Dan Grunfeld to Serve as Stanford Football's Honorary Captain vs. Elon

Stanford football is facing Elon at home this week, hoping to get back into the win column and salvage its season. It may have just gotten a nice motivation boost. New Stanford basketball general manager Dan Grunfeld will serve as the honorary captain for the football game, announced by the program on Wednesday.

Grunfeld will be honored all day long. He will speak to the team in the locker room before kickoff, join the game captains at midfield for the coin toss, watch the game from the sideline and more. He also is a Stanford alum, who played basketball on The Farm from 2002 to 2006, making his selection that much more meaningful.

Grunfeld was hired as the general manager of the basketball program earlier this month. He will oversee all basketball operations including recruiting, roster construction and NIL. Grunfeld is set to serve as an assistant coach under Kyle Smith as well. The program has not appeared in the NCAA tournament since 2014, something he hopes to change.

Grunfeld was a standout player for Stanford. In his breakout junior season, he led the team in scoring (17.0 points per game) but tore his ACL in February of that year, forcing him to sit out the remaining nine games. Still, his strong season earned him first-team All-Pac-10 honors, and he came back as a cornerstone player his senior season. 

After his college career ended, he went undrafted in the 2006 NBA Draft and played professionally overseas until 2014. Grunfeld played for EWE Baskets Oldenburg in Germany, Aguas de Valencia Gandia Bàsquet and CB Valladolid in Spain, Bnei Hasharon, Hapoel Holon, Hapoel Jerusalem and Bnei Herzliya in Israel. When he retired from playing, he went back to Stanford to receive his MBA and began a career in tech shortly after.

Grunfeld's love for basketball never left, contributing to his return to the game this season. The Cardinal lost important pieces from last season, notably freshman sensation Ebuka Okorie, but are bringing in a top-tier recruiting class this season. With the class headlined by forward Aziz Olajuwon, son of NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, a freshman takeover could be coming to Stanford.

Grunfeld replaces former general manager and associate head coach Eric Reveno, who left to take the head coaching job at Brown. In his lone season as the general manager in 2025-26, the Cardinal won at least 20 games for the second straight season and qualified for the College Basketball Crown postseason tournament. 

The Cardinal play two exhibition games this month before tipping off their season on Nov. 2 against Eastern Washington at Maples Pavilion. The first exhibition game is on Oct. 17 on the road against Santa Clara, and the second one is on Oct. 25 on the road against Oregon. The game against Oregon will be broadcast live on Big Ten+. 

Stanford begins conference play on Dec. 30, taking on Notre Dame on the road. After that, it will face Louisville on Jan. 2 followed by a home game against Virginia on Jan. 6.