04-01-2025, 09:28 PM
Reactions:
* The key words Luck seemed to want to emphasize in his opening statement: interim, steward, teacher, winner, coach of the highest caliber, role model, mentor. Much more to say below about how these seem to fit a clear vision for Luck but I do think that's the main point, that Luck has a vision and he sees Reich as fitting perfectly for it.
* Luck is such a compelling, genuine person. Not a reaction to this specific press conference any more than every other time he speaks, just worth noting. A little bit more specific to this presser is that Luck seemed especially joyful to be bringing Reich on board. Almost had a ring of "I can't believe I got this lucky." I hope he does feel that genuinely thrilled about Reich as the interim coach and I hope he's right about how this fits the vision.
* Slightly surprised Luck consulted notes so much during his opening remarks. He's always so polished and confident. Makes me think he was slightly more nervous than usual or at least really wanted to get the toplines/talking points out there. Since press conferences are mostly useful for quotes this has no different practical effect than being totally off-the-cuff, just something I was somewhat surprised about at the outset.
* I can't pretend to know/calibrate Reich's tone/emotions because this is the first I'm paying attention to him as the coach of one of my teams but at first blush he seemed a bit amped and even emotional. Came across a bit as being on a bit of a high diving into something he expects to be a passion project. He tried to put that into words, I think, with the story about his daughters' incredulity he was doing this and how his mission is to make this season the most rewarding of his career. By the way, when I hear him talk about how rewarding he expects this to be I think of the great Tom Hanks speech in A League of Their Own about how the hard is what makes it great. He probably views Stanford football as a total dumpster fire and the idea of trying to reclaim it to advance his friend's vision and legacy is exactly what draws him to this. And of course thinking that he can do it.
* Reich's key words for Luck are competitor and vision. Unsurprising but helps home in on the crux of this relationship and why they're teaming up again.
* Took me a bit aback to hear Reich start off the "crystal clear" objectives talking first about coming in and working with the coaches. It seems like a big part of this is mentorship and stewardship of Taylor's old staff. This is odd to me because if that is indeed a priority it would suggest that, unless Luck is an idiot (which I don't think he is), there's some thinking that this coaching staff is still worth investing in. That is at least somewhat odd in the context of an interim coach ostensibly to be followed by a new coach. Is Luck's vision that a good chunk of the staff will still be around in 2026? I have a lot of questions about that if so.
* The second objective is helping Luck fulfill his vision to bring Stanford football back to prominence. This was interesting to me because one could imagine more touchy feely objectives - and indeed at other points they talked about coaching the whole person and such - but this was a hard-nosed argument that Luck brought Reich in to advance a vision of winning and that's what drew Reich (the line about coming because they agreed the interim label does not mean a step back or hitting the pause button but rather moving forward). It's probably foolhardy to put win/loss expectations on Stanford football at this stage, but this sounded like an expectation of winning. It doesn't sound like Reich is coming here to win 4-5 games. It's a good thing if Luck and Reich's own expectations and standards are higher than the outside world's but it's worth noting that being anywhere near "prominence" in 2025 would shock the world. I guess there can be some wiggle room about what Reich means by the seeds being planted but the bottom line is Luck and Reich expect forward movement this year.
* The third objective was Reich's own personal growth and helping the players grow. Always love it when an accomplished old dude talks about the learning and growth they can do. None of us are ever finished and the best of us know that. And clearly Luck views Reich's suitability as a mentor/leader of young men as a major calling card.
* I take the answer on not seeing a big transition from the NFL to college on its face and basically agree. As I've chronicled at length, the NFL to college transition tends to go pretty well. Reich clearly knows football and knows how to coach. The second part of that answer about the job being attractive because Luck will take on so much of the other parts of the job is more fraught. Very understandable and unsurprising sentiment but I do think we have to worry a bit about leaning on Luck too much or at least the possibility that having to focus too much on _____ (take your pick: recruiting, fundraising, liaising with university stakeholders, media, negotiating NIL, operations, travel, community relations, etc.) will take his eye off other things. If it becomes the case that we really need Luck to focus intensively on one of those things other things will suffer. This seems like almost a given with recruiting. For one, you can't just substitute out head coach engagement on the recruiting trail. The head coach is allowed on the road and in making certain contact in a way Luck isn't, yet we apparently are going to take that off Reich's plate and make it more of an expectation for Luck. Some things just won't get done. I think in some areas, with recruiting the one I'm probably most worried about, "not taking a step back or hitting the pause button" may end up being an empty talking point. If Reich isn't doing things other than coaching the coaches and players, he isn't really a full head coach. In some sense we may be waiting for a coach without the interim label to have a full head coach.
