Welcome to the third coach candidate list. If you don't know how this works, I will link the last two coach candidate lists right below this.
https://fanspo.com/nfl/s/college_football/p/r9a69cGM-6s-Ai/my-ucla-coaching-candidate-tier-list
As I mentioned in the last list, UCLA is a difficult one to figure out. Stanford is even worse for three reasons. One: It is a private school and has to hire a coach who will recruit guys that will maintain good GPA and standards. Two: They are infamously known recently as the only school who has allowed their General Manager take full control of the coaching search instead of the Athletic Director. Their GM is former Stanford and Colts QB Andrew Luck, so expect coaches connected to Luck more than random or successful coaches. And three: Stanford is located in Palo Alto, California, their conference is the Atlantic Coast Conference all the way on the other side of the country. The expectations for the new coach would be they are fine with traveling and willing to build their practices and scheduling like a NFL coach would preparing a game on the road. Because of all of this, the list of coaches interested will be low and if they don't have a coach in mind by mid October, than they may fall to the seaside and watch the dominoes fall before picking a coach. I have eight guys who I believe is on Andrew Luck's shortlist and I expect to hear their names throughout this process.
Top Candidates
Frank Reich, Stanford (Interim HC; 2025 season only)
This is an interesting one for me to put on here. For the ones who have read my previous ones, you may noticed that I did not include the interim's on the list because I expect the schools to go in a different direction than hiring the fired coaches top assistant. Reich is in a different boat as he was not part of the previous staff, but instead was brought in from the outside and inherited someone else's staff and players and haven't really made his own changes. If Stanford goes 4-8 this season or better, there is a case for him to have the interim tag removed and him being the guy next fall, but I am unsure as of today. Reich as brings in NFL experience being a head coach for the Colts and the Panthers and was Luck's head coach for the 2018 off-season, so they have a few connections there.
Spencer Danielson, Boise State (2023-?)
I think it is safe to say, now, that this is a long shot hire. But, when Stanford made the change, Danielson was on the top of my list. A California native, had success in the G5 and may want to move up the ranks. Now, with UCLA open and Boise State fixing to move to the Pac 12 has Danielson content with not pursuing the Stanford job.
The Stanford Connection
Tavita Pritchard, Washington Commanders (QB coach; 2023-?)
The guy who got replaced by Andrew Luck. Former Stanford Quarterback, remained on staff under Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw, was later OC for them for five seasons until David Shaw's resignation and he was not retained by the new incoming staff. Went on to get hired by Ron Rivera as the QB coach and later retained by Dan Quinn and Kliff Kingsbury. The fact that he can sit down with a kid and say he coached and developed multiple QB's like Andrew Luck, Davis Mills, Tanner McKee at Stanford and Sam Howell and Jayden Daniels at the Commanders is honestly mind boggling for a private school coach who is not known for football but for academics.
Troy Walters, Cincinnati Bengals (WR coach; 2021-?)
Former Stanford Wide Receiver who was on Scott Frost's staff that went undefeated at UCF as the OC. He is well traveled coaching different places like Nebraska, UCF, Colorado, NC State, and Texas A&M and is currently the Bengals WR coach who took over same year Ja'Marr Chase was drafted. He also inherited a WR room with Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd and they formed a tripe threat for three seasons. Like Pritchard, he has never been an HC, but with the name, the resume, and returning to his alma mater, will it really matter?
Pep Hamilton, Maryland (OC; 2025-?)
The only non alum on this tier. He was Luck's last OC before he left for the NFL draft. Pep later left Stanford and joined the Colts staff as their OC reuniting him with Luck. The connections are all there and would kinda makes sense for him to be on top of this list, but the fact he is 50 with zero HC experience in college or NFL and his three year absence from coaching makes this very concerning for any other P5 AD, Luck may overlook that and see how he does with Malik Washington.
Other Candidates
Jason Beck, Utah (OC; 2025-?)
I covered him in UCLA, still could be an intriguing name this season depending on his success at Utah.
Kirby Moore, Missouri (OC; 2023-?)
Kellen Moore's younger brother, has been around for a while working with Chris Peterson and Kalen DeBoer before leaving Fresno State to be an OC in the SEC at Missouri coaching guys like Brady Cook, Cody Schrader, Luther Burden, Theo Wease, and Armand Membou. This is a fascinating name that I could see Andrew Luck having near the top of his list if the Tigers have as good of an offense, if better this season.
Ryan Walters, Washington (DC; 2025-?)
This will throw a major curve ball to any Stanford fans, donors, beat writers, journalists, or outside football fans in general. Before joining the Huskies staff, he was the head coach at Purdue and was fired after an 5-19 two season career. If you just see this, you would think that he was the worst coach out there, and you may be right, but if you had the chance to watch him you would understand that he went through his entire second season thinking this is a full rebuild, out with the old and in with the new. He fired his OC almost halfway through the season, he started calling offensive plays as a defensive guy, he started to play his redshirt freshman a lot more each game while still starting his super senior starter. He experimented way too much trying to figure out what will work for year 3 just to go 1-11 and get the door slammed in his face. He was not able to redeem himself, and now he is back as a DC. He is 39 and can have a second opportunity if he chooses, it's just when and where.
I hope you enjoyed the third installment! If you read through all of this, leave a comment and share your thoughts! I considered making a list for Kent State, but that may take me a while to work on. I will probably and make a fourth once the next coach firings happen.