STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Tavita Pritchard's first few months after being hired to coach Stanford's football team have been spent recruiting a roster, hiring a staff and helping raising money in hopes of turning the Cardinal back into a winning program.
Pritchard finally got to spend time on Wednesday doing what he really loves, coaching his team on the field as Stanford kicked off its first spring practice under its new coach.
“It feels good to be back on the grass,” Pritchard said. “With all the stuff that I've done since I've been here, between portal and recruiting and talking to different donors, friends of the program, all those different things. This is a sanctuary out here to be on the back on grass and coaching ball and going through this process with our guys. Because obviously, this is where we make our hay. This is where really learn how to go, learn how compete and strengthen our connection.”
Pritchard doesn't have an easy task, taking over a team that went 4-8 last year under interim coach Frank Reich and a program that hasn't even won five games in a season since 2018.
A program that had become a West Coast power at the end of Pritchard's playing career and during his early years as an assistant on The Farm, has been one of the least successful in the country the past seven years.
Stanford went 24-54 since 2019 for the worst record of any power conference team in a descent that started when Pritchard was an assistant under coach David Shaw and continued in two seasons under Troy Taylor and last season with Reich.
But with the hiring of Andrew Luck as general manager before the start of last season and an increase in fundraising, Pritchard is being counted on to get the program closer to the level where it was in the end of Jim Harbaugh's tenure and the early years with Shaw.
He knows it's not an easy process.
“Football is a different sport in that we practice way more than we play games,” he said. “So this has to be everything for us and how we practice and how we compete out here. It really is just laying the groundwork for how we can practice, how we could compete at the highest level possible.”
The Cardinal have lots of new faces, including at quarterback after 2025 starter Ben Gulbranson used up his eligibility and backup Elijah Brown transferred to Washington.
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Stanford added a potential starter in the portal, bringing in Davis Warren from Michigan. Warren was a backup on the national title winning team for the Wolverines in 2023 and started nine games the following season. He threw for 1,199 yards with seven TDs and nine interceptions but also end the 2024 season with wins in the rivalry game against Ohio State and the bowl game against Alabama.
Warren tore his ACL in the bowl and spent last season rehabbing at Michigan but now has a fresh start at Stanford.
“I think that’s one thing that you've seen from early on is just that the role he’s already taken on as a leader in our locker room,” Pritchard said. “I told our guys, the more leadership we have, the stronger leadership that we have, the more guys doing it, the better we’ll be as a team. It only helps to add yet another guy who will take on a role in leadership.”
Warren said he was attracted to Stanford because of the experience that both Pritchard and Luck have playing quarterback. He said they both told him the biggest improvement for a quarterback comes between the first and second year of playing.
Warren didn't get the opportunity last season when he was hurt but is ready to take those lessons he learned playing at Michigan to Stanford. He said improving his footwork and trusting himself to become more decisive are the key areas of improvement.
He has spent the past few months studying the new offense and has even had the chance to talk to NFL star Jayden Daniels about how it operated in Washington when Pritchard was quarterbacks coach the past three seasons.
“It’s QB friendly,” Warren said about the system. “I think that term gets thrown around a lot. But that means just simplified, but with answers. Not simplified, where you don’t have an answer, and you have to go run around and make a play. You trust what he’s coaching and where to put your eyes and all that stuff and you’re going to have answers to whatever the defense gives.”
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