* Others have raised a similar question about how compelling we can be to recruits if the head coach has an expiration date before the recruits even get to campus. I think the 2026 class will likely be a lost year though of course hope I am wrong about that. This may help us understand just how much the Stanford recruiting proposition is about the school rather than the coach or even a particular vision for the program. Then again, the Taylor years were lost years in recruiting so maybe we can maintain that level and then improve in 2027.
* The bit about having other options to go back into coaching in the NFL but deciding to move on after the Super Bowl until he got the call from Luck - the right person at the right place - is a nice talking point. No idea what level of options he had though suspect they weren't NFL head coach. This is a pretty unique fit, fortunately for us.
* Props to the 16 year old Sports Illustrated guy showing up in person and doing some journalism. Reich's answer was the second time early in the press conference he indicated the impression his conversation with Levin, even just 15-20 minutes, made on him. Levin a big deal for the football program as I think most here understand.
* I noted Luck talking about coming up with a way to move forward that was best for the players....and for the coaches. Really a surprising chunk of this press conference had the vibe of doing right by the coaches. That doesn't sit right with me. College football coaches sign up to work for a head coach and when the head coach fails the assistants get a bit untethered. That's unfortunate for them but it's the profession. If we were driven at all by a desire to maintain continuity for the coaches that's not really the hard-nosed competitive instinct I want to see. Luck may be having this impulse at the same time as thinking that continuity is what is best for the team in 2025, which may or may not be a rationalization. I hope we genuinely believe - and have valid reason - that the assistant coaches are good and it's a good model for 2025 to have them on board with Reich just swapping in for Taylor. My inclination is that Reich is a categorically higher caliber of coach than Taylor and we are forfeiting a lot of the benefit of getting an NFL head coach if we aren't going to have him select a staff his caliber of coaching enables. If we go into the season with just Taylor's staff that doesn't seem optimal to me.
* I think the rest of that answer was very revealing into Luck's mindset and speaks to what was really going on in his mind, which is that I think he calculated that an interim coach with as much continuity from the previous staff as possible is the best way forward because we want to win this season. The anecdote about telling Jay Green that we aren't tanking for the first pick was great, and the idea Luck referenced that we have seniors in their last season of football is an admirable and resonant thought for anybody running a college sports program. I think Luck couldn't bring himself to strip the program down to the studs and start over. I suspect this speaks to a genuine belief Luck had in what Taylor and Co. were doing. I fear that belief may have been misplaced and he's now doubling down too much on a coaching staff that hadn't delivered anything in two years. But it sure will be an interesting experiment to layer an NFL pro on top of that and to, hopefully, excise all the toxic stuff.
* The key words Luck seemed to want to emphasize in his opening statement: interim, steward, teacher, winner, coach of the highest caliber, role model, mentor. Much more to say below about how these seem to fit a clear vision for Luck but I do think that's the main point, that Luck has a vision and he sees Reich as fitting perfectly for it.
* Luck is such a compelling, genuine person. Not a reaction to this specific press conference any more than every other time he speaks, just worth noting. A little bit more specific to this presser is that Luck seemed especially joyful to be bringing Reich on board. Almost had a ring of "I can't believe I got this lucky." I hope he does feel that genuinely thrilled about Reich as the interim coach and I hope he's right about how this fits the vision.
* Slightly surprised Luck consulted notes so much during his opening remarks. He's always so polished and confident. Makes me think he was slightly more nervous than usual or at least really wanted to get the toplines/talking points out there. Since press conferences are mostly useful for quotes this has no different practical effect than being totally off-the-cuff, just something I was somewhat surprised about at the outset.
* I can't pretend to know/calibrate Reich's tone/emotions because this is the first I'm paying attention to him as the coach of one of my teams but at first blush he seemed a bit amped and even emotional. Came across a bit as being on a bit of a high diving into something he expects to be a passion project. He tried to put that into words, I think, with the story about his daughters' incredulity he was doing this and how his mission is to make this season the most rewarding of his career. By the way, when I hear him talk about how rewarding he expects this to be I think of the great Tom Hanks speech in A League of Their Own about how the hard is what makes it great. He probably views Stanford football as a total dumpster fire and the idea of trying to reclaim it to advance his friend's vision and legacy is exactly what draws him to this. And of course thinking that he can do it.
* Reich's key words for Luck are competitor and vision. Unsurprising but helps home in on the crux of this relationship and why they're teaming up again.
* Took me a bit aback to hear Reich start off the "crystal clear" objectives talking first about coming in and working with the coaches. It seems like a big part of this is mentorship and stewardship of Taylor's old staff. This is odd to me because if that is indeed a priority it would suggest that, unless Luck is an idiot (which I don't think he is), there's some thinking that this coaching staff is still worth investing in. That is at least somewhat odd in the context of an interim coach ostensibly to be followed by a new coach. Is Luck's vision that a good chunk of the staff will still be around in 2026? I have a lot of questions about that if so.
