Stanford aided by Andrew Luck's 'incredibly strong relationship' with Frank Reich

Andrew Luck and Frank Reich spent one season together in 2018 with the Indianapolis Colts. The next season, Luck unexpectedly retired from the NFL, and then in 2022, the Colts fired Reich.

They have since reunited. Luck's post-NFL path took him back to Stanford, where he now serves as the general manager of the football program. One of his first moves was the task of replacing Troy Taylor, who was fired by Stanford. That's when that connection with Reich came back into play.

Recently speaking at the 2025 ACC Football Kickoff, Luck explained his thought process when it came to asking Reich to be Stanford's interim head coach for this season.

“I think, from my subconscious, like, Coach Reich and I have had an incredibly strong relationship. We only, you know, played one season, I played one season for him as a head coach but we’re very tight. I think we grew love, mutual respect, everything. I mean, he helped me be a better version of myself as a football player on and off the field. I want to say it was reciprocity where I was helping him be a better head coach and all that,” Luck explained (h/t On3). “So, he was like, my first call, maybe beside my wife, to like, check.”

Luck checked in on his former head coach, and that led to Reich flying out to California to meet with Stanford president Jonathan Levin and even Condoleezza Rice — the former United States Secretary of State and current director of Stanford's Hoover Institution. 

That led to Reich taking the job, at least for this season.

“Life is full of many journeys and experiences,” Reich said at the 2025 ACC Football Kickoff (h/t On3). “I think that’s what we’re all looking for, to learn and grow all the time. I just feel like after many years in the NFL, playing and coaching, when Andrew called and said. ‘Will you help us out this year?’ First, I was a little bit hesitant. But then I came out and just realized I’ve experienced a lot of things in my life in the football world, but I’ve got an opportunity to coach Stanford. This is a unique place.”

While Reich may have been initially hesitant to take the job, he revealed that he's ended up drinking the "Kool-Aid" and he feels he can bring something to the Stanford program.

The Cardinal are heading into their second season in the ACC and are coming off four straight 3-9 seasons. They're a far cry from the once-dominant program they were when Luck was the quarterback, but Reich believes he can help turn things back around for Stanford.

“The other reason I said yes to Andrew was I know I’ve got something to offer. I’ve got something to offer to help Andrew. I’ve got something to offer to help these guys. So, as we come in to kind of kick this new era of football off, we started with here’s the standards that we’re gonna live by and we’re gonna play by. We’ve got to all commit to these and we’re gonna put our brand of football out there,” Reich said. “And we’ll let people see what that’s gonna be. We’ll let our talk on the field show what it’s gonna be, but I’m extremely optimistic about the progress we’re gonna make in the 2025 season.”