The Stanford Cardinal have named Tavita Pritchard of Tacoma, Washington as their new head coach. Pritchard replaces Frank Reich of Freeport, New York. Reich had been the Cardinal interim head coach since March 31, 2025.
Quarterbacks coach with the Washington Commanders
Pritchard had spent the last three seasons as the quarterbacks coach of the Washington Commanders. In that time, Pritchard has been working closely with quarterbacks Sam Howell of Waynesville, North Carolina, Jayden Daniels of Fontana, California, and Marcus Mariota of Honolulu, Hawaii. It was a magical season for Daniels in 2024. That is because he was the Offensive Rookie of the Year, selected to the Pro Bowl, and set the NFL record for most rushing yards in a season by a rookie quarterback with 891. Ironically, it was a Washington quarterback that held the previous record. Robert Griffin III of Okinawa, Japan had the old record as he had 815 rushing yards with the Washington Redskins during the 2012 NFL season.
In the last three seasons with Pritchard as the Commanders quarterbacks coach, Washington has a record of 19 wins and 26 losses for a winning percentage of .422. The Commanders struggled in 2023 with a record of four wins and 13 losses. At the time, the Commanders fired Ron Rivera of Fort Ord, California, and replaced him with Dan Quinn of Morristown, New Jersey, who had previously been the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator. In 2024, the Commanders reached the NFC Championship after having a regular season record of 12 wins and five losses. Then in 2025, with an elbow and ligament injury to Daniels, Washington only won three of 11 games.
Pritchard’s previous time with the Cardinal
Pritchard, who is 38 years old, has a rich history with the Cardinal. He was the Stanford quarterback for four seasons from 2006 to 2009, and was part of the Washington coaching staff from 2010 to 2022. Pritchard held the roles of volunteer assistant, defensive assistant, running backs coach, quarterbacks coach, wide receiver coach, and offensive coordinator. This is Pritchard’s first job ever as a head coach.
Cardinal this season
Stanford only had a record this season of four wins and seven losses in 11 games. It is interesting that Pritchard takes over from Reich, who had quarterbacking experience in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills, Panthers, New York Jets and Detroit Lions. Reich orchestrated a magical comeback while quarterbacking Buffalo in the 1993 NFL postseason. Buffalo was down 35-3 to Houston before winning 41-38 in overtime.
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