Andrew Luck brings unique qualifications to the tough task of reviving the Stanford football program

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Andrew Luck quoted Ernest Hemingway, rattled off Latin phrases and talked about how his new job as general manager of Stanford’s football program compared to facing a Bill Belichick-coached defense in the NFL.

There might not be anyone more suited than Luck to balance the divergent worlds of big-time football with the values of a university as prestigious as Stanford. That might make him the ideal pick to help shepherd the Cardinal program into the modern era of college football.

“This amazing place that has, like any institution, its own sort of quirks and culture,” Luck said last week. “Part of why I’m here is because, I understand a lot of it and lived it as an undergrad and grad student and love it. It holds deep, deep meaning for me.”

The task won’t be easy for Luck and now includes a search for a new head coach after he made the decision on Tuesday to fire Troy Taylor following a report last week that he had allegedly mistreated staffers.

ESPN reported last week that Taylor had been investigated twice since taking over before the 2023 season over allegations of hostile and aggressive behavior, as well as personal attacks, against female staff members.

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Both investigations determined that Taylor’s treatment of employees, particularly of women, was inconsistent with Stanford’s standards, according to ESPN.

“It has been clear that certain aspects of the program need change,” Luck said in a statement Tuesday. “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.”

The Cardinal are coming off their fourth straight 3-9 season and are nowhere near the levels they reached in Luck’s time as a player from 2009-11 and in the immediate years after that when Stanford was one of the powers on the West Coast.

The program has slipped in recent years and now must navigate the travails of competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a smaller share of the revenue pie after Stanford was nearly left without a viable conference following the recent realignment.

Those are issues Luck must address in his new role, along with raising money and bringing in the talent to help the Cardinal get back to the heights they reached under coach Jim Harbaugh and early on in coach David Shaw’s tenure.

“I certainly want to believe I sell this place as good as anybody around football,” Luck said. “I lived it, and I know it’s authentic when I talk about Stanford and what this place can be for development of a young man, of a football player academically, socially. I certainly believe deeply in this place.”

Luck was hired last fall by new school President Jonathan Levin as general manager of the football program. Luck reports directly to Levin instead of to the athletic director. The Cardinal are searching to fill that role as well after Bernard Muir announced his decision to step down earlier this month.

Luck is back in a more public role for the first time since his abrupt retirement from the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL just weeks before the start of the 2019 season. He moved back to the Stanford area in 2022 with his wife, Nicole, and earned a Master’s degree and served as a volunteer coach at nearby Palo Alto High School.

Luck has been in his new job for less than four months and is trying to balance the various responsibilities of selling the program to the public, raising money, energizing the student body and helping bring in high-level players.

“I don’t know what that balance is right now,” Luck said. “It’s a little bit of whack-a-mole in some senses, which is to be sort of expected in any new job, especially entering a new job with an incredible sea of change.”

Stanford was slow to embrace the new era of college football with unlimited transfers and players able to make money through NIL deals. Luck said Levin’s commitment to change was the reason he was willing to take on the challenge.

The Cardinal took in 12 transfers during the winter portal period and are committed to taking part in revenue sharing with players if a court settlement is approved next month.

Previous administrations at Stanford haven’t always been as committed to big-time athletics, but Luck sensed a notable change under Levin, who took over last year.

“We are wading into a new era of college sports, which means things have to change,” he said. “It can’t be a toe dip and test the waters out. There’s a level of commitment. And that’s what I felt from President Levin.”

Luck said the immediate goal for the program is to make a bowl game for the first time since 2018 and win it. Luck said the proof that Stanford can do that lies in the NFL, where more than 30 players who ended their college careers with the Cardinal appeared in a game last season.

That’s a number more on par with more traditional powers like Southern California, Miami, Florida State and Texas A&M than a three-win program. He wants to be able to bring in the type of players who seek a top education but have aspirations to star in the NFL, like former players such as himself, Christian McCaffrey, Richard Sherman and Zach Ertz.

“We are still different, especially with our academic integrity and the values associated with it,” Luck said. ”I know that there are incredibly bright kids out there that are also really good football players and that this is the school for them.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football