Stanford's Next Head Coach: Who Should It Be?

It's decision time for Andrew Luck.

The former Stanford star, Heisman trophy runner-up, and NFL Pro Bowl quarterback, is now the face of Stanford football. So much so that the school is giving Luck bobbleheads to fans at the Cardinal's season finale with Notre Dame this Saturday.

And Saturday's sideline interview during Big Game, when Luck reacted to a fumble return for a Stanford TD, may be the best you'll ever see on television.

"Ball! Go, Jay, Go! Go, Jay, Go!" Luck yelled as the ball came loose and Stanford safety Jay Green raced down the sidelines on a 49-yard scoop and score.

As general manager, Luck is charged with hiring the next Stanford football coach. With the high school signing period beginning December 3, and the transfer portal opening January 2, Stanford needs to have a new coach in place as soon as possible after the season ends.

As in, next week.

When Luck took over as GM, he almost immediately fired head coach Troy Taylor, who'd been found by two independent investigations to have bullied and belittled female staffers, along with some other non--Stanford type behavior.

It was March, and with spring football about to start, no good coaching candidates were available to take over the Cardinal program on a permanent basis.

So Luck opted for an interim coach, a reasonable decision given the timing, and brought in former NFL head coach and quarterback Frank Reich, whom he had played for with the Indianapolis Colts.

Reich has done better than expected given the circumstances. 

He didn't inherit much talent. Many of Stanford's best players had transferred--edge rusher David Bailey (Texas Tech), quarterbacks Bear Bachmeier (BYU) and Ashton Danliels (Auburn), wide receivers Emmett Mosley V (Texas), Jackson Harris (Hawaii), and Mudia Reuben (South Florida), and offensive linemen Jake Maikkula, Luke Baklenko (both Oklahoma), and Connor McLaughlin (South Florida).

Reich didn't get to hire his own coaches. Instead--again because of the timing--he had to keep Taylor's staff in place.

And due to the coaching change and the fact Stanford had come so late to NIL and the transfer portal, Reich was dealing with below average recruiting classes of high school prospects and transfers.

Despite those obstacles, Stanford showed some improvement after four straight 3-9 seasons, grabbing its fourth win with an impressive 31-10 upset over Cal in the Big Game

However, the depressing five year trend--an overall record of 16-44 after an almost certain loss to Notre Dame this Saturday--is the stark reality for a program that not too long ago (2009-2018) was averaging 10 wins per season.

Stanford has been in this tenuous position twice before in modern times. In the early 60s, under Cactus Jack Curtice, Stanford was floundering after going 0-10 in 1960, and some were suggesting the school give up football. Then in 2006, the Cardinal hit another low point with a 1-11 mark under Walt Harris.

John Ralston turned the program around after he arrived in 1963, and Jim Harbaugh did the same after taking over in 2007. 

But it's going to be harder now. Because of the highest admission standards in Power 4 Conference football, Stanford has always recruited from the smallest pool of prospects. Now--because of NIL and the transfer portal--those prospects want big money and can leave at any time.

If Stanford wants to rebuild the football program in the new era, it's going to require three things: 1) hiring the right coach, 2) spending a lot of money on top high school players and transfers; 3) upgrading its game presentation, stadium operations, plarking (ingress and egress), marketing and ticket pricing.

Luck is apparently doing a very good job raising the necessary funds for No. 2 He recently secured a $50 million gift from alum Brad Freeman and reportedly has pledges for another $30-40M. 

As for No. 3, to get more people into the stands, a complete overhaul of Stanford's game presentation, stadium operations, parking, marketing and pricing is needed. All are inadequate.

For example, the Collegiate Sports Connect and the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) recently studied the football pricing maps for every Power 4 school to determine the average cost to sit on the home 50-yard line halfway up the lower bowl. 

They found that the most expensive cost per seat in the ACC was not Miami, not Clemson, not Florida State. It was Stanford. I kid you not.

Back to No. 1. So who should Stanford hire as head coach?

Luck may be tempted to hire one of two former Stanford players now serving as assistant coaches in the NFL or one of two former Stanford assistant coaches he played under.

