Tavita Pritchard (born February 20, 1987) 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 who is the

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

, where he was also an assistant coach from 2010 to 2022.

High school career

Pritchard graduated from

Clover Park High School Clover Park High School (CPHS), located in Lakewood, Washington, is one of two secondary schools within the Clover Park School District. History The high school was established in 1938 due to the rapid expansion of nearby military posts at F ...

Lakewood, Washington Lakewood is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 63,612 at the 2020 census. History Lakewood was officially incorporated on February 28, 1996. Historical names include Tacoma/Lakewood Center and Lakes Distric ...

, where he threw for 5,323 yards and 55 touchdowns in his high school career.

College career

Pritchard received his first start at Stanford in 2007 against top-ranked

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, after starter T. C. Ostrander suffered a seizure the week before. Though Stanford was a 41-point

underdog An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...

, Pritchard led Stanford to an improbable 24–23 victory and earned the starting job. Pritchard was replaced as the starting quarterback by redshirt freshman

Andrew Luck Andrew Austen Luck (born September 12, 1989) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. One of the most highly touted amateur prospects during his c ...

during the 2009 season. After Luck injured a finger on his throwing hand and had surgery prior to the 2009 Sun Bowl, Pritchard started the game for the Cardinal. He went 8 for 19 for 118 yards and two interceptions in the 31–27 loss to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. Pritchard went undrafted in the 2010 NFL Draft. In May, he participated in a rookie minicamp with the San Francisco 49ers, but was not offered a contract.

Coaching career

Stanford

Pritchard worked as a volunteer assistant for the Stanford football team in 2010, and in 2011, was hired as a defensive assistant football coach at Stanford by new head football coach David Shaw. In January 2013, Pritchard was elevated to the role of running backs coach. In December 2013, he was promoted to quarterbacks and wide receivers coach, succeeding Mike Sanford. In December 2017, Pritchard was promoted to offensive coordinator when

Mike Bloomgren Michael Scott Bloomgren (born January 25, 1977) is an American football coach. He is currently the head football coach at Rice University. Prior to beginning his coaching career, Bloomgren played the tight end position at Culver–Stockton Colle ...

left to become head coach at

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

Washington Commanders

Pritchard joined the

as a quarterbacks coach in February 2023.

Personal

Pritchard's father David was a starting center at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

in 1981 and an uncle is former NFL quarterback Jack "The Throwin' Samoan" Thompson. He is third in a family of eleven children. He grew up in

Centralia, Washington Centralia () is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. It is located along Interstate 5 near the midpoint between Seattle and Portland, Oregon. The city had a population of 18,183 at the 2020 census. Centralia is twinned with Cheh ...

and his freshman year he moved to

. He was a Communications major at Stanford and a member of the

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapters ...

fraternity.

References

External links

*
Washington Commanders bio

Stanford coaching bio

Stanford player bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, Tavita 1987 births Living people American football quarterbacks Stanford Cardinal football players Stanford Cardinal football coaches Players of American football from Tacoma, Washington American sportspeople of Samoan descent People from Lakewood, Washington Washington Commanders coaches