Former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett has emerged as a finalist to become Stanford’s next football coach, according to The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel.
Garrett and Sacramento State coach Troy Taylor are reportedly the two finalists to become the football coach at Stanford, per Mandel. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Taylor visited the school earlier this week while Garrett made a visit in the latter portion of the week.
Some other candidates who interviewed for the job but are no longer in consideration include former BYU and Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall, Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman and former Broncos head coach Vic Fangio.
Garrett, who last served as the Giants offensive coordinator from 2020 to ’21, spent this fall serving as an analyst for NBC’s broadcasts of Notre Dame football games. Prior to accepting the broadcasting role in April, Garrett was in the running to become Duke’s football coach last season, before the Blue Devils decided to hire Mike Elko.
The 56-year-old last served as head coach during his time with the Cowboys from 2011 to ’19. In Dallas, Garrett went 85–67. After his Cowboys tenure, Garret served as the offensive play caller for the Giants for the entire ’20 season before being fired 10 games into the 2021 season.
Stanford begun holding interviews for its next coach shortly after former Cardinal coach David Shaw resigned on Nov. 27 following the program’s loss to BYU to end the regular season. Shaw served as Stanford’s coach from 2011 to ’22 and became the winningest coach in Stanford history with a 96–54 overall record.
However, in the past four seasons, the program dropped significantly under Shaw’s leadership.Stanford has not appeared in a bowl game since 2018 and posted a losing record in three of its last four seasons. Over the past two seasons, Stanford is 6–18 and 3–15 in conference.
