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RE: Welcome Frank Reich - martyup - 03-31-2025

Welcome coach.

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RE: Welcome Frank Reich - jacket3ree - 03-31-2025

Not that Luck was looking for it, but I approve this move, if only to salvage offensive football next season. This buys time while bringing in someone who knows how to put up some points/yards, assuming enough of the talent sticks around. Or maybe someone in the portal needs NFL finishing school for a year. Luck can openly search for a football coach without strings attached and a new AD isn't feeling hamstrung. Next year probably blows no matter what. This even saves us on the internet heartburn. It is only for the season, just like Taylor was fired 3 games in. There is a graceful exit for all parties. If April stays to keep concentrating on improvement the defense, that's a bonus. Maybe he's given an opportunity to make a case for more without being saddled with a terrible OC.

Also, I can say I am younger than Stanford's coach (barely), so that's good.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - Row80Critic - 03-31-2025

In the history of football, has any head coach been anything but 'interim'?   I don't expect a play-off birth, but I bet a nickel he does better than last year, probably with less natural talent on the field.  Taylor did Stanford a favor by forcing its hand.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - jacket3ree - 03-31-2025

True. We are all interim in one way or another. [Knock on wood for my drive back up 101 after work today.]

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - terry - 03-31-2025

It will be interesting to see whether Reich brings in a new offensive playbook. I'm sure he has lots of ideas about offense based on his NFL career. I would think he would want to use his own system. He would be able to use spring football to install his own approach.

The players and the assistant coaches, including the new offensive coordinator, Nate Byham, are familiar with Taylor's playbook. So, installing a new offensive system would cause some disruption, at least in the short run. Still, I'm guessing Reich will use his own system.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - newguy - 03-31-2025

if you're going to hire an interim coach, it might as well be Coach Reich.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - old spanish trail - 03-31-2025

Absolutely love this hire. While I remember being puzzled by his results after the Colts, if Luck likes him, so do I.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - mutoo1 - 03-31-2025

jacket3tree:  enough of what talent?

terry:  let's hope reich installs his offense, which almost certainly has to be more sophisticated than taylor's was.  unless taylor's wasn't primarily due to the lack of talent, which remains a possibility.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - Mick - 03-31-2025

Reich has a coaching tree: Reich has served under five head coaches:
Five of Reich's coaching assistants have become head coaches in the NFL or NCAA:

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - jacket3ree - 03-31-2025

Fair point on the talent.  This does have all the appearances of tearing the program completely apart and starting over, (this season is probably a lost cause) with Reich doing his friend a solid, probably without a lot of personal downside. If Stanford wins fewer than 3 games, no one is surprised. I'm sure the reaction to Reich is that he is a stand-up guy who knows offense and someone has to run practice starting tomorrow, for whomever has no other place to go. Not too many people are going to tune in this fall to see what Frank Reich can do (as opposed to say a splash Sanders hire in Boulder). But I like it. Pragmatic and patient over style and splash. I don't know if anything can move Stanford's fanbase needle, so why not go for something more foundational without being rushed. What's one more crappy season (marginally more crappy than if Luck kept Taylor another year), with the promise, not guarantee, of getting it right 6-9 months from now?

I am somewhat surprised they did not go the internal route, but that might say more about who was there internally and what Luck thinks of them.

NFL coaching can be hard to assess. So much is on the GM. Why did Pete Carroll suck with the Jets but win a Super Bowl with the Seahawks? Why did Belichick suck with the Browns but win eight Super Bowls with the Patriots? Sure, they grew over time, but the organizations have a lot to do with it too.  Why did Taylor win so many games so quickly at Sac State and suck at Stanford? Can't just be Skattebo, can it?

Still, I'm curious if Taylor was fired for cause.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - crackpot - 03-31-2025

(03-31-2025, 11:00 AM)2006alum Wrote:  
(03-31-2025, 10:51 AM)BostonCard Wrote:  I won’t know how I feel about this hire until I read Matt Squeri’s missive dissecting it in five dimensions (seriously, though, I’m looking forward to his analysis). 

BC
Same. This is not my lane. But one thing Nneka said when she made her guest appearance at Tara's class really stuck with me: unlike her college experience, in the pros you never know how long your coach will be your coach, so it's a very different kind of relationship (and note that six of twelve head coaches were fired in the W at the end of last season).

In that sense, perhaps part of Luck's pitch is this: to be pro ready means not expecting you'll always have the same coaching staff, so what you get coming to Stanford is a very experience pro coach, a very experience pro GM, and a world class education. And whoever the head coach is next season, he'll be at least as good as Reich (either he succeeds and is retained, or we find a better replacement by this time next year).

