Stanford hiring Frank Reich as interim coach for 2025 season

Former NFL coach Frank Reich will serve as Stanford football’s interim head coach for the 2025 season, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday.

Reich coached the Indianapolis Colts from 2018-22. His first year in Indianapolis coincided with the final season of former Colts quarterback — and current Stanford general manager — Andrew Luck. Reich was mostly recently the head coach of the Carolina Panthers in 2023, though he was fired 11 games into the season after a 1-10 start.

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Reich, 63, will serve in the role for only one season, according to the report.

Luck, who went No. 1 overall in the 2012 NFL draft after a stellar career at Stanford from 2008-11, took over as his alma mater’s general manager ahead of the 2025 season. He announced the firing of former coach Troy Taylor on March 25 after only two seasons with the program. The move came as Taylor was found to have bullied multiple female staffers, according to investigations by Stanford that ESPN first reported.

Stanford has failed to win more than four games in a season since 2018. Luck explained his vision for the program in the announcement of Taylor being fired:

“We have powerful traditions, incredible student-athletes, and a vision for the future that demonstrates our strong potential as a program,” Luck wrote. “This vision includes an emphasis on a positive, winning, and inclusive culture. I am confident that we will return Stanford to the top echelon of college football.”

Reich has a 41-43 career record in the NFL, including double digit win-seasons in 2018 and 2020. He twice led the Colts to the playoffs, falling to Kansas City in the 2018 AFC divisional round and to Buffalo in the 2020 AFC wild card round. Reich also served as the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers from 2014-15 and Philadelphia Eagles from 2016-17, winning a Super Bowl with Philadelphia in 2017.

Luck, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, was a two-time All-American at Stanford in 2010 and 2011. He finished runner-up to Robert Griffin III in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2011 before going No. 1 overall to the Colts in the next NFL draft.