Former Stanford coach Troy Taylor is suing ESPN for defamation, according to a lawsuit recently filed in California.
That news was first reported by the Sacramento Bee on earlier this week. The lawsuit alleges that ESPN knowingly published false information with the intent of damaging Taylor professionally.
The lawsuit follows a March 19 story by ESPN that claimed Taylor “bullied” and “belittled” female staffers during his tenure as head coach. Less than a week later, Stanford general manager Andrew Luck announced the decision to fire Taylor. ESPN’s story, written by Xuan Thai who is a co-defendant in Taylor’s lawsuit, cites copies of two independent investigations into Taylor’s behavior.
Here’s an excerpt from the Sacramento Bee’s story, which cites a copy of the lawsuit:
The lawsuit details Taylor’s causes of action against ESPN and Thai, alleging that “they made, published, and repeated defamatory statements about Taylor, knowing full well that the statements were false, for the purpose of smearing Taylor’s reputation and injuring him in his profession.”
According to the Sacramento Bee, Taylor’s lawsuit does not specify financial damages being sought.
Taylor signed an extension with Stanford in February of 2024, just over a year before he would ultimately be fired. Per the Sacramento Bee, that extension came with a big raise as Taylor had been pursued by UCLA at the time for its head coaching vacancy.
Taylor was not fired with cause, so he was still owed a buyout from Stanford. Because Stanford is a private institution, details about Taylor’s salary and buyout are not publicly known.
Stanford hired Frank Reich to serve as head coach on an interim basis for the 2025 season.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
