Lance Taylor (born July 17, 1981) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He is the head football coach at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

, a position he has held since the 2023 season.

Playing career

Taylor was a walk-on wide receiver for

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

from 1999 to 2002, where he played under four different head coaches -

Mike DuBose Michael Lynn DuBose (born January 5, 1953) is an American football coach, most recently serving for Opp High School in Opp, Alabama. His most recent college coaching experience was serving as defensive line coach for the University of Memphis. Du ...

Dennis Franchione Dennis Wayne Franchione (born March 28, 1951), also known as Coach Fran, is a retired American football coach. He is the former head football coach at Texas State University, a position he held from 1990 to 1991, when the school w ...

, Mike Price, and

Mike Shula Mike Shula (born June 3, 1965) is an American football coach who is the senior offensive assistant coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). A graduate of the University of Alabama, he was the school's head football coa ...

. He eventually would play in 38 consecutive games as a wide receiver and earn a scholarship. As a senior, Taylor was a special-teams captain. Taylor played professional football for the

Colorado Crush The Colorado Crush were an arena football team based in Denver, Colorado. They began play as a 2003 Arena Football League expansion team. The Crush played in the Central Division of the American Conference until the Arena Football League suspen ...

and

Columbus Destroyers The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fol ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

, and the

Green Bay Blizzard Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

and the

Louisville Fire The Louisville Fire was an arena football team that played its home games at the Brown-Forman Field in Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. They were a 2001 expansion team of the af2. Their owner/operator was former Pro Bowl lineman and Louisv ...

of the

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

. An ACL injury ultimately ended his playing career. The reconstructive procedure was performed by

Dr. James Andrews James Andrews (born May 2, 1942) is an American orthopedic surgeon. He is a surgeon for knee, elbow, and shoulder injuries and is a specialist in repairing damaged ligaments. Practicing in Gulf Breeze, Florida, Andrews has become one of the bes ...

Coaching career

Stanford

Taylor served as the running backs coach for

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

from 2014 through 2016. During his tenure he coached

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

runner-up

Christian McCaffrey Christian Jackson McCaffrey (born June 7, 1996) is an American football running back for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Stanford and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers eighth overa ...

and All-Pac-12 running back

Bryce Love Jonathan Bryce Love (born July 8, 1997) is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Stanford and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, although he ...

. His team won the 2016 Rose Bowl and the 2015 Pac-12 Football Championship. During the 2015 season, Taylor was named the Running Backs Coach of the Year by FootballScoop.com.

Notre Dame

Following two years in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

, Taylor was named running backs coach for Notre Dame in 2019. The team made the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

in 2020 and also made an appearance in the

2020 ACC Championship Game The 2020 ACC Championship Game was a college football game played on Saturday, December 19, 2020, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. This was the 16th ACC Championship Game and determined the 2020 champion of the Atlantic Coast Conferen ...

. Following the 2020 season, he was promoted to run game coordinator.

Louisville

Despite rumors that Taylor would be retained by Notre Dame following the departure of Brian Kelly, it was announced that Taylor would be leaving the Fighting Irish to become Louisville's next

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

under coach

Scott Satterfield Fredric Scott Satterfield (born December 21, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati. Satterfield previously served as the head football coach at the Universi ...

Western Michigan

On December 8, 2022, Taylor was hired as the 17th head football coach at

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

Personal life

Taylor is from

Mount Vernon, Alabama Mount Vernon is a town in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Mobile metropolitan area. It incorporated in 1959. At the 2020 census the population was 1,354. Geography Mount Vernon is located in the northeast corner of Mobil ...

, where he graduated from Citronelle High School as class

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in the United States, Armenia, and the Philippines to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is tradi ...

. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management in 2003 from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

. He is married to his wife Jamie and has two children, Jet his son, and daughter Jemma. Taylor's father, James, played for

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

at Alabama, where he was a member of three SEC and one National Championship teams. In 2015, he was named to the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame. Taylor is a member of the

MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians is a state-recognized tribe, located in southwest Alabama, with a population largely based in southern Washington County and some membership in northern Mobile County. The term ''MOWA'' is a portmanteau of Mobil ...

, a state-recognized Native American tribe in

. As of December 2022, he is the only NCAA Division I head football coach who is Native American.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Western Michigan profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Lance 1981 births Living people American football wide receivers Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Alabama Crimson Tide football players Carolina Panthers coaches Louisville Cardinals football coaches New York Jets coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football coaches People from Mobile County, Alabama Coaches of American football from Alabama Players of American football from Alabama