Stanford Hires Troy Taylor as Head Coach
Yes......it's happening
After much speculation and even a refuting that Troy Taylor would not be leaving Sacramento State, the news has finally broken. Stanford has tabbed Taylor to replace David Shaw as the head coach on the farm. The Cardinal are banking on Taylor’s creative offensive mind to re-elevate their program, as they turtled to a combined 10-26 record in their last three full seasons under Shaw.
Taylor notably, is a Cal alum and was the Bears quarterback from 1986-1989. He was then selected in the 4th round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the New York Jets, where he saw action in 7 games before turning towards coaching. He made his name as the head coach of Folsom High School, just outside of Sacramento where he coached the likes of former Washington quarterback Jake Browning and whose teams broke all sorts of California state passing records.
He eventually came to be the offensive coordinator at Utah, where he received mixed reviews from Utes fans over his two seasons at the helm. Taylor then came home, named the Sacramento State head coach in late 2018. The Hornets were a middling program that couldn’t find their way and Taylor injected life into it, garnering a head coaching record of 30-8, 3 Big Sky championships, and an undefeated 12-0 2022 regular season before a quarterfinal loss to Incarnate Word in the FCS playoffs.
For Cal fans, some may be wrestling with themselves at the thought of Taylor wearing red during the Big Game. Other Cal fans may wait and see just what Taylor can do at a program that has more constraints than others, combined with no prior FBS head coaching experience. Regardless, it’s one hire that will divide Cal fans right down the middle, especially when its Big Game week.
Let’s hear your thoughts.
Fire Jim Knowlton immediately.
His failure of leadership has us with a losing coach on a long contract extension, an 0-10 basketball team, and an athletic department floundering in the changing landscape of college athletics. The athletic department is in a much worse spot than when he inherited it and it’s time to let the next guy or gal clean up his mess.
I’m a huge Troy Taylor fan.
He was “my QB” when I was at Cal.
I’ve loved watching his career trajectory.
This is a hard road for him.
Shaw is a great coach who inherited a powerful program from Harbaugh... but in an era that no longer exists. Stanford Football has been in sharp decline the last 5 years due to the new college football landscape.
Shaw literally quit.
Academics, NIL, super-conferences, and the Portal will make it nearly impossible to replicate the Harbaugh/Shaw success today.
I’m actually relieved Furd didn’t just disband Football all together. That’s how tough it’s going to be. I wish Troy all the best, except for the 3rd Saturday in November.
California Football has some stability right now.
That is a blessing.
To all the haters out there, you must not understand what Coach Wilcox is dealing with.
And how tough this is to navigate.
Covid was nuisance for most of the Country... it was the Death Penalty for CAL Athletics. (Thank You City of Berkeley.)
Losing all that time and momentum was brutal. Recapturing it has been elusive. (We closed 2019 with a bright future)
But for the first time in my lifetime our Football Coach, AD, and Chancellor are all working together and have a healthy relationship. There is synergy.
That’s been unheard of at Cal since the 1950’s
Coach Wilcox is a leader.
He’s a great football coach with a great pedigree. He’s at a University that’s is uniquely challenging when it comes to academics.
He’s navigating this climate with passion and vision. He has the full support of the University. And he didn’t quit on us when other MUCH bigger programs came calling.
We have a good young team.
We’re getting some great guys back from injury.
And we’re embracing the #BearRaid again.
It’s all gonna be fine.
Best of Luck to Coach Taylor. Hope your winless streak in Big Games continues.
And Go Bears