+1 

All the more reason to choose Stanford because you want a Stanford degree. If you are good enough of a player, you will be noticed. IIRC, John Elway did pretty well for himself after being on several losing Stanford teams.

lex24 - lex24 - 03-31-2025

jacket3ree dateline='[url=tel:1743458706' Wrote:  1743458706[/url]']
Fair point on the talent.  This does have all the appearances of tearing the program completely apart and starting over, (this season is probably a lost cause) with Reich doing his friend a solid, probably without a lot of personal downside. If Stanford wins fewer than 3 games, no one is surprised. I'm sure the reaction to Reich is that he is a stand-up guy who knows offense and someone has to run practice starting tomorrow, for whomever has no other place to go. Not too many people are going to tune in this fall to see what Frank Reich can do (as opposed to say a splash Sanders hire in Boulder). But I like it. Pragmatic and patient over style and splash. I don't know if anything can move Stanford's fanbase needle, so why not go for something more foundational without being rushed. What's one more crappy season (marginally more crappy than if Luck kept Taylor another year), with the promise, not guarantee, of getting it right 6-9 months from now?

I am somewhat surprised they did not go the internal route, but that might say more about who was there internally and what Luck thinks of them.

NFL coaching can be hard to assess. So much is on the GM. Why did Pete Carroll suck with the Jets but win a Super Bowl with the Seahawks? Why did Belichick suck with the Browns but win eight Super Bowls with the Patriots? Sure, they grew over time, but the organizations have a lot to do with it too.  Why did Taylor win so many games so quickly at Sac State and suck at Stanford? Can't just be Skattebo, can it?

Still, I'm curious if Taylor was fired for cause.

Wonder about that (firing for cause) as well.

I don’t know if Reich is interested in sticking around. I suppose a lot of it depends on what he thinks his NFL opportunities are and whether he wants to spend his days trying to recruit 18-year-olds. To say next year will be difficult is an understatement. But the problem is if he is in fact just a one and done, it makes it tough to install anything. Which sets the program back a few years.

I know one thing. I will not miss that Mickey Mouse offense that Taylor ran.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - Maple Leaf - 03-31-2025

Reich has experience coaching quarterbacks which I am not sure anyone else has done on the current staff. I like the hire on that part, plus assuming Reich is a good fit coaching the current set of qb's on the team it may prevent loosing the better ones to the portal.

Of course I hope for the upcoming season to be full of positive surprises on the field, but I also think Reich will help Luck in his GM roll.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - Goose - 03-31-2025

(03-31-2025, 03:05 PM)jacket3ree Wrote:  Why did Taylor win so many games so quickly at Sac State and suck at Stanford? Can't just be Skattebo, can it?
Sure it can :-).
Quote:Still, I'm curious if Taylor was fired for cause.
I am "curious" also, but I am virtually certain he was not, at least in the sense of walking away with no "package". I frankly expect he is getting his full "buyout", although maybe he settled for something less to avoid possible litigation that would make an even bigger mess. When Stanford didn't fire him immediately they put themselves in a bad situation to argue "for cause" based on those events. They would need something both more recent and "adequately" serious, which  AFAIK they don't have.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - 82lsju - 03-31-2025

(03-31-2025, 04:33 PM)Goose Wrote:  
(03-31-2025, 03:05 PM)jacket3ree Wrote:  Why did Taylor win so many games so quickly at Sac State and suck at Stanford? Can't just be Skattebo, can it?
Sure it can :-).
Quote:Still, I'm curious if Taylor was fired for cause.
I am "curious" also, but I am virtually certain he was not, at least in the sense of walking away with no "package". I frankly expect he is getting his full "buyout", although maybe he settled for something less to avoid possible litigation that would make an even bigger mess. When Stanford didn't fire him immediately they put themselves in a bad situation to argue "for cause" based on those events. They would need something both more recent and "adequately" serious, which  AFAIK they don't have.

we'll see if he shows up in a future form 990....

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - msqueri - 03-31-2025

I’d be thrilled by this if it were a permanent hire. As an interim I think it’s better than a lot of alternatives but leaves a lot of questions. It also concerns me that we are bringing in an absolute pro but in such a way that seems like it may forfeit some of the biggest advantages of bringing on a former NFL head coach - trading off his name for recruiting, leveraging his network for a high quality staff, taking advantage of the experience of having organized a big boy football operation, etc. In each case we get some of that but attenuated in each case. In other words, if you told me we were bringing in Frank Reich I’d be thrilled but having him preside over Taylor’s staff and be a short-timer makes it less sweet. I’d rather he be permanent and cleaned house. But maybe that’s coming, just in stages (get through spring and then reshuffle a bit, get through the fall and then reshuffle some more).

