Frank Reich answered the phone on several occasions over the last year and a half, fielding overtures from various NFL franchises who saw him as a fit for their coaching staffs. None were the ideal fit for the former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers.
Reich told his wife, Linda, that to even consider getting back into coaching, the checklist had to be top-heavy: It simply had to be the right person and the right place. So, after the Reichs watched the Philadelphia Eagles win Super Bowl LIX in February, it provided them with a sense of closure. They opted for the next phase.
“We were moving on with our life,” Reich said.
A little more than a month later, Reich’s phone rang again. This time with a Hail Mary inquiry that he’d listen to in the halls of a Costco in Greensboro, N.C. On the other line was his former star quarterback. Suddenly, he was listening to former four-time Pro Bowler Andrew Luck, who pitched the 63-year-old Reich on a unique idea amid a tenuous situation.
Luck, who returned to his alma mater Stanford last November as the football program’s general manager, needed a short-term solution that he believed wouldn’t hinder the Cardinal’s 2025 season but could also serve as a buffer between eras. Luck announced last week that former Stanford head coach Troy Taylor had been fired, two weeks after an ESPN report detailed multiple third-party investigations into Taylor’s inappropriate behavior toward female staffers.
“It was time for a reset at the head coaching position,” Luck said. “And while perhaps the timing is nontraditional, it was the right time for this program and for us.”
So Luck needed a stopgap, and he asked Reich if he would consider taking over as Stanford’s interim head coach for the 2025 season. For the next few days, Luck joked that he walked around with all of his fingers and toes crossed while Reich thought about it. As it turned out, Luck didn’t need any luck. A week after Taylor’s dismissal, Luck and Reich sat together at a dais in Palo Alto, Calif., wearing matching Stanford pins on their blazers, and spoke of their combined desire to ensure that 2025 can be a launching pad toward a reawakening for Stanford football.
“We both agreed that this interim label does not mean a step back, it does not mean hitting the pause button, it means we’re moving forward,” Reich said. “The seeds of what a long-term vision can be planted this year as far as culture, as far as performance and as far as winning football goes … that’s our plan and that’s our objective.”
More than once during Reich’s introductory press conference Tuesday, Luck made it clear that hiring his former head coach was strictly on a one-year basis. He said Reich is “the perfect steward” for this transitional period for the football program. Luck reiterated that Stanford will hire a full-time head coach after the 2025 season.
Part of Luck’s sell to Reich was that he would limit Reich’s burden when it comes to what most college football coaches must do in 2025: recruit, look for players in the transfer portal and convince some players who’ve entered the portal to stay.
Luck is shouldering the load, while Reich’s only objective for the rest of 2025 is to coach football. Luck said his role as general manager at Stanford continues to prioritize fundraising for NIL and creating new revenue streams to keep up in this fast-paced era of college athletics.
(Photo: Emily Steinberger, AP)
