Frank Reich reveals why he took Stanford job, explains initial hesitance

The Stanford Cardinal enter the 2025 season with an interim head coach in Frank Reich. A longtime NFL figure, making the jump to college was a difficult one for Reich, but now one that he’s incredibly excited about.

At the 2025 ACC Football Kickoff, Reich explained both how he was approached by the program’s general manager, Andrew Luck. He also explained that while it wasn’t initially something he was sure about, he’s all-in on Stanford now.

“Life is full of many journeys and experiences,” Frank Reich said. “I think that’s what we’re all looking for, to learn and grow all the time. I just feel like after many years in the NFL, playing and coaching, when Andrew called and said. ‘Will you help us out this year?’ First, I was a little bit hesitant. But then I came out and just realized I’ve experienced a lot of things in my life in the football world, but I’ve got an opportunity to coach Stanford. This is a unique place.”

Frank Reich was briefly the Indianapolis Colts head coach when Andrew Luck was the quarterback there. Luck, of course, being a Stanford legend, was his entire connection to the school, which is unique in many respects from other big-time college football programs. Getting on campus, though, Reich is now all-in on Stanford.

“I’ve been there for three months and I’ve drank the Kool-Aid,” Reich said “And it is different. It is different in the best of ways. The culture there is different. The people. It’s really a unique place. Really, for me, where it was about the experience of coaching the student-athlete. The Stanford student-athlete. Guys like that are sitting right over here to my left that I knew would make me better. Make me a better coach, a better person.”

Frank Reich is a native of Pennsylvania who played his college football at Maryland. He’d spend his entire coaching career in the NFL, 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.

“The other reason I said yes to Andrew was I know I’ve got something to offer. I’ve got something to offer to help Andrew. I’ve got something to offer to help these guys. So, as we come in to kind of kick this new era of football off, we started with here’s the standards that we’re gonna live by and we’re gonna play by. We’ve got to all commit to these and we’re gonna put our brand of football out there,” Reich said. “And we’ll let people see what that’s gonna be. We’ll let our talk on the field show what it’s gonna be, but I’m extremely optimistic about the progress we’re gonna make in the 2025 season.”

Stanford was put in a difficult position this offseason when previous head coach Troy Taylor was fired in March. That came amid accusations that he bullied and belittled female staffers within the program. He left with a 6-18 record in two seasons there. He also put Luck and the Cardinal in a tough spot, making a hire incredibly late in the offseason cycle.

Frank Reich will look now to leave his mark on the program as an interim head coach. He takes over ahead of Stanford’s second ACC season. Their first game, meanwhile, is scheduled for August 23rd on the road against Hawaii.