Troy Scott Taylor (born April 5, 1968) 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 who is currently the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of 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 ...

. Previously, he served as co-head football coach at

Folsom High School Folsom High School is a public secondary school in the western United States, located in Folsom, California, a suburb east of Sacramento. Established in 1922, it is a part of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. School history The firs ...

Folsom, California Folsom is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is commonly known for Folsom State Prison, the song "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash, as well as for Folsom Lake. The population was 80,454 at the 2020 census. Folsom is pa ...

, from 2012 to 2015; co-offensive coordinator at Eastern Washington University in 2016; offensive coordinator at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

from 2017 to 2018; and as head coach at

Sacramento State California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

from 2019 to 2022.

Playing career

Taylor attended Cordova High School in

Rancho Cordova, California Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States which was incorporated in 2003. It is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population was 64,776 at the 2010 census. In 2010 and 2019, Rancho Cordova was named ...

. He led his team to a perfect 14-0 record and section championship, also being named northern California player of the year. Taylor 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 ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

as starting quarterback from 1986–89 and was the team MVP 1987-89. He led the Pac-10 conference in total offense in 1989 (253 yds. per game). He finished his collegiate career as Cal's all-time leading passer (8,126 yds.) and total offense leader (8,236 yds.), records that stood until they were broken by

Jared Goff Jared Thomas Goff (born October 14, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at California, where he set the Pac-12 Conference season records for passi ...

in 2015. His 51 career touchdown passes stood as a school record until surpassed by

Pat Barnes Pat Barnes (born February 23, 1975 in Arlington Heights, Illinois) is a retired National Football League quarterback. He played from 1997 to 2003 in the NFL, XFL, and CFL. Barnes played as a quarterback at University of California, where he s ...

in 1996. Taylor was drafted by the Jets in the 4th round (84th overall pick) in the

1990 NFL Draft The 1990 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1990, at the Marriott Marq ...

by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. In his career, Taylor saw action in seven games and threw for 2 touchdown passes.

Coaching career

In 1994, Taylor served as offensive coordinator at

Casa Roble High School Casa Roble Fundamental High School is a public high school located in Orangevale, California. It is a part of the San Juan Unified School District with a student body of approximately 1250 students from northern Orangevale and a portion of Citrus ...

Orangevale, California Orangevale is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento– Arden-Arcade– Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 33,960 at the 2010 census, up from 2 ...

. He served one year on

Rick Neuheisel Richard Gerald Neuheisel Jr. (; born February 7, 1961) is an American football analyst, coach, former player, and attorney. He served as the head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1995 to 1999, at the University of Washi ...

's staff at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

as a graduate assistant in 1995 primarily working with wide receivers. He was hired by

Steve Mariucci Stephen Ray Mariucci (born November 4, 1955), nicknamed "Mooch", is an American sportscaster and former football coach who was the head coach of two National Football League teams, the San Francisco 49ers (1997–2002) and the Detroit Lions (200 ...

as Cal's wide receivers coach in 1996, and later served 2 years as a QB coach and 1 year as a tight ends coach under

Tom Holmoe Thomas Allen Holmoe (born March 7, 1960) is an American college athletics administrator and former football player and coach. He has been the athletic director at Brigham Young University (BYU) since 2005. Holmoe played college football at BYU ...

. From 2000 to 2002, Taylor served as an assistant athletic director and coach for Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento. From 2002 to 2004, Taylor served as the Co-head coach of football at

. He left that position in 2005 to serve as color analyst for the California Golden Bears' radio broadcast. In 2012, he returned to Folsom High as co-head coach of football, during the 4-year period he was there the bulldogs went 58-3 winning 4 consecutive section championships and a state title. Taylor coached Washington quarterback

Jake Browning Jake Browning (born April 11, 1996) is an American football quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington Huskies football, Washington Huskies and signed with the Minn ...

since he was in 5th grade up until his senior year in high school, when he set the national touchdown record in a career with 229 TD passes while also tying a record of 91 touchdown passes in a single season, all while going 16–0 and a D1 state championship. Taylor's offense at Folsom High School broke the state in passing for 4 straight years and set a state record for most points scored in a season, a record that still stands today. On February 18, 2016, Taylor was announced as the

passing game 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 r ...

and

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

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanfor ...

. At Eastern Washington, Taylor called plays and took an already stellar offense to new heights as they set 2 all-time FCS records for passing yards (5,160 yards) and total offense (5,766 yards) in a season. Taylor was instrumental in helping develop former walk-on quarterback Gage Gubrud into a record-setting QB who broke the all-time single-season FCS passing record and the all-time record in total offense. Gubrud also won the FCS player of the year award from numerous sites along with Big Sky Conference co-MVP (with teammate

Cooper Kupp Cooper Douglas Kupp (born June 15, 1993) is an American football wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Eastern Washington, where he won the Walter Payton Award as a junior, ...

). Eastern Washington was also the only team to have 3 wide receivers over 1,000 yards in the season. Gubrud also set 16 school records, 7 Big Sky records, and 2 FCS records, all while winning the Big Sky Conference title and going undefeated in conference play. Eastern Washington improved in almost every offensive statistical category in his first year. A notable win came in the first game of the season against Washington State where the Eagles won 45–42 and set a school record for total offense. On December 17, 2018, Taylor accepted the head coaching position at

after spending the previous two years as the offensive coordinator at

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. On August 31, 2019, Taylor debuted in his first collegiate game as head coach, in which his team defeated Southern Oregon 77–19. On November 23, 2019, Taylor and his Hornets football team clinched the school's first-ever share of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

title in a 27–17 victory over the

UC Davis Aggies The UC Davis Aggies (also referred to as the Ags or Aggies) are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Davis. Seventeen of the school's 25 intercollegiate sports - baseball, men's basketball, men's cross country, men's ...

in the 2019

Causeway Classic The Causeway Classic is the annual college football game between the Sacramento State Hornets and the UC Davis Aggies in the United States. The teams exchange a Causeway Classic Trophy made from cement taken from the Yolo Causeway. History of ...

game. This was Sacramento State's first Big Sky Conference title since the team's induction into the Big Sky in 1996. On November 19, 2022, Taylor would lead the Hornets to their first undefeated regular season in school history after a 27–21 victory over UC Davis in the 2022 Causeway Classic along with their third Big Sky Conference title.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Troy 1968 births Living people American football quarterbacks California Golden Bears football coaches California Golden Bears football players Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Eastern Washington Eagles football coaches New York Jets players Stanford Cardinal football coaches Sacramento State Hornets football coaches Utah Utes football coaches High school football coaches in California Sportspeople from Downey, California People from Folsom, California Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from California