Former Stanford coach Troy Taylor filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday against ESPN and one of its reporters over a March investigative story that led to his dismissal.<\/p>\n
The suit, filed in the Northern District of California, alleges that reporter Xuan Thai published \u201crepeated defamatory statements about Taylor, knowing full well that the statements were false, for the purpose of smearing Taylor\u2019s reputation and injuring him in his profession.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Athletic obtained a copy of the complaint, which the Sacramento Bee first reported.<\/p>\n
General manager Andrew Luck fired Taylor, who was Stanford\u2019s coach for two seasons, six days after ESPN\u2019s March 19 report.<\/p>\n
That story alleged Taylor \u201cbullied and belittled female athletic staffers,\u201d citing a pair of previously undisclosed third-party investigations in 2023 and 2024 after \u201cmultiple employees filed official complaints regarding Taylor\u2019s behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor\u2019s complaint alleges a follow-up story ESPN published a month later said Stanford\u2019s initial investigation began \u201cin response to a single complainant who alleged gender bias and \u2018a culture problem in football,\u2019\u201d and that the investigator found \u201cinsufficient evidence\u201d regarding the original complaint.<\/p>\n
The actual April 16 article contained that language but also noted the investigation ultimately included interviews \u201cwith at least 20 Stanford athletic department staffers regarding four allegations against Taylor. Three of the allegations regarding belittling and inappropriate behavior toward multiple women were deemed to have merit.\u201d<\/p>\n
ESPN did not retract its original story. An ESPN spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
Luck, Stanford\u2019s former All-American quarterback, took over as general manager in November and became Taylor\u2019s direct boss at the time. A person briefed on the decision to fire Taylor told The Athletic in March that Luck knew some details of Taylor\u2019s situation with the school before accepting the GM job and received a briefing once he started.<\/p>\n
He did not take action, however, until the ESPN report came out just ahead of spring practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been clear that certain aspects of the program need change,\u201d Luck said in a statement at the time. \u201cAdditionally, in recent days, there has been significant attention to Stanford investigations in previous years related to Coach Taylor. After continued consideration it is evident to me that our program needs a reset. In consultation with university leadership, I no longer believe that Coach Taylor is the right coach to lead our football program.<\/p>\n
Taylor, 57, led Sacramento State to FCS playoff appearances in each of his three seasons. Stanford\u2019s then-athletic director Bernard Muir hired him in December 2022, after consecutive 3-9 seasons and the subsequent departure of longtime coach David Shaw. Taylor went 3-9 in each of his two seasons as well.<\/p>\n
After Taylor\u2019s dismissal, Luck hired Frank Reich, his former Indianapolis Colts coach, as Stanford\u2019s interim coach for the 2025 season, with the condition Reich would not be a candidate for the permanent job.<\/p>\n
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