Stanford GM Luck confirms firing of Taylor following investigations

Troy Taylor's time with Stanford is over.

Program general manager Andrew Luck told The Athletic the Cardinal have fired their head coach after two seasons.

“It has been clear that certain aspects of the program need change,” Luck said in a statement. “Additionally, in recent days, there has been significant attention to Stanford investigations in previous years related to Coach Taylor. After continued consideration it is evident to me that our program needs a reset. In consultation with university leadership, I no longer believe that Coach Taylor is the right coach to lead our football program.”

The move comes in the wake of an ESPN report that revealed that Taylor had been the subject of two third-party investigations into his conduct with female staffers. The investigations concluded that bullied staffers and remarked on a staffer's appearance.

"I willingly complied with the investigations, accepted the recommendations that came out of them, and used them as a learning opportunity to grow in leadership and how I interact with others," Taylor said in a statement earlier this month. "I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively and collegially with my colleagues so that we can achieve success for our football program together."

Taylor, 56, joined the Cardinal ahead of the 2023 season, coming over from Sacramento State where he had spent four years and won three Big Sky Championships.

In two seasons with Stanford, Taylor led the team to an overall mark of 6-18. The Cardinal went 3-9 in 2024, including 2-6 in conference play in their first ACC season.

A quarterback in his playing days at California, Taylor appeared in five games over two seasons with the New York Jets in 1990 and 1991.