Stanford football underwent a lot of changes this offseason in all areas of the program. In addition to adding several new players via the transfer portal and recruiting, the Cardinal also enters the 2026 season with a new coaching staff, led by first-year head coach and Stanford alum Tavita Pritchard. 

With coaches who have extensive experience in Power Four college football and the NFL now in place, the hope is that the new coaches can bring out the best in the players and create a culture at Stanford that leads to the program being immediately successful. But it takes a village to succeed and it may take a while for everything to fully come together.

Pritchard's hiring was pivotal and the most impactful of them all, with Stanford bringing in a guy who understands what it means to be a Cardinal inside and out. But Pritchard made some hires to his staff that really turned heads and showed how serious he is about producing immediate results.

Let's get the obvious one out of the way. Richard, a longtime NFL assistant known for his stint with the Seattle Seahawks, is a defensive mastermind and played a big role in developing the Seahawks' Legion of Boom Super Bowl-winning defense.

Now, Richard takes over a Cardinal defense that has struggled in recent seasons, especially against the passing game. Coming to The Farm with a very strong resumé, Richard is the type of coach that can change a culture.

Special teams is often overlooked, but a good special teams unit can make all the difference in the world. They put a team in better field position, shortening the field for themselves, while pinning the opponent further back from the end zone. In the battle of field position, the special teams unit is the difference-maker. 

Last season, Stanford as a whole was among the nation's worst teams, ranked at No. 112 (out of 136 FBS programs) in ESPN's final college football SP+ rankings of 2025.

Kaczor, who spent the previous two seasons as an analyst at Kansas State, has extensive NFL experience and has turned teams' special teams units into some of the league's best. If Kaczor works his magic at Stanford, the Cardinal should have better opportunities ahead. 

Mosley is the youngest coach on staff at 30, but his strong resumé as a college football star at Alabama and a rapid rise in the coaching ranks there proved that he was the right man for the job at Stanford.

With the Cardinal struggling to get to the quarterback in recent seasons and not having a player record double-digit sacks in a season since 2017, Mosley comes in ready to revitalize a group that has seen better days.

A two-time national champion while playing linebacker at Alabama and having NFL experience with the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals, Mosley knows what it takes to be great and will instill that same mentality in his position group at Stanford.

Once a quarterback factory earlier in the 21st century, churning out future NFL stars such as Andrew Luck, Davis Mills and Tanner McKee, the Cardinal has not received good quarterback play recently, struggling with either inconsistencies or injuries at the position.

But Lindgren, a longtime offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the Power Four level, has had a lot of success in developing quarterbacks, overseeing a major leap in play from Aidan Chiles last year at Michigan State despite the program finishing 4-8.

The Cardinal brought in former Michigan starter and sixth year veteran Davis Warren to run the show this year. With Lindgren and Warren working together, the expectation is that the QB room will take a big step forward in 2026.