The news of the investigations made it untenable for Taylor to continue for several possible reasons --
- It's just awfully hard to withstand this much bad publicity, and it became evident that the story wasn't going to go away.
- Stanford's image has taken a hit, which was going to get worse if Stanford kept Taylor.
- The damage to Taylor's reputation is probably irreparable, which could have killed our recruiting.
- There may have been pressure from major donors.
- The players may have turned against Taylor. (This is speculation, not fact.)
- There may have been additional problems with Taylor's behavior that surfaced since this issue became public. (More speculation.)
- The new regime (Levin, Martinez, Luck) may not have fully known or appreciated the whole story until this week. They may have discovered more about it over the last week.
- It's just awfully hard to withstand this much bad publicity, and it became evident that the story wasn't going to go away.
- Stanford's image has taken a hit, which was going to get worse if Stanford kept Taylor.
- The damage to Taylor's reputation is probably irreparable, which could have killed our recruiting.
- There may have been pressure from major donors.
- The players may have turned against Taylor. (This is speculation, not fact.)
- There may have been additional problems with Taylor's behavior that surfaced since this issue became public. (More speculation.)
- The new regime (Levin, Martinez, Luck) may not have fully known or appreciated the whole story until this week. They may have discovered more about it over the last week.