Cal Sports Report

Former Cal QB Troy Taylor Fired as Stanford Football Coach

Cardinal GM Andrew Luck made the decision after reports of Taylor's bullying of staff members

Jake Curtis

Troy Taylor
Troy Taylor / Zachary Taft-Imagn Images
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A week after ESPN reported that an investigation had found that Stanford head football coach and former Cal quarterback Troy Taylor had bullied and belittled female Stanford staff personnel, Taylor was fired as Stanford’s football coach on Tuesday.

The decision was made by Andrew Luck, who was named the general manager of the Cardinal’s football program in November.

"Since beginning my role as General Manager, I have been thoroughly assessing the entire Stanford football program. It has been clear that certain aspects of the program need change," Stanford football general manager Andrew Luck said in part 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. Coach Taylor has been informed today and the change is effective immediately."

Luck said an acting coach “may be named for the 2025 season,” although he did not say who that would be or the timeline for naming a permanent head coach.

Here is the entire statement:

Taylor had been the Cardinal’s head coach for just two seasons and Stanford went 3-9 in both 2023 and 2024.

No statement was made as to whether the university will have to pay Taylor for the remainder of his contract.

Taylor had previously been the head coach at Sacramento State.

Taylor was Cal’s starting quarterback for four seasons, from 1986 to 1989. His 8,126 career passing yards were a school record at the time and now rank second, behind only Jared Goff. Taylor's 51 career touchdown passes were also a Cal record at the time and now stand fourth on the Golden Bears' alltime list.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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