After Stanford’s 3-9 season, their 4th in a row without making a bowl, Coach David Shaw resigned. Despite his 3 Pac-12 Championships and 2 Rose Bowl wins, it feels like the game passed him, and it was time for Stanford to move into the future. So, who’s next for the Cardinal? Here are five candidates that I think would be good at Stanford.
1. Jason Garrett
Historically Stanford has hired coaches with NFL experience, and other than Bill O’Brien (more on him later), there is nobody with as much experience as Jason Garrett. The former Cowboys quarterback and later head coach finished with an 85-67 record with three first-place NFC East crowns over his ten years in Dallas. Since his firing, Garrett became an analyst at NBC, working for Notre Dame games and the USFL. Garrett did apply for the Duke job last year but lost out to Mike Elko. Garrett doesn’t have any college experience, but he is an experienced head coach with a solid football mind.
Jason Garrett to Stanford? ? pic.twitter.com/ZKshJ9borp
— PFF (@PFF) December 8, 2022
2. Troy Taylor (Sacramento State)
Down the road from Stanford, Troy Taylor has rebuilt Sacramento State into one of the best teams in one of the best conferences in the FCS. Since being hired in 2019, Taylor won the Big Sky in all three seasons (Sacramento State didn’t play in 2020), including an undefeated season this year. He leads an exciting offense, which has the Hornets into the FCS Quarterfinals, with a chance to win their first FCS championship. Before he took over at Sacramento State, Taylor was an offensive coordinator at Utah, so he does have some Pac-12 experience.
3. Bill O’Brien (Alabama OC)
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Historically Stanford has hired coaches with NFL experience, and there aren’t any candidates with more experience than Bill O’Brien. O’Brien led the Houston Texans from 2014-2020, with a record of 52-48, with 4 AFC South Championships, and a 2-4 playoff record. His coaching ability was never a problem, he didn’t have issues until O’Brien became the manager. Before his time with the Texans, O’Brien rebuilt Penn State after the Sandusky scandals, finishing with respectable 7-6 and 8-5 records despite numerous sanctions. Since 2021, O’Brien has been disappointing as the Alabama Offensive Coordinator, and like Greg Roman, could voluntarily leave before he gets fired.
4. Willie Fritz (Tulane)
Willie Fritz helped rebuild Tulane from irrelevancy and took them to their first bowl win in 16 years and first Conference Championship in 24 years. Fritz wouldn’t be a flashy hire, but he is a great coach with plenty of head coaching experience. He also understands the difficulties of recruiting for a school like Stanford. Fritz applied and was initially rumored to be the head coach of Georgia Tech which has similar GPA requirements to Stanford. Despite his inconsistencies in the past, Fritz has been a winner everywhere he’s gone and could revive another dead program.
5. Troy Walters
Troy Walters was a Stanford wide receiver from 1996-1999 who today is the Cincinnati Bengals wide receivers coach. After carving out a seven-year career in the NFL, Walters hopped into coaching in 2009. He spent one year as Indiana State’s Offensive Coordinator before bouncing around power five schools as a receivers coach. He got his big break in 2016 when he was hired as UCFs Offensive Coordinator. He led their elite offense with Scott Frost in 2017 and moved to Nebraska before going to the Bengals. Walters has never been a head coach before but would be an excellent offensive mind and receiver recruiter at Stanford.
