Stanford Promotes Lance Anderson to Defensive Coordinator

The Stanford Cardinal football program wasted little time in filling up a void in their coaching staff.

On Friday afternoon, the school announced that Lance Anderson would be promoted to defensive coordinator, via the football team’s official Twitter page (h/t NBC Sports’ John Taylor):

The news comes just seven days after former defensive coordinator Derek Mason left to become the head coach at Vanderbilt.

Prior to the promotion, Anderson spent the last seven seasons working as an assistant for Stanford, including the last four as outside linebackers coach. He’s expected to continue handling those same duties along with his coordinator responsibilities. Per Taylor's report, head coach David Shaw said:

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Lance has worked under two of the best defensive minds in football in Vic Fangio and Derek Mason. He will continue our defensive tradition of being aggressive, being physical and setting the tone for how we play football here at Stanford University.

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Although Anderson has no experience calling the plays, he certainly knows how to make an impact on a unit.

The year before he took over the linebackers, the Cardinal ranked No. 55 against the run. In Anderson’s first season in charge (2010), he helped the team jump up to No. 19.

Stanford has ranked in the top five against the run in each of the last three seasons.

Under Anderson’s tutelage, linebacker Trent Murphy had a stellar 2013 campaign. The senior led the nation with 15 sacks and finished as the nation’s active leader in sacks with 32.5. Murphy was a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award and Chuck Bednarik Award.

The Cardinal definitely took a step in the right direction with this hire.

All stats and rankings used in this article are courtesy of CFBstats.com unless otherwise noted.

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