Luck is going back to the place where it all started and he enjoyed unbelievable success.
Former star quarterback Andrew Luck is returning to his alma mater to become the general manager of the Stanford Cardinal football program, he told ESPN’s college football reporter Pete Thamel.
“I’m excited,” Luck told ESPN. “I think Stanford is taking an assertive and innovative step. We’re undoubtedly the best athletic department in college sports. We have to re-prove it in football, and we’re excited to be part of that challenge.”
The 35-year-old Luck, who was the signal caller for the Cardinal from 2008-2011 and also was invited to New York City as a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist, is going back “home” for this carved out position and new chapter in his life that will place him in the ultimate leadership role. The GM job will see Luck wear many hats and juggle different responsibilities, being involved in everything Stanford football related, including handling the coaching staff, player personnel staff, recruiting and roster management. So, in other words, the buck stops with him.
There is a business aspect to Luck’s new endeavor. He will be on the front line and deal with crucial components of the NCAA experience such as fundraising, sponsorships and alumni relations.
According to Luck, this idea was set in motion in October in a discussion with school president Jonathan Levin when Levin proposed that the 2012 No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts, run the football program.
Embed from Getty Images“Andrew Luck exemplifies the Stanford student-athlete,” Levin said in a statement. “I’m excited he’s returning to campus to help lead our football program and ensure that our student-athletes achieve excellence in the changing collegiate athletics environment.”
Luck has remained closely involved with Stanford since departing for the NFL. Ten years after graduating with a degree in architectural design, he went back to school and earned his master’s degree in education. During the Paris Olympics this past summer, Luck and his wife, Nicole Pechanec, who was a gymnast at Stanford, helped get the school’s beloved mascot, The Tree, to the Games to support 59 athletes representing the institution.
“I’m a product of this place,” Luck said. “Besides my folks and the friends and extended family I grew up with, Stanford, this is home for my wife and I. I’m profoundly influenced by Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw, Pep Hamilton and all the coaches and professors that I’ve ever had.”
Luck said he understands he is coming into this dream job without a lot of first-hand experience, but he is taking it on with “eyes wide open and aware of my strengths and my limitations.” However, Luck could pick up tricks of the trade from his father Oliver Luck, who a former professional football player and is an executive director of the United Athletic Conference, a new NCAA Division I FCS conference starting play in 2023 as a football-only merger of the ASUN Conference and Western Athletic Conference.
The program has a lot of work ahead of them to get back on tract and return to their glory days. Stanford has not made a bowl game and has not won more than four games in a season since 2018. This year, Troy Taylor’s team is 3-9 in their first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“I’m very thankful for what football has given me,” Luck said. “In many, many ways on many, many levels. Stanford is one of those deeper levels. There’s something about it, especially the people there. This is going to be a daunting challenge. It’s a steep climb. But I’m fired up.
“It’s going to take a whole team of people.”
