Tavita Pritchard introduced as 37th head coach of Stanford Football
Tavita Pritchard was formally introduced as the 37th head coach of Stanford football on Tuesday, December 2nd. Pritchard talked about his faith, Samoan heritage, and the deep roots he has at Stanford going back to his playing days. It’s clear that Stanford means a lot to Pritchard and that he along with general manager Andrew Luck is determined to get Stanford football back to the level that it was at before.
VIDEO: Tavita Pritchard Introductory Press Conference
MESSAGE BOARD: Tavita Pritchard Introductory Press Conference Hub
While he has never been a head coach before, Pritchard expressed confidence in his ability to lead this program along with the help of Luck. The two of them both acknowledged that there will be bumps along the way and Luck admitted he factored into the equation Tavita’s lack of head coaching experience.
At the end of the day, what really mattered more than anything was Pritchard’s love of Stanford, his commitment to building something special on The Farm, and just the kind of person that he is. When you hear Pritchard talk, it’s clear that he’s somebody that truly cares about Stanford and values the Stanford experience. That’s something that set him apart from the rest of the candidates and made him a logical choice for the job.
Something that’s pretty cool is Prichard is the third active college football head coach that is Polynesian (Kalani Sitake at BYU & Ken Niumatalolo at San Jose State). He talked a lot about his Samoan heritage and how much pride he takes in that. Given how many talented football players are Polynesian, that’s a recruiting pipeline that Pritchard should really be able to tap into.
One thing that really stood out to me was Pritchard emphasizing the importance of getting the offensive line back to where it needs to be. Offensive line was probably the biggest issue Stanford had during the decline of the David Shaw years. If Stanford had been playing 7-on-7 football, they actually would have been quite good. But with a weak offensive line, they weren’t able to maximize the talents of guys like Tanner McKee, Michael Wilson, and Brycen Tremayne. The fact that Pritchard highlighted that is notable.
Overall, there were a lot of good vibes. Pritchard and Luck clearly have a great relationship going back to their playing days together. They both love Stanford and desperately want to get this program back to where they feel it should be. It’ll be interesting to see how Pritchard and Luck go about forming the coaching staff, who stays, who gets replaced, and how they go about establishing a winning identity. As they said today, getting The Axe back is just the start.
Note: Cardinal Sports Report has you covered for all the latest news on Stanford as they begin the Andrew Luck era.
Join Cardinal Sports Report today for $1 for the first week and enjoy a complimentary year of The Athletic – included with your membership.
Don’t miss out on this great offer!
Sign up here: https://www.on3.com/sites/cardinal-sports-report/join/
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Bluesky: @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), YouTube, & Bluesky: @slamdunk406
Email: [email protected]
Join the conversation on CardinalSportsReport.com