Tavita Pritchard, who threw the game-winning touchdown when Stanford famously beat USC 24-23 in one of the greatest upsets in college football history in 2007 and played behind Luck in 2009, is now the quarterbacks coach with the Washington Commanders.

Troy Walters, a former Stanford All-American, Biletnikoff winner, and one of the best receivers ever to play on the Farm, has been the receivers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals since 2020.

Both have done well in their jobs, but neither has ever been a head coach. Pritchard served four years as offensive coordinator at Stanford during the declining years of David Shaw's regime, and Walters was offensive coordinator at UCF and Nebraska early in his coaching career.

Two former Cardinal assistant coaches will get some consideration. Mike Bloomgren was a highly respected assistant coach under Harbaugh and offensive coordinator under Shaw in 2011, Luck's final season, then became head coach at Rice. He was 24-52 in six and a half years with the Owls, never recording a winning season.

Greg Roman was associate head coach, and for all intents and purposes, offensive coordinator under Harbaugh in 2009--10, Luck's first two seasons as a starter. Roman then followed Harbaugh to the San Francisco 49ers, later was offensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens, and is now back with Harbaugh as OC with the Los Angeles Chargers. He's never been a head coach.

I believe hiring any of the four above-mentioned men would be a mistake. 

Luck must hire a coach who has built a winning program. To put it bluntly, Stanford football is in dire straits and needs a proven winner to reverse the negative momentum.

So who should he pursue?

Jim Mora: Mora has worked wonders at UConn. He inherited a program that had won four games in three years and completely turned the program around. Last year's team was 9-4 and beat North Carolina in the Fenway Bowl. His current team has finished the regular season at 9-3. All three losses came in overtime.

Mora is a proven winner and program builder, a former NFL Coach of the Year with the Atlanta Falcons, and someone who knows the West Coast. He played at Washington and was 46-30 in six years as head coach at UCLA. During his years in Westwood, he turned down offers from Washington and Texas.

(Side note: his dad, the elder Jim Mora, was an assistant coach for a year at Stanford and later was the longtime head coach of the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts. When Stanford hired Bill Walsh in 1977, Mora was one of the finalists for the job. I was on the search committee and cast the deciding vote to hire Walsh, who won by one vote over Paul Hackett. The others who voted for Bill could make the same claim, of course, but since I'm the only one still living, I'll claim the distinction).

I got to know Mora a little bit when we hosted UCLA at the Foster Farms Bowl in 2015. We had a few battles and also some very nice, emotional moments. Like his dad, Mora is a volatile guy.. Tons of enthusiasm, great motivator, has a temper, wears his emotions on his sleeve. Somewhat reminiscent of Jim Harbaugh, Curt Cignetti, and John Cavalli, my late father..

Just what Stanford needs.

Sean Lewis: Lewis has turned around a San Diego State program that was headed in the wrong direction. The Aztecs are 9-2, including a 34-0 win over Cal, and have an outside shot at the College Football Playoff. An outstanding offensive mind, Lewis was previously head coach at Kent State, historically one of the very worst programs in college football, where he posted two winning seasons in four years. 

Before going to SDS, he was Deion Sanders' offensive coordinator at Colorado in 2023. At 39, he's much younger than Mora, which might make him more attractive to the 36-year old Luck.

Bob Chesney: Chesney took over at James Madison for Curt Cignetti when Cignetti took the job at Indiana, where he has orchestrated one of the great turnarounds in college football history. 

Most people thought James Madison would suffer when Cignetti left, taking his best players with him. Instead, Chesney has led the Dukes to a 19-5 record (10-1 this year). Like Cignetti, he succeeded at a number of small colleges, winning championships at Salve Regina, Assumption, and Holy Cross. However, he's also on the short list at UCLA.

I would have also included Jon Sumrall, who's done a tremendous job at Tulane, a school that also has high academic standards, but he's being pursued by two SEC schools and almost certainly won't be available.

If I were Luck, my finalists would be Mora, Chesney and Lewis. I sent him an email a couple weeks ago recommending Mora.

Good Luck.