‘Road less traveled’: Coach Troy Taylor’s rise from Folsom High to Sac State to Stanford
When Troy Taylor got the call that changed his life, he was in his Sacramento State football office in the final hours as the Hornets’ head coach.
Taylor was offered the task of leading the Stanford program, which in his college days would have been unthinkable if not outrageous. Taylor was a record-setting passer at Cal and the chief rival was Stanford, so much so that some of the most intense battles for the annual Big Game were the mascots tearing into each other.
During his introductory news conference as Stanford’s 35th head coach on Monday, Taylor reflected on that call.
“I think I did a fist pump and tried to act calm and cool,” Taylor said with a laugh. “It’s a daunting, humbling thing. It stirs me. It excites me. Talk is cheap. Now, we have to get to work.”
Taylor started work on his latest project hours after Sacramento State’s dream season came to an end late Friday night at Hornet Stadium in a 66-63 loss to Incarnate Word of Texas in an FCS playoff quarterfinal. By Saturday morning, Taylor informed the Hornets he was headed to Stanford, though the speculation was rampant by midweek when the offensive mastermind emerged as the last candidate in the running. Taylor then met with Stanford players, coaches and personnel over the weekend.
Taylor’s rise has been as remarkable as the offensive schemes he develops, all of which got him recognized nationally as a top-tier coach. Taylor was an assistant coach at Cal in the 1990s and then coached high school ball in the Sacramento region, including injecting new life at Folsom High School, where he installed a spread offense that took the region by storm.
Following a 16-0 season at Folsom in 2014 with co-coach Kris Richardson, now in the running to become Sacramento State’s next head coach, Taylor was hired as offensive coordinator at Eastern Washington of the Big Sky Conference. After one season of setting school, Big Sky and FCS passing marks, Taylor was hired as offensive coordinator at Utah of the Pac-12, where more success followed. He was hired five years ago this week as head coach at Sacramento State.
“It’s definitely been the road less traveled,” Taylor said. “If you look at where I’ve been, it’s pretty clear it had nothing to do with money or contracts. That’s pretty clear. I’ve never chased that. I love working with student-athletes, I love coaching. I love competing.”
Dressed in a dark suit, a bright red Stanford-colored tie and a white ball cap with a Stanford logo, Taylor acknowledged was handed a red Stanford with No. 1 and his last name. A moment later, he acknowledged his wife, Tracey, whom he credits for believing in him and for allowing him to chase his coaching dreams, all while raising a family. She joined him at Monday’s news conference.
Taylor turned Sacramento State around immediately, taking a team that went winless in the Big Sky Conference in 2018 and promptly going 23-1 in Big Sky games over three championship seasons. His teams were known to be prepared, in shape and daring on offense.
“The turnaround at Sacramento State is truly remarkable,” Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir said, adding that Taylor’s “name kept coming up” early in the search process.
Said Taylor a moment later, “I couldn’t be more thrilled. This is my final destination. Hopefully, it’ll be for a long time.”
He added, “There’s no other place I’d rather be. Stanford offers the opportunity to bring in the brightest and best. You say Stanford and people know what it means all around the world.”
Like he has done at all of his stops, Taylor said he will coach with a “fervent passion.” He played for throwback, yell-until-they-turn-blue coaches in high school and college — Max Miller at Cordova High and Joe Kapp at Cal — but he coaches with a heavy dose of encouragement.
“”Here, it’ll be a love for Stanford, love each other, love the coaches, love the competition, love of football,” Taylor said. “Love is the most powerful force in the world. Fear is powerful, and then there’s love, which is stronger. Love can change the world. It can change people. It can change our program.”
Taylor said he invited all of the existing Cardinal players to return to the program. He also invites the challenges of navigating the NCAA transfer portal and the NCAA’s name, image and likeness policy, which allows student-athletes to profit off who they are in college. Stanford has not been a player in either category, but will have to become one to compete.
“We’ll learn, adapt and adjust,” Taylor said. “I live in the realm of possibility. I think anything is possible. There’s no reason we can’t have incredible success here.”
Taylor said he is forever appreciative of his time at Sacramento State. He said he will root for the Hornets from here on out, except for one game. Sacramento State visits Stanford on Sept. 16.
“It was emotional to leave a place I really loved,” Taylor said. “It’s a special place to me. There’s emotional turmoil. That senior class was unbelievable. They changed the climate of that place. I’ll miss those guys.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2022 at 1:02 PM.