Frank Reich details how he can focus long-term success as interim head coach

The Stanford Cardinal had a difficult offseason, being forced to make a late coaching change. In the end, general manager Andrew Luck brought in a coach he was familiar with from his time in the NFL, with Frank Reich taking over as the team’s interim head coach.

Now, Reich is in a difficult situation for 2025. He needs to find success and set Stanford up for the long term, while only having one season to do so. That challenge is something he addressed at the 2025 ACC Football Kickoff.

“That’s a great question,” Frank Reich said. “And I don’t — I think those two can go together, right? I think they always do go together. We do have goals for this season, and they’re clear to each one of us what those goals are, but we also understand the way you plant seeds for long term success is get the process right and get the people right.”

Reich has spent his entire coaching career in the NFL to this point, starting in 2006 as an intern with the Colts. Along the way, he’d make quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach, and offensive coordinator. Then, in stints with the Colts and Carolina Panthers as a head coach, he put together a record of 41-43-1. Stanford is his first college job. Now, he’s leaning on that experience to help at Stanford.

“Like I said, we have the right people, starting with these guys and some transfers we got in and the rest of the team that was there, and now it becomes a question of us together, players and coaches, committing to a process that can be the foundation for long-term success. You’ve got to create a championship culture before you can really win the championships. So sometimes the results, you see the results right away, and sometimes times they lag. There’s no given. There’s no absolutes in this world as far as you can’t be promised that you’re going to see those right away,” Reich said.

“But what makes me feel like we’re going to see the results this year is because of the right kind of people who have laid the foundation, how hard these players have worked this off-season. I’ve seen that. I’ve watched it. I’ve seen the progress we’ve made in the weight room in every way possible off the football field.”

Stanford was forced to make this change in March. That was when previous head coach Troy Taylor was fired amid accusations that he bullied and belittled female staffers within the program. The timing was awkward, and because of that, Frank Reich and his staff are now playing from behind.

“Then as far as putting in new schemes and preparing for the season in that way,” Reich said, “In the short time we’ve had, I’ve just seen an incredible amount of progress and I’m excited to start competing against some other people.”

Frank Reich is, for now, only set to be with the program for one season. However, he could leave an important stamp on Stanford. The first game he’ll coach comes in Week 0, on August 23rd, on the road against Hawaii.