It occurs to me that “interim” could also be a political move by Luck to circumvent the Stanford bureaucracy. Interim avoids the time and gate keepers of the “committee” process Stanford always insists on. If Reich has some success and looks like he’s turning us around it is simpler to remove the interim tag than to hope he’s the one the committee settles on in the first place.

I hope that is the case and that he gets to operate like a real coach and not just a caretaker. In particular I do not want to see too much staff continuity. Our staff has not covered itself in glory and, even more importantly/fundamentally, if we are going to have a coach the caliber of Reich I really don’t want him saddled with coaches the caliber of what we attracted in MTL/Muir/Taylor times. I hope Reich and Luck swaps out a healthy number of our assistants for what they view to be upgrades. It doesn't all need to happen now but, ideally, Reich becomes a permanent coach and by January has his stamp on the program.

In the big picture we seem serious and that is the most important thing.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - jacket3ree - 03-31-2025

(03-31-2025, 04:14 PM)Maple Leaf Wrote:  Reich has experience coaching quarterbacks which I am not sure anyone else has done on the current staff. I like the hire on that part, plus assuming Reich is a good fit coaching the current set of qb's on the team it may prevent loosing the better ones to the portal.

Of course I hope for the upcoming season to be full of positive surprises on the field, but I also think Reich will help Luck in his GM roll.

Exactly. Best case. Luck and Reich run the program and both search together for the unicorn to take over; Luck doing the heavy lifting, Reich as a springboard. Reich remains on campus (or off) as Luck's consiglieri, imparting program and game management advice to Luck and his successor.

Worst case. They are were they would have been had Taylor driven the program one more year into the ditch.

Another possibility. Stanford does a nationwide search for Frank Reich because he kills it.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - Goose - 03-31-2025

(03-31-2025, 04:55 PM)msqueri Wrote:  It occurs to me that “interim” could also be a political move by Luck to circumvent the Stanford bureaucracy. Interim avoids the time and gate keepers of the “committee” process Stanford always insists on. If Reich has some success and looks like he’s turning us around it is simpler to remove the interim tag than to hope he’s the one the committee settles on in the first place.
It is entirely possible this is the case. An additional political reason for an "interim" tag is that Stanford is also looking for an AD, at least ostensibly. It may be "important" to many AD candidates that they get to participate in selecting the head football coach. There may also be other more concrete considerations. Reich has never been a college coach. He may want to "try it out" and see if he wants to continue doing it. He may also want to determine if Stanford is a place he wants to work "permanently". The "interim" tag gives him the flexibility to do that. At the end of the year, the answer to one or both may be "no". We have to be prepared for that to be the case. It is also possible that by next December we have another candidate that we prefer. The "interim" tag would make that simpler as well. It is also entirely possible Reich fully intends to return to the NFL in 2026. He is willing to do this for a year to keep his name "out there" and as a favor to Andrew Luck but has no intention of remaining beyond a year. It wouldn't be public if that is the case because Reich doesn't want to be a "lame duck" from day 1.
Quote:I hope that is the case and that he gets to operate like a real coach and not just a caretaker. In particular I do not want to see too much staff continuity. Our staff has not covered itself in glory and, even more importantly/fundamentally, if we are going to have a coach the caliber of Reich I really don’t want him saddled with coaches the caliber of what we attracted in MTL/Muir/Taylor times. I hope Reich and Luck swaps out a healthy number of our assistants for what they view to be upgrades. It doesn't all need to happen now but, ideally, Reich becomes a permanent coach and by January has his stamp on the program.
Ideally, that would happen. Stanford has to be prepared in case it doesn't.

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - BostonCard - 04-01-2025

Bill Walsh was 60 when he returned for his second stint at Stanford; Reich is 63.

Walsh II was largely considered to have been a failure, though Walsh went 10-3 his first year (with Denny Green’s recruits) and set the stage for Willingham to take us bowling his first two years.

BC

BC

RE: Welcome Frank Reich - JohnR34231 - 04-01-2025

(03-31-2025, 02:30 PM)old spanish trail Wrote:  Absolutely love this hire. While I remember being puzzled by his results after the Colts, if Luck likes him, so do I.

Yeah, the short version of the analysis of this hire is "In Luck we trust".
As BC says, Matt Squeri may soon appear to give us the long version.