Stanford GM Andrew Luck Fires Football Coach Troy Taylor One Week After Bullying Investigations Made Public

Stanford is looking for a new football coach after general manager Andrew Luck announced Tuesday that Troy Taylor had been fired. 

After a report surfaced last week from ESPN stating that Troy Taylor was the focus of two separate investigations that centered around the football coach bullying and belittling female staffers within the athletic department, a decision was made to move on from the head coach. 

According to reporting and documents obtained by ESPN, Troy Taylor was the focus of two investigations led by outside law firms, looking into accusations that the coach made ‘inappropriate’ comments about a female's appearance, along with also trying to have a compliance office fired after being warned that he was violating multiple NCAA rules. 

The first investigation into Taylor started after ‘multiple employees’ filed complaints with the school saying that they were the recipients of aggressive and hostile behavior from the head coach, along with personal attacks. The investigation started in the Spring of 2023, according to ESPN. 

Andrew Luck Announces Firing Of Troy Taylor, Which Is A First

But, after discussing the investigation, and obviously receiving feedback from alumni, Stanford general manager Andrew Luck released a statement announcing the firing. 

"Since beginning my role as General Manager, I have been thoroughly assessing the entire Stanford football program," Luck said in a social media statement. "It has been clear that certain aspects of the program need change. 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."

This is the first time in college football history that a general manager has publicly announced the firing of a head coach. But, welcome to the new era of college athletics. 

Now, just a week later, the school announced that a decision had been made to fire the head coach. Troy Taylor was entering his third season as the Stanford head coach, with consecutive 3-9 records over the past two seasons.

Now, Stanford is looking for a new head coach at the worst possible time. For the players, they will have a 30-day window to transfer, while the school also determines if they will hire a permanent coach, or go the interim route. 

This will be an interesting coaching search for a team that just completed its first year in the ACC.