Three observations from Troy Taylor's first press conference as the Stanford head coach

Stanford's new head coach addressed the media for the first time

Author:
Kevin Borba
Publish date:
Dec 12, 2022 3:55 PM EST

In this story:

Every Stanford fan, player, and media member around the country waited anxiously for Monday at 11 to come.

It marked the first time that we got to hear from Stanford's new head coach, Troy Taylor. The now former Sacramento State head coach is tasked with guiding Stanford into the modern era of college football. Despite the immense success that David Shaw had as the head coach before Taylor took over, his inability to adjust to the changes around him ultimately led to his downfall as the head coach at Stanford.

Taylor on the other hand is widely viewed as an offensive minded guru, and made it known when speaking to the media that change is imminent. While it is pretty hard to lose the opening interview, I would say that Taylor absolutely crushed his first outing as the Stanford head coach.

I took away three key observations, so let's dive in!

Loyalty to the players

Sep 6, 2019; Tempe, AZ, USA; Sacramento State Hornets head coach Troy Taylor against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium. — Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Despite knowing the players on the roster and recruits committed to the program for at most, two days, Taylor made sure to welcome that every single player on the roster last year or expected to be next year, has a spot. He emphasized this multiple times, and may have even been taking a shot at Colorado's new head coach Deion Sanders, who essentially told the entire Colorado team to hit the portal. I've yet to hear someone have a negative thing to say about Taylor, and he genuinely seems like he cares about what is in the best interest in the players.

It will be his offense

Tempe, AZ, USA; Sacramento State Hornets head coach Troy Taylor against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium. — Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

While some people like myself just assumed he would be calling the offense, there was a thought process by others that he will allow someone else to call plays and transition into a CEO role. That is not the case with Taylor, who said he will be calling the plays and that the offense will be dynamic and extremely aggressive. Taylor's offense is predicated on taking calculated risks to get the ball to the playmakers in open space, which makes for an exciting brand of football. Also, his offense which put up 63 points in his final game at Sac State should be one that entices more recruits to consider Stanford.

Willingness to use the transfer portal

Berkeley, California, USA; Sacramento State Hornets head coach Troy Taylor kneels on the sideline during the second quarter against the California Golden Bears at FTX Field at California Memorial Stadium. — Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

One of the biggest questions about the future of Stanford's football program was how it fits in a world full of players moving everywhere thanks to the transfer portal. Taylor assured that changes in those aspects will happen, explaining that is how people evolve. He did make sure to say that the transfers will need to be good fits for the program, but I definitely took his statements as they will be using the transfer portal the best they can.