Andrew Luck almost retired one year earlier. Entering the 2018 season -- his seventh with the Indianapolis Colts -- fresh off of a 2017 campaign spent on the sidelines due to a shoulder injury, Luck had serious questions about his future.

Stanford fired football coach Troy Taylor on Tuesday, less than a week after an ESPN report revealed that Taylor had twice been the subject of third-party investigations into complaints from athletic department employees over hostile behavior.

Luck was hired in November by new school President Jon Levin to rebuild Stanford's struggling football program after four straight seasons with a 3-9 record, including the last two with Troy Taylor in charge.

Luck moved quickly in his new role as general manager of the football program, hiring Reich less than a week after making the decision to fire Taylor following a report that became public saying Taylor had been investigated twice for allegedly mistreating staffers.

Reich was announced Monday as the one-year solution after the firing of Troy Taylor, who was dismissed by Luck last week in the midst of ESPN reporting that he had bullied and belittled female staffers during back to back 3-9 seasons after replacing David Shaw.

Stanford's football program has been in dire need of a reboot. Since the end of the 2018-19 season, the Cardinal haven't won more than four games in a single ye

On Tuesday, Luck made his most consequential move yet, firing head coach Troy Taylor. The decision, which he made in concert with University leadership but ultimately was his, came just days after ESPN reported Taylor was under investigation for employee abuse — a probe that had not been publicly known prior to the story's publication.

Frank Reich was shopping at Costco in Greensboro, N.C., when his onetime Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Andrew Luck, called. Their conversation led to more conversations, and ultimately to an uncommon coaching offer.

Andrew Luck quoted Ernest Hemingway, rattled off Latin phrases and talked about how his new job as general manager of Stanford’s football program compared to facing a Bill Belichick-coached defense in the NFL.