Washington Commanders fans have lived in perpetual fear of some of their offensive coaching staff getting swiped away by teams who want to copy their success, and it appears as though one of their more respected names has now left the NFL altogether in order to go back to the college level.
No, it's not offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who still may get some head coaching buzz after helping Jayden Daniels prove he is a star quarterback in this league. Instead, quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard is leaving the East Coast, heading all the way out to Northern California to return to his old employer.
Stanford, which is helmed by former NFL great and Cardinal alum Andrew Luck as general manager, confirmed that Pritchard will be leaving the Commanders in order to take over the head coaching role. Pritchard replaces Troy Taylor, who was fired in March, and interim head coach Frank Reich.
The allure of Pritchard, a Stanford alum, going back to his alma mater in the name of trying to bring this program back from the dead makes this a seemingly home run hire for Luck. Washington, meanwhile, is now out one of Daniels' most trusted coaches.
Commanders QB coach Tavita Pritchard hired by Stanford as head coach
Pritchard, who eventually lost his QB1 job to Luck in his college career, threw for 15 touchdowns and 24 interceptions over parts of four seasons with the Cardinal. He was even such a tremendous athlete that he played one game on the Stanford basketball team.
Pritchard coached under Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw for over a decade in Palo Alto, coaching running backs, wide receivers, and quarterbacks before eventually taking over the offensive coordinator role that he held for five seasons. Pritchard helped get quarterbacks like Davis Mills and Tanner McKee to the NFL.
The Commanders will likely replace Pritchard, who joined the team in 2023 and was retained by Dan Quinn, with someone internally (possibly offensive assistant David Blough) for the rest of the season. However, if Kingsbury ends up getting any more attention from other teams as a head coaching candidate, Pritchard may have been a candidate who could have replaced Kingsbury.
The allure of going back to his old school was too seductive for Pritchard, and Luck wants to give this program a jolt by getting the guy who helped Daniels instantly assert himself as one of the best young quarterbacks in the professional game.