Stanford's Frank Reich Will Be Sharing Play-Calling Duties

On Monday morning, Stanford football hosted their Week Zero press conference, ahead of their Saturday matchup against Hawaii. The Cardinal had representatives head coach Frank Reich, recently named QB1 Ben Gulbranson, and outside linebacker Tevarua Tafiti.

A number of topics for the season at large were discussed in the media availability, but one of the most important was Reich’s announcement about Stanford's play calling duties in 2025. He stated that he would share play calls along with offensive coordinator Nate Byham.

Reich is coming in as a first year interim head coach for the 2025 football season. After spending years in the NFL as a quarterback, Reich went the coaching route, where he led the Indianapolis Colts, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers (San Diego at the time), and the Philadelphia Eagles, all as positional coaches. He also won the Super Bowl as the offensive coordinator of the Eagles in 2016-2017.

Reich returned to the Colts in 2018, where he became the head coach for five seasons, going 41-43-1 with two playoff appearances. He then went to the Carolina Panthers where he spent 11 games as the head coach before getting fired after a 1-10 start.

He now is spending a year on The Farm as an interim head coach along with good friend and former coach-teammate partner, Andrew Luck. Luck himself is a legend at Stanford.

Byham, on the other hand, has spent years coaching at the college level. From 2014-2022, he was on the coaching staff at the University at Albany. He began as a voluntary assistant, but over time, was promoted to tight ends coach/run game coordinator, followed by associate head coach/co-offensive coordinator/offensive line.

In 2023, Byham got a spot with the Cardinal as the tight ends coach. He is now in his third year on the staff, and has been promoted to offensive coordinator for the upcoming season.

The pleasure of having Reich, an NFL mind, and Byham, a college mind, together, should help the program get the most out of the options available to them. In addition, the offense will likely run through the tight end this season, due to Byham’s time as the coach of the position group and Sam Roush being an upperclassmen.

To make matters better, tight end Roush, who could end up being Stanford’s most dynamic offensive weapon in 2025, should feast this season after a successful 2024.

Overall, this is an interesting, semi-unexpected move, but certainly presents some intrigue heading into the first game of the season. With many successful minds that have spent decades on the sidelines, from the Super Bowl to college football, Reich and Byham will work great as a team and could be the play-callers to a fun, dynamic offense for the Cardinal.