It turns out that Frank Reich isn’t done yet.
The former Panthers coach, who was fired before his first season in Carolina was completed in 2023, is being hired as the Stanford football program’s interim head coach for the 2025 season, the school announced Monday.
Both sides have agreed this will be a one-season agreement, according to a news release. Stanford will thereafter launch a national search for its next guy in charge.
While Reich didn’t play for Stanford, he has one strong tie to the program in particular: Andrew Luck. Luck is the newly hired Stanford football program’s general manager — and the Stanford alum spent his NFL quarterbacking career with the Indianapolis Colts, where Reich coached in 2018.
“I could not be more excited for our coaches, staff and players to have Frank as our head football coach for the 2025 season,” Luck, who was named GM on Nov. 30, 2024, said via statement. “I have experienced first-hand the incredible impact Frank has demonstrated as a leader and have full confidence he is the perfect steward for this season of Stanford Football.
“Frank is a teacher, a winner and a coach of the highest caliber. Frank’s values align seamlessly with our vision for this program, and I firmly believe in his ability to maximize the on-field potential of our student-athletes while serving as a role model in all aspects of their personal growth.”
Reich’s most recent coaching outing didn’t go well in Charlotte. The veteran coach, now 63, lost 10 of his first 11 games in Carolina before being fired by owner David Tepper. At the time of his dismissal, he told The Charlotte Observer that there was “a heart-pounding disappointment in not hitting the marks that we needed to hit to keep this going.”
When asked about the possibility of retirement, Reich wasn’t ready to say that he was finished with coaching. But he did add: “This is probably the final chapter of my NFL journey.”
Reich’s hire at Carolina was a momentous one. The NFL lifer was in many ways the opposite of Tepper’s first hire as head coach: college football star Matt Rhule. Reich arrived with instant credibility with the fan base — he was the franchise’s first starting quarterback back in 1995 — and he also assembled one of the most tenured staffs in the league. He was also part of the administration who traded up to take the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, which was subsequently spent on quarterback Bryce Young.
A struggling offense and a 1-10 start led to his early exit, however.
Reich is 41-43-1 in the NFL ranks as a head coach and was the offensive coordinator during the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2017 Super Bowl-winning season.
“I am thrilled to be working with Andrew again to help take an important step in establishing his vision for the Stanford Football program,” Reich said in a statement. “Andrew is an elite leader and competitor, and those traits, along with his genuine passion for this university, resonated in every way and inspired me to accept this role. The unique responsibility to mentor the best student-athletes in the world, to be the absolute best in what they aspire to do, is an opportunity I will fully embrace.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 10:33 AM.
The Charlotte Observer
Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned five APSE Top 10 distinctions, most recently in the Long Features category in 2024. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22.