Troy Taylor Fired by Andrew Luck as Stanford CFB HC After Investigations into Behavior

Following the revelation that Stanford head coach Troy Taylor has been the subject of two investigations into allegations of hostile behavior, the school has decided to make a change.

Stanford football general manager Andrew Luck announced on Tuesday that Taylor has been fired.

"It has been clear that certain aspects of the program need change,” Luck said in a lengthy 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."

Luck added that the search for a new head coach is already underway, though he noted that there's a possibility that an acting coach will be named.

Taylor had coached Stanford for the last two seasons after replacing David Shaw, the winningest coach in program history. The Cardinal went 3-9 in back-to-back years with Taylor at the helm. However, the 56-year-old's lack of success on the field wasn't the sole reason for his ousting on Tuesday.

ESPN's Xuan Thai reported on March 19 that Stanford commissioned an investigation in 2023 and another in 2024 after multiple employees filed complaints against Taylor, several of which alleged that he showed "aggressive and hostile behavior" toward colleagues, many of whom were women. Thai noted that the investigations determined that Taylor's behavior was "inconsistent with the standards” of Stanford, though he remained employed even after he received a warning letter after the first investigation.

Taylor responded to the ESPN report in a statement, saying: "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. I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively and collegially with my colleagues so that we can achieve success for our football program together."

Instead, Stanford will be seeking a new coach to lead the team back to prominence. The Cardinal haven't finished with a winning record since going 4-2 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.