Frank Reich isn\u2019t planning to use one year at Stanford solely as a springboard to get back into coaching in the NFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is it,\u201d the former Buffalo Bills quarterback told The Buffalo News, answering a question of whether the door is open to a pro coaching return. \u201cI\u2019m excited about this year and everything that this year is going to represent, and my goal, for me, personally, is that this year would be my most rewarding season coaching football. I\u2019m going to pour everything into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Stanford interim football coach Frank Reich listens during his introductory news conference April 1 in Palo Alto, Calif.<\/p>\n
Emily Steinberger, Associated Press<\/p>\n
Reich, of course, was Jim Kelly\u2019s understudy for most of his nine seasons in Buffalo from 1985-94. He will, of course, be forever remembered for having steered the Bills to one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history in January 1993, a 41-38 win in overtime against the Houston Oilers in a wild-card game in Orchard Park. Reich started in place of Kelly, who was injured, and threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns as the Bills rallied from a 35-3 deficit.<\/p>\n
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Reich also was an NFL coach for 18 seasons, including six as a head coach with Indianapolis and Carolina.<\/p>\n
But after an unceremonious dismissal from his last head coaching job, he was ready to experience a non-football life.<\/p>\n
That changed when one of his prot\u00e9g\u00e9s needed help.<\/p>\n
More than three decades after that magical afternoon in the AFC playoffs, Reich is trying to help Stanford football craft its own comeback.<\/p>\n
Reich, 63, finds himself in a unique position. He is the interim football coach at Stanford for the next year, filling a post that came open after the Cardinal fired Troy Taylor in March. After that, he will step aside and make way for a long-term coach to be chosen by Stanford and Cardinal general manager Andrew Luck.<\/p>\n
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Stanford football general manager Andrew Luck, left, introduces Frank Reich as the interim head coach of the school\u2019s college football team in Stanford, Calif., on April 1.<\/p>\n
Emily Steinberger, AP<\/p>\n
Reich is only weeks into his one-year job, one that came out of his working relationship with Luck, the former Colts quarterback and 2012 Stanford graduate who became the Cardinal\u2019s general manager in November. Reich coached the Colts during Luck\u2019s final NFL season in 2018 before his surprise retirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to come in here and help him fulfill his vision \u2026 to get the football program back to where it\u2019s been, and that prominence it has,\u201d said Reich, whose NFL playing career lasted 14 seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndrew will know how to do that. That\u2019s one thing. But really, the main thing to keep in mind and what I\u2019m focused on is just, \u2018How can I help this program?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I was done coaching\u2019<\/p>\n
Reich coached the Colts for five seasons from 2018-22, departing early in that final season when the team fired him after Week 9. He latched on with Carolina, expecting to bring along No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young.<\/p>\n
The Panthers fired Reich on Nov. 27, 2023, after only 11 games. But Reich quickly found diversions.<\/p>\n
He planned to enjoy spending time with his wife, Linda, his children and his grandchildren, and he was ready to devote more work with charitable foundations, including his own \u2013 kNot Today<\/a>, which has the goal of fighting and ending sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking of children.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Whether it was the quiet strength of Frank Reich, the passion of Darryl Talley or the fire of the fans in Rich Stadium, the Bills found a spark after falling behind by 32 points and rallied past the Oilers in a wild-card game victory for the<\/p>\n \u201cWe had made up our mind,\u201d Reich said. \u201cWe made the decision that I was done coaching, and ready to move onto the next phase of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Reich, though, didn\u2019t completely shut the door on a return. It had to be the right opportunity, and at this phase of both his life and his career, Reich had the right to be choosy.<\/p>\n But as he and Linda wandered the aisles of a Costco in Greensboro, North Carolina, a phone call came from Luck.<\/p>\n He certainly didn\u2019t expect Luck to ask him to be the head coach at Stanford. But that conversation quickly gave him a new decision \u2013 and then a new challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cI told him he was crazy,\u201d Reich recalled of that phone call. \u201cBut it was just crazy enough that it might make some sense to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Reich flew to northern California, met with Stanford\u2019s football and athletic staff, then spent \u201cthree to four days\u201d discussing with his wife the possibility of a return to coaching.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I made the decision to take that leap of faith, with really high expectations on how rewarding this can be,\u201d Reich said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to bring my years of experience to the program, but I also feel very strongly that I\u2019m going to get a lot out of this, personally, working with the people out here.\u201d<\/p>\n The opening at Stanford also came out of controversy. Stanford fired Taylor on March 25, following a published investigation by ESPN<\/a> into accusations of bullying and belittling female athletic staff members, and complaints from athletic department employees over hostile behavior.<\/p>\n Reich finds himself in a somewhat similar situation to that of Jim Grobe, a longtime Wake Forest coach who came out of retirement in 2016 for a one-year interim job at Baylor, which fired Art Briles in the wake of a wide-ranging sexual assault and Title IX scandal there.<\/p>\n Stanford football general manager and former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, right, hired his former coach Frank Reich, left, as the interim head coach for the Cardinal.<\/p>\n Bill Kostroun, Associated Press file photo<\/p>\n \u201cPrinciples and values and culture and taking a step forward \u2013 that\u2019s enduring, and that\u2019ll last,\u201d Luck told reporters April 1 when Stanford introduced Reich<\/a> as its interim coach in Palo Alto, California. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re feeling, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re preparing for. Frank\u2019s here, the staff\u2019s here. We\u2019re doing something that will last in many ways.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I have deep conviction that this will work.\u201d<\/p>\n The plans for Stanford<\/p>\n Stanford\u2019s football hasn\u2019t had a winning record in a full season since 2018, when David Shaw coached the Cardinal to a 9-4 mark and a win in the Sun Bowl against Pittsburgh. Stanford was 4-2 in a Covid-19-shortened 2020 season, but has finished 3-9 in each of the last four years.<\/p>\n Reich\u2019s first goal is to stabilize the program. Stanford fired Taylor after two seasons, and the firing \u2013 a decision Luck made in the wake of the ESPN report, which detailed the accusations against Taylor and investigations into Taylor\u2019s behavior, as well as NCAA rules infractions \u2013 came less than four months after Luck became Stanford\u2019s general manager Nov. 30.<\/p>\n Reich first leans on Luck\u2019s vision for the program. Luck will handle everything from fundraising to business operations and roster management, with the aim of bringing Stanford football back to national prominence.<\/p>\n
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