His name has been thrown around as someone who if he wanted the job would be the favorite, the only issue is it is still yet to be determined if he wants back into coaching.

Brent Brennan (San Jose State HC)

Status: Possibly in the mix

Per my sources, Brennan has emerged as a dark horse candidate to look out for. When the job opened up, he was considered to have favorable odds but the hype surrounding him as since cooled off.