On the eve of the final game of another lost season, Stanford announced its head coach “for the future.” It was a name from the past: Tavita Pritchard, who played quarterback for the Cardinal at the dawn of the glory years and served as offensive coordinator during the fade to irrelevance, took the keys as the 37th coach in program history.
He will be introduced at a news conference Tuesday morning.
The appointment ended an eight-month search that seemingly could have been wrapped up in days. Pritchard was the frontrunner from the start — a friend and former teammate of Stanford general manager Andrew Luck well-versed in the university’s peculiarities. He was a safe pick. A predictable pick. A pick so inside the box that he is the box.
None of which means Pritchard was the wrong pick.
Stanford won an Orange Bowl and two Rose Bowls by being predictable, after all. Pritchard can win — and perhaps win big — if given the resources necessary.
We’ll get to that component in a moment. First, let’s address the risk factor, because it’s substantial for any school that appoints a first-time head coach, particularly a first-time head coach who has only worked for two teams.
After graduating, Pritchard spent more than a decade on Stanford’s staff in various capacities. When David Shaw stepped down after the 2022 season, Pritchard headed to the NFL and landed a job coaching quarterbacks for the Commanders. (His boss in Washington: current Cal GM Ron Rivera, who is busy hiring a head coach himself.)
What’s more, Pritchard has never designed or deployed his own offense — Shaw ran the show at Stanford throughout his tenure — and that adds an element of the unknown.
But the risk here is entirely with Luck, who led the hiring process and turned to someone he has known for decades. They share a vision. They know the institution. But outsiders have worked at Stanford. (Hello, Jim Harbaugh.) How many coaches were interviewed? Did Luck plan to hire Pritchard all along?
Regardless, the dynamic is wholly appropriate given that Pritchard’s success depends largely on the resources Luck provides and the cohesion with central campus that Luck fosters.
If the administration is properly aligned on staff salaries and revenue sharing and admissions and support personnel and external NIL, the football program can thrive in the ACC. As with any Stanford endeavor, success is entirely about willpower.
Also, the timing is right for Pritchard. With Florida State and Clemson floundering, there’s opportunity galore in the ACC. Virginia finished first this season, with Georgia Tech and Duke one game back, as the hierarchy flipped and SAT scores took their revenge.
That’s where Luck enters the chat. It appears he has the full support and backing of president Jonathan Levin and provost Jenny Martinez. That support, in turn, should create a permission structure for the football program:
— To spend approximately $14 million on revenue sharing annually and galvanize constituents to provide millions in external NIL, a critical piece of the talent acquisition and retention process.
— To make shrewd use of the transfer portal and accept an occasional 300-pound defensive lineman from the SEC, rather than serving solely as a destination spot for graduate students from MIT.
— To lure top-tier coaching and support staffs. Just as bringing Vic Fangio aboard was Harbaugh’s masterstroke, Pritchard’s most important hire will be the defensive coordinator.
— To double down on high school recruiting and identify overlooked prospects who can blossom into all-conference talent. Stanford will supplement its roster with transfers, but high school recruiting must remain the foundation.
If these steps are faintly familiar, well, the circle has come full on The Farm.
Stanford is as irrelevant now as it was when Pritchard set foot on campus nearly 20 years ago. The challenges were different back then. There was no portal, no NIL — at least, no legal NIL — and certainly no transfer portal. (Also, Stanford wasn’t crisscrossing the country for conference games.)
But with a supportive president (John Hennessy), a football-savvy athletic director (Bob Bowlsby) and a head coach who would not settle for mediocrity (Harbaugh), the Cardinal climbed out of the gutter and spent nearly a decade on the national stage.
Then institutional indifference took hold, just as it did in the early 2000s, with one difference: Changes across the college sports landscape in the post-COVID era, particularly to the player procurement process, accelerated Stanford’s downturn. Rock bottom arrived before anyone with the authority to solve problems realized there was something wrong.
All of which makes Luck this era’s Bowlsby and Pritchard the modern equivalent of Harbaugh. They are completely different personalities from the originals, of course, and far less accomplished in their roles.
But like their predecessors, Luck and Pritchard are wholly dependent upon each other for success and working with a receptive administration.
Given how far Stanford has fallen, failure is not an option.
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