STANFORD — The last time Stanford’s football program was searching for a coach to get it out of a rut, tapping the FCS ranks proved to be the right path.
“The potential here at Stanford is huge,” Taylor said. “They’ve done it. They’ve had great success here. I think you got to adapt and adjust.” Stanford went 4-8 in 2019 and then had back-to-back 3-9 records the last two years after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. “There’s players out there that fit that bill,” Taylor said. “You just got to reach out a little bit further and travel a little bit more miles and all those things. I’ve been assured that they’re open to bringing players in through the transfer portal as long as they fit the identity of Stanford.”
Athletic director Bernard Muir referenced the success of Harbaugh and Bill Walsh as past great Stanford coaches without a pedigree of high-level head coaching success when they took over.“His name kept coming up,” Muir said. “The more research you did and then when you actually got the chance to get in front of them, you realize his passion and his energy is exactly what we needed in order to take the program, hopefully back to where we once were and hopefully even beyond.
Now it’s off to recruiting before the early signing period next week. Taylor said he already told every player on the team and recruit who had verbally committed to Stanford that they have a place on the roster.