Stanford football receives $50M donation from former player

The Stanford football program received a $50 million gift from a former player, the school announced Wednesday, marking a significant donation as it attempts to revive the fortunes of the program under general manager Andrew Luck.

It’s the biggest individual gift in Stanford football history outside of facilities, and an unusually large one for an individual program. Donations of that value are typically tied to buildings or facilities.

The donation comes from former Stanford football player Bradford M. Freeman, who graduated from the school in 1964 and has been a major Stanford donor for decades.

The Cardinal are currently playing catchup in the modern college football landscape, finishing 3-9 in each of their past four seasons. Stanford is 2-3 this season under interim coach Frank Reich.

“With Brad’s incredible gift, we are positioned to win on the field and build a bridge to a sustainable future for Stanford football,” Luck said in a statement. “The ability to support our players through new scholarships and institutional NIL will reinforce Stanford as the preeminent place in the country to be a football scholar-athlete.”

The gift is also an adrenaline shot to the tenure of Luck, who has been general manager since November 2024 (with fundraising a key part of his task), and for new athletic director John Donahoe, who was hired in July.

Stanford is seeking a full-term coach, as both the program and Reich have made clear that he will not be the coach after this interim season. This gift is a marketing boost for the job, as it shows the availability of immediate resources and the power of untapping Stanford’s network.

Stanford will honor the gift by naming both a tunnel and gate at Stanford Stadium after Freeman, who has given a wide variety of gifts to both Stanford athletics and the university. In 1988, Freeman endowed the nation’s first head coach position; the title is known as the Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football.

Freeman is also a former trustee for the school who has served on numerous advisory boards. He co-founded Freeman Spogli, a private equity investment firm, and in the statement, he said he credits his time at Stanford for impacting “the trajectory of my life” and hopes that it will help “herald a new era of excellence for Stanford football.”

Luck added: “I believe that Stanford has the opportunity to be a leading program in college football, and we are entirely motivated to field championship-caliber teams.”