* The second objective is helping Luck fulfill his vision to bring Stanford football back to prominence. This was interesting to me because one could imagine more touchy feely objectives - and indeed at other points they talked about coaching the whole person and such - but this was a hard-nosed argument that Luck brought Reich in to advance a vision of winning and that's what drew Reich (the line about coming because they agreed the interim label does not mean a step back or hitting the pause button but rather moving forward). It's probably foolhardy to put win/loss expectations on Stanford football at this stage, but this sounded like an expectation of winning. It doesn't sound like Reich is coming here to win 4-5 games. It's a good thing if Luck and Reich's own expectations and standards are higher than the outside world's but it's worth noting that being anywhere near "prominence" in 2025 would shock the world. I guess there can be some wiggle room about what Reich means by the seeds being planted but the bottom line is Luck and Reich expect forward movement this year.
* The third objective was Reich's own personal growth and helping the players grow. Always love it when an accomplished old dude talks about the learning and growth they can do. None of us are ever finished and the best of us know that. And clearly Luck views Reich's suitability as a mentor/leader of young men as a major calling card.
* I take the answer on not seeing a big transition from the NFL to college on its face and basically agree. As I've chronicled at length, the NFL to college transition tends to go pretty well. Reich clearly knows football and knows how to coach. The second part of that answer about the job being attractive because Luck will take on so much of the other parts of the job is more fraught. Very understandable and unsurprising sentiment but I do think we have to worry a bit about leaning on Luck too much or at least the possibility that having to focus too much on _____ (take your pick: recruiting, fundraising, liaising with university stakeholders, media, negotiating NIL, operations, travel, community relations, etc.) will take his eye off other things. If it becomes the case that we really need Luck to focus intensively on one of those things other things will suffer. This seems like almost a given with recruiting. For one, you can't just substitute out head coach engagement on the recruiting trail. The head coach is allowed on the road and in making certain contact in a way Luck isn't, yet we apparently are going to take that off Reich's plate and make it more of an expectation for Luck. Some things just won't get done. I think in some areas, with recruiting the one I'm probably most worried about, "not taking a step back or hitting the pause button" may end up being an empty talking point. If Reich isn't doing things other than coaching the coaches and players, he isn't really a full head coach. In some sense we may be waiting for a coach without the interim label to have a full head coach.
* Others have raised a similar question about how compelling we can be to recruits if the head coach has an expiration date before the recruits even get to campus. I think the 2026 class will likely be a lost year though of course hope I am wrong about that. This may help us understand just how much the Stanford recruiting proposition is about the school rather than the coach or even a particular vision for the program. Then again, the Taylor years were lost years in recruiting so maybe we can maintain that level and then improve in 2027.
* The bit about having other options to go back into coaching in the NFL but deciding to move on after the Super Bowl until he got the call from Luck - the right person at the right place - is a nice talking point. No idea what level of options he had though suspect they weren't NFL head coach. This is a pretty unique fit, fortunately for us.
* Props to the 16 year old Sports Illustrated guy showing up in person and doing some journalism. Reich's answer was the second time early in the press conference he indicated the impression his conversation with Levin, even just 15-20 minutes, made on him. Levin a big deal for the football program as I think most here understand.
* I noted Luck talking about coming up with a way to move forward that was best for the players....and for the coaches. Really a surprising chunk of this press conference had the vibe of doing right by the coaches. That doesn't sit right with me. College football coaches sign up to work for a head coach and when the head coach fails the assistants get a bit untethered. That's unfortunate for them but it's the profession. If we were driven at all by a desire to maintain continuity for the coaches that's not really the hard-nosed competitive instinct I want to see. Luck may be having this impulse at the same time as thinking that continuity is what is best for the team in 2025, which may or may not be a rationalization. I hope we genuinely believe - and have valid reason - that the assistant coaches are good and it's a good model for 2025 to have them on board with Reich just swapping in for Taylor. My inclination is that Reich is a categorically higher caliber of coach than Taylor and we are forfeiting a lot of the benefit of getting an NFL head coach if we aren't going to have him select a staff his caliber of coaching enables. If we go into the season with just Taylor's staff that doesn't seem optimal to me.
* I think the rest of that answer was very revealing into Luck's mindset and speaks to what was really going on in his mind, which is that I think he calculated that an interim coach with as much continuity from the previous staff as possible is the best way forward because we want to win this season. The anecdote about telling Jay Green that we aren't tanking for the first pick was great, and the idea Luck referenced that we have seniors in their last season of football is an admirable and resonant thought for anybody running a college sports program. I think Luck couldn't bring himself to strip the program down to the studs and start over. I suspect this speaks to a genuine belief Luck had in what Taylor and Co. were doing. I fear that belief may have been misplaced and he's now doubling down too much on a coaching staff that hadn't delivered anything in two years. But it sure will be an interesting experiment to layer an NFL pro on top of that and to, hopefully, excise all the toxic